>I've seen a non-compete agreement that stated the employee was not only barred from working for competitors for five years, but working in the entire industry altogether.
Too bad that's probably not enforceable. But sure it sounds serious when you don't know no better.
It was definitely not enforceable, but it was a great indicator of intent. When I pointed out the paragraph to the President, who wrote the agreement, he said, "Oh, we didn't mean to do that. I don't know why that's in there."
He was a lawyer.
When I pointed out the bank account valuation to the CEO of that startup, he said, "that's not what that says." I informed him that I had run the agreement through two lawyer friends who had confirmed my interpretation.
Too bad that's probably not enforceable. But sure it sounds serious when you don't know no better.