The reason I'm writing this down, in the end, is not for you and not for them. It's for the version of me who sat in a conference room across from Priya and slid her pen across the table and said the non-compete was standard.
Here is what I know now.
The standard clause is not standard. The standard clause is a decision that someone made, and someone can unmake it. The package is generous until you understand what it is buying. The list is alphabetical until you sort it by age and gender and realize the alphabet is not the only thing in the room.
The thing that saved me was not my rage. The rage was real and I used it, but rage alone is just noise. The thing that saved me was the black folder I had kept in the bottom drawer for eleven years, not because I planned to use it, but because
