workplace trouble and the rubble left behind?

By law all your perspective employer can ask is if your rehireable or not and all your former employer can say is weather or not you worked there and weather or not you are rehireable. You are only not rehireable if you broke company policy.

Butterfly, you are so very very wrong, first of all you don't lie, don't give more information than needed and you never talk bad about anyone from your previous job.

Put a positive spin on things and avoid talking about your troubles with your former employer. If it was a large company with an Human Resources department, in most cases the reference will consist of your position, dates of employment and the date you left the company. Sometimes the company will be asked if they would rehire you and this answer is often telling in itself. If you think you will get a bad reference, do not give permission for contact by prospective employers.

Do you have a relative that you needed to take care of and the former employer didn't "care" when you asked for a leave of absence?

Maybe it would be better to say that you did some soul searching and realized that you really wanted to try to learn new skills....

You could just say that you left your last job to spend more time looking for a job in a different field. or that you had a difference of opinion.

You are looking for a better work enviroment?

Tell new employer interviewers you were having an issue with another person who wanted to date you and it caused problems (because you are not into dating people from work) ..... but they had some "importance" with the boss (or word it differently of course) but it's a good idea -- they'll know you take your job seriously.

Keep it short and sweet. Put a positive spin on it such as what did you learn and how did you grow after going through the experience. Don't go into details. Keep it relevant for your next position. Focus on what you learned and what you achieved.

You don't have to disclose every single last detail. You can say something like "I left to look for a job that values teamwork."

Just say you are looking for employment, where there is room for advancement, that there were no/few opportunities opening up there.

Ahh been there! They tell that there was no room for advancement at your previous job.That's all you have to say.