Welcome back JB
Not sure of your previous work history so wont go into that, you were at this job 8 months and basically running the place at times which is great. However… yes he was your mate and was prob great at 1st working with your mate but he was still your boss try to see it from his side also. Daily complaint basically telling him everything that hes doing wrong if he wasn’t a friend am almost certain you would have been fired months ago.
I have had loads of different jobs in different sectors and 1 thing I picked up on about managers is most will not listen to new ideas even great ones if it is not there own. When i was at amazon for around 5 years there was a new manager every 6-8 months to keep things fresh, each time was a new guy who had no clue on the job who brought in new ideas that made the job harder each time just to make it their way. Ridiculous really guess its a power thing they like to feel in charge.
Not sure why your family are no longer speaking with you about posting the name of the company on here why is that such a bad thing? Slagging of an ex employer why do they care about that? But if it takes something like that for a falling out that may not be the best partnership in the long run anyway to be honest.
Good luck with future employment there is great bosses out there just need to find the right place 😀
Malkychamp