a severance agreement when they cut our group. I thought that was absurd since I didn't WANT to compete but they were kind of forcing my hand.

So I just ignored it assuming that it would be too difficult to enforce, so they wouldn't do anything about it. I never mentioned it to anyone, and on applications that asked if I was subject to a non-compete, I answered "No".

In the end I got a new job and my old company did nothing.