Yea, my ass would’ve stood up and walked out laughing at the moron “CEO”.

Typical arrogant small business owner, think they know everything.

“No, I will not be using my personal anything for company work, and if you think that’s ok, you’re an idiot for embracing the legal risks of doing so.”

The main reason no real Sales company does this is because that client list belongs to the company. They don’t want individuals to be able to contact their customers or potential clients after they are fired, laid off, or quit. There’s a reason they make you sign documentation saying you won’t try to poach customers and that you understand the client list belongs to the company. Every single contact is expected to be made via company lines of communication. Personal ones aren’t just frowned upon, they’re actively discouraged.

This CEO is either an idiot or this was a test the employee was intended to fail so they could set him up to be fired. I don’t know why else anyone who’d worked in sales for 20 years would be this stupid.