Character reference, what a character?

When I enter a room some folks act negatively to me. This has happened through out my life in varying degrees. Some folks are down right unfriendly, some are cruel in word and deed, others just turn away. My spouse tells me I need Riki work. A sort of shifting in the energy to remove negatives. When I began searching for another job to secure more income I found myself needing what employers call character references. Now for a dude who looks like he could implode at any moment I need these references. To my happy inner child I have them. All though there is some negative response to my being. I am a dam good worker. I pride myself in doing what is right by the law. And so I have some great references. But many of them will tell you what a character I am. He is stern but fair. He is tough but he gets the job done. He is so funny I cry when he talks because he makes me laugh so much. But recently a bridge was burnt for home and hearth and I listened to my wife. Perhaps preemptively I took her advice. You see she understands management more than I. And she knew the folks we were employed by, were, well lets say, not of the best character. They enjoyed belittling those who paid their bills. And those who worked for them. So we made a decision to leave without the ominous two weeks notice. And I made the mistake of believing because we had done such great work they would give me a good reference. Wow, how wrong I was. My character was trashed by them. I found out because we live in a population of less than 15 thousand. And our local Walmart employees seem to have the line on town gossip. Along with the local dollar store and auto parts store and then we have the marina's. The moral of the story is we all need character references just be careful not to be the character they bad mouth.