How do I permanently disconnect my AirPods from my Macbook?

I am just using the old wired EarPods on my iPhone. that seems to be the only way around this. Disappointing that when you buy into the Apple ecosystem you are forced to use all their technology together ALL the time.

(Don't get me stared on the difficulty of getting music onto my iPhone - why did Apple disable drag and drop - it was so simple! apple used to be all about ease of use. In fact, I am now going to look at Android phones next fall - that will fix both the Airpods and music load issues.)

This issue poses a risk of problems at work; e.g., I connected to a web conference but as soon as I put in my AirPods, the MBP switched music output to the headphones (I was using a dial-up for audio in the web conference with my iPhone and AirPods connected to it). I changed audio output on my MBP back to the built-in speaker jack but accidentally switched it to external USB speakers instead and music started playing over the speakers. While I was reconnecting the AirPods to my iPhone the rest of the people on the web conference heard the music picked up by the iPhone's mic for like 30 seconds since it was sitting right next to the external speakers on my desk.

While it was my accident that switched the music to the external speakers, I wouldn't have had to do that if the stupid MBP hadn't automatically switched the audio to the AirPods.

Also, when I disconnect the AirPods form my MBP and tell it to forget them, it is very difficult to get them to reconnect to my iPhone. Disconnecting them from the MBP seems to do a very good job of disconnecting them from the iPhone (but a bad job of disconnecting them from the MBP).

One more data point: on the MBP, when I go to Preferences ---> Bluetooth and change the setting for the AirPods from Connect automatically every time, to Only connect if they were connected last time, it really messes up the iPhone's connection to the AirPods. They disappear from the Audio option on the iPhone and I can't reconnect them to it without a lot of hassle including resetting and re-adding them to the iPhone's BT.

Which immediately adds them back on the MBP and makes them connect to the MBP instead of the iPhone as soon as I put them in my ears.

I would just turn BT off on my MBP but I invested in the Apple wireless keyboard and trackpad so I can't turn BT off.

The alternative seems to be to put the expensive AirPods on the shelf and use the wired EarPods instead.

Any ideas? This is such a pain to deal with, multiple times every day!