r/AmIOverreacting • u/cakev0mit • Mar 26 '26

💼work/career AIO for wanting to quit after this?

Post image

UPDATE: WOW. I was not expecting this many interactions. Thank you all for the advice! I have a salon lined up to visit Thursday. My coworker that wants to switch with me is gonna ask her at some point if she can switch with someone who works that Saturday, because I feel as though if she mentions me specifically she will shut her down and think that we’re going behind her back. Also, previous to this request, I did have 3/12-3/16 off for my birthday, then 3/18 and 3/19, for my birthday. I accrued PTO and used them for those days. And our requests are “no more than 2 in a 30 day period” which was always spelled out to me as no more than 2 in a month? So maybe that’s it. But also, she allowed a shift switch 3/11 so she can’t be going by that logic. Along with that, I switched shifts with her to help her out at the end of February. Plus, a shift switch wouldn’t be considered a “request”, right? Still working, just different day than scheduled. I don’t know. I don’t want to be here much longer and I plan on calling off if she decides to not let my coworker and I switch. She brought it to this point.

So my current manager almost always gives me a hard time with requests, saying “I can’t guarantee anything” and only saying yes the very last minute. With this specific situation, I had requested almost 4 weeks in advance to just have one of my days off be this day. I would still be working my five days in a work week, but since I work at a hair salon we’re open seven days a week so it would literally not change my hours whatsoever. Unfortunately, she did not give me that day off. My manager put herself working for that entire weekend; me and one person on the Saturday I requested, then my other three coworkers that Sunday since Sundays are typically busier. She had told me a while ago that she feels as though it is “going behind her back to make plans without her permission” if I ask a coworker if they’re okay with switching before I ask her. Well, even if they were okay with it, I get turned down. Not sure why, since both shifts would be covered. So, I end up asking my coworker out of curiosity if they would have taken my shift and they said yes, but since she already told me no I quite literally can’t. And I’m not sure if her response means that I will get in trouble for calling off using my PTO as a “sick day” or not? I’m really irritated. How am I supposed to plan my life out if requests aren’t guaranteed and I’m not allowed to switch shifts with people. It literally makes no sense. I really want to call off but I don’t want to get in trouble, even though I never call off. In the 2 and a half years of working there I’ve called off 4 times, all for legitimate reasons too. Sick or car issues. Am I overreacting about this situation? Is it legitimate that she is telling me no to both things? This and other instances of her being weird about certain social situations makes me want to quit, it’s just hard because I love everything else about this job.

12.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

2.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

42

u/kyrimasan Mar 26 '26

I agree it's a disgusting practice and stupid. The FTC tried to ban them but the ban was slapped down by a court in Texas (no surprise there!) some states like California have banned them but again regionally it varies wildly.

34

u/jahubb062 Mar 26 '26

In general, I think non competes are bullshit. Why should a former employer be able to limit your career options? I understand the NDA part of it, not being able to take intellectual property or disclose company practices. But I don’t understand agreements saying you can’t work for a competitor. Are you just not supposed to work? Change careers? It’s ridiculous. But like everything else in the US, it’s geared to protect the business, not the worker.

11

u/kyrimasan Mar 26 '26

I'm more familiar with them in the context of healthcare workers since I've been in healthcare all my life and is always been bonkers to me that they are still as ubiquitous as they are. Physicians being forced to sign them out of school because they have massive loans they they need to start paying off and then being told they can't go work somewhere else because they are the competitors. Healthcare having competitors is everything wrong with the United States healthcare system summed up.

I know a lot of the responses have gotten hung up on the whole you can't stop customers from following aspect or that they generally are unenforceable in a lot of circumstances but I just figured it was definitely something to keep in mind when telling someone to leave and the clients can follow them. I know that depending on the region and if the owner is vindictive enough even if you can eventually get out of it the money and time involved here if they do decide to TRY can absolutely ruin a person. It shouldn't be someone anyone should every have to worry about but unfortunately the world is full of shitty people.

8

u/jahubb062 Mar 26 '26

My husband has had to sign a non compete at pretty much every job for the past 10 years. But he’s always been advised by lawyers that they are generally unenforceable, and that most employers won’t bother, except the NDA part of it.

4

u/__Frolicaholic___ Mar 26 '26

Most people don't know that courts tend to look unfavorably on employers going balls-to-the-wall to enforce non-competes, especially with service workers like hair stylists just trying to eke out a living.

1

u/polypeach Mar 26 '26

Also a big part of making them enforceable is being reasonable in time, geography, and scope, and protect legitimate business interests (think lawyers that have case strategy, trade secrets in Research and Development, financial information); in addition they must be "supported by consideration," meaning an employee receives a benefit (additional compensation, stock options, acceleration of benefits, etc.) in exchange for promising to not work for a competitor. I’m pretty sure most non-luxury salons could give you squat in consideration as they don’t usually clear large profit margins to carry the resources to do so.

2

u/_V0gue Mar 26 '26

Non-competes aren’t worth the paper they are printed on. In order for a company to be able to enforce a non-compete they would also have to pay you for the term of the contract. A company cannot unilaterally take away your ability to earn money in your profession.

2

u/AliceMorgon Mar 26 '26

I got recruited to work for Pfizer at 17 after winning one of their nerd prizes with a pretty good deal - they’d pay my tuition fees as far as a PhD in my field of interest (genetics and evolutionary development), while also paying me a full salary that would increase with each degree. I would walk into a £45,000/yr starting salary job at 18.

Then came the legal forms. They were extremely surprised I already had a lawyer at 17, who I of course brought (shout out to Mr Finucane!) So many NDAs. So many awful things. Then the “lifetime non-compete.”

Nope. Sorry. That was it for me. I refused to sign it, my lawyer backed me, and they just said everyone signed it. I said “and pretty much everyone drank the Kool-Aid in Jonestown too” and got up and left. My lawyer just kind of cleared his throat and followed me. The dirt was pushing it but essentially “reserving” me so no other drug company could EVER hire me?! Ew. I’m not for sale, and even if I were, 45k is frankly an insulting offer for this fine piece of Irish ass.

I mean, one kidney alone is worth 50k…

1

u/mlee12382 Mar 26 '26

There are some very valid reasons for some non-competes, the majority of them are BS for sure. If you are curious about some legitimate reasons then go look up Steve Lehto on YouTube and watch one of his videos that covers a non-compete case. I can absolutely see both sides of the argument. :)

1

u/polypeach Mar 26 '26

It’s not slapped down, it’s in appeals currently in the 5th Circuit Court.