[Rick Lee]

Wow! What a response. Thanks guys. A few facts about my situation.

I don't know for a fact that I ever signed a non-compete. I can't recall. But I was just on the phone with a former co-worker (who recently left for a job that paid twice what she made at my company) and she said she did sign a non-compete at my company. Her current job is selling adv. for a well-known magazine, which is not competing with our business. Thing is, my company is based in NY, I belong to the DC office, but am physically located in AZ. There is only one other employee from my company in all of AZ.

Also, my company did not pay a DIME for my move to AZ. I even took a vacation day to drive out here when I moved. About the only expense they've incurred as a result is having to mail things to me once in a while and a bigger phone bill. My wife quit her well-paying job in DC to come here with nothing lined up in AZ. So I'd say we bore the brunt of the sacrifice to get me into this company's western territory, where they have no one else working.

And that leads to another issue. At the time I signed all the HR paperwork, I had no assigned territory, but was told it would be in the DC area and some states in the southeast, which it eventually was. I worked in the DC office for about 13 mos. before moving. Then I gave up almost all those accounts and am now responsible for everything from TX and west of it. So it's a pretty vast territory in a pretty specialized field with only a small handfull of competitors. My company has the bulk of the markershare, but the smaller guys are very well entrenched in the western U.S., which is one reason I haven't been setting the world on fire with sales since moving out here. On the east coast, we are definitely king.

At this point, I don't even know how to approach a competitor. I certainly can't just call up or email them my resume. Seeing where I work on my resume would set off alarm bells and get people talking. My company did hire a guy from a competitor about a year ago, but I don't know him and can't go ask him about this stuff.