Experience Not Leaving Amicably/Company Threatening to Tarnish Reputation

Curious what happens in these situations and if anyone has stories of how it went for them? At a smaller company where they have no problem getting rid of you/screwing you over.

Nothing on the horizon for me but how does it go if they threaten to talk about your time at the company to contacts they have aka spread rumors/make you look bad? My thoughts are if you’re more junior it’s not the best to sue if that happens because it will not look good for future employment. Do you threaten to expose things you’ve seen from your time there? Seems like the nuclear option. 
 

Curious because I’ve always thought don’t rock the boat. 

2 Comments
 

From their perspective, they just don't want you talking bad about them.

It's a veiled threat, but nothing usually comes of it.

Exact situation happened to me because I mistakenly told a company I didn't want a full time offer week 1 of the internship. They basically treated me like shit for 12 weeks relative to the other interns and then threatened me as I walked out the door. “Don’t talk bad about us, or else…” was the phrase.

Lesson learned - also never heard from them again. It didn’t stop me from career progression either.

 
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