I've dealt with a non compete before and it was literally telling the previous company to go away. I used an excessive amount of swear words in my official resp

I've dealt with a non compete before and it was literally telling the previous company to go away. I used an excessive amount of swear words in my official response. After consulting a lawyer I learned for the most part they are just a bluff. Obviously you can't steal ip but even if the non compete was enforceable, it's usually a scare tactic. Call the bluff. More than likely those workers only think they are trapped because it sounds scary. Edit: downvoted of course, but seriously under most cases the company will not pursue it and it was likely unenforceable in the first place. It's a scare tactic by employers and pretend control over their employees. They are bullshit. I'd like to hire an employee that flat out said "yeah I'm not signing that, it's bullshit" it shows they actually have a bit of grit regarding pointless non legally binding paperwork.