It depends on location.
In Spain, where people must get fired/laid off/whatever, I mean, the actual term is despedido, “two weeks/one month from today” once past their trial period unless criminal charges are involved, I’d consider it extremely rude. In locations or companies where people can get called in to a meeting and come out to find two rentacops looking their biggest and, with luck, their things boxed up, I would view it as the general attitude. It’s tit for tat.
I know from experience, if I’m turned down for a raise, I no longer consider anyone in management my “friend.” You know you had no control over the situation, but she probably doesn’t. She’s probably very bitter and angry at you.
I’m not trying to hurt your feelings. It’s just that non-management people have no clue who has influence or control.
Contractual notice is grand 
This is what I was going to say. It’s not just law of the jungle. Will your employer give you a notice period (or equivalent pay)? Then it’s reasonable to reciprocate. Will they kick you to the curb? Then they have no grounds to expect anything other than what’s best for you.
I wouldn’t dream of doing it now, but for a minimum wage job where the boss has treated me like crap and my role is not absolutely critical, sure. ETA: As some have pointed out, it’s not like you are given much/any notice if you’re fired in this kind of job.
Once in fact I walked out during a shift. I was so hacked off with the boss that I just walked out – only to return and at least finish out my shift when I thought about how busy the remaining guys would be.
If you’re working a minimum-wage job you hate, and don’t need to use that employer as a reference, then yeah, good riddance to them, depending on the circumstances. I’m lucky - I’ve always had a good enough relationship with my bosses and coworkers that I wanted to give them notice so they wouldn’t need to scramble and work extra to fill gaps in the schedule, and so far, all of them have appreciated it and let me work my remaining shifts while they started interviewing new people.
Now, if you’re working some corporate job, or working for an employer with decently written-out HR policies, your answer is right there in print. At my hospital job, I had to give them two weeks notice or I would not have received the vacation pay I had left over.
As an employer, I have had someone quit without notice. Strangely, when she changed her mind and decided a job was necessary, she used me as a reference. Repeatedly.
Employers calling for a reference hate to hear that the person quit without notice.
Of course I support the fact that she has a new job and it would have been fine even if she hadn’t given me two weeks- just told me at all**. If her plan was to just not show up without telling anyone that would have made for a terrible Monday. It kind of throws a wrench in things since only three of us work at a time and now I’m doing both jobs, but I can handle it and will be paid extra so, I’ll be fine.
I understand what you’re saying, we’re a small company so she actually did** know that I tried, but who knows if that’s relevant or not.
This has always been my experience, that’s why I’ve always given two weeks (except in the coke head example I mentioned above).
Hmm…well I guess it’s good to know that maybe one shouldn’t always give two weeks. I’ve never worked for a large corporation where one would be hauled out by security. I’ve always worked for smaller companies or a place where I had a good relationship with my boss so they wanted me to stay.
Oh well, it’s just disappointing because I try to be a good boss. As I said in the OP, she was not the best employee in terms of time an attendance, but I let that all slide because she did a good job otherwise.
Kayaker, That’s another thing- even if she hadn’t given two weeks, but had given me some sort of heads up I would have still offered to be a reference. If she uses me I’ll probably just say I can’t comment or whatever you’re supposed to say when you don’t want to give a bad one but can’t give a good one. But I’m pretty sure either her mom got her a job or something opened up at a friend’s store, so I doubt she’ll need one from me.
I really don’t know “what you are supposed to say” when called for a reference. I do know that, from experience, when I talk to someone on the phone and they ask for “a lil help” I am happy to go off record and be honest.
These are usually the same employers who demand you start a new job immediately.
I quit one job with less than a week’s notice. There was nothing super-critical about the old job and I wasn’t leaving during the crazy time (it was at a college and I was leaving mid-semester.) The boss there was a jerk (“As far as I’m concerned, every employee here is average, so that’s the rating you’re getting”) and the new job paid half again as much (going from $7/hr to over $11/hr) and I wasn’t going to miss any pennies.
I might have felt different if the leaving the old job would have made things really bad for my coworkers, but at most, it was an inconvenience. And frankly, they weren’t all that busy most of the time anyway - that I knew for a fact…
The proper response to such a demand is, “I’m sorry, but I need to give my current employer the courtesy of two weeks notice.”
I’ve seen this happen too many times. No severance pay, either, in most cases.
Companies used to try to work with their employees more, and employees used to be more committed to their jobs. Nowadays, though, most companies seem to regard most workers as completely disposable and interchangeable, and workers have picked up on that.
If a company is paying just above minimum wage, and won’t give merited raises, I don’t believe that the company can expect much loyalty or commitment from its workers. After all, if the OP’s company could find someone who would work for less money (legally), I’m sure that they’d fire this woman in a heartbeat, without two weeks’ notice, right?
Followed by the response, “Do you want the job or not?”
So they can reply and say “never mind, then, we need someone to start now and we have 20 other applicants who can. Toodles!”
It’s nice to give 2 weeks notice but certainly not required, especially for a McJob, good grief. She’s supposed to risk losing a better job offer so she can give 2 weeks notice for a minimum wage job that wouldn’t give her a raise in the year she’s been working there? Puhleze.
Just to be accurate- they do give merited raises. They did not give her a raise because she requested so much time off as well as asking that her hours be reduced. I tried to help her by telling my bosses that the time off requested was approved by me and did not hurt the company in any way. Part of pleading her case though meant that she had to talk to my boss to explain the situation (needing family time, etc) but she refused. My boss is not a terrible ogre though and the rest of us have all gotten small raises just by giving a well thought out explanation of why we should get one. If she had trouble doing that I would have told her what to say or helped her, but she just said “no” and that was that.
I don’t see a problem in quitting a job without notice in these circumstances. When the company has no obligation to the employee, the employee has no obligation to the company. As the French would put it, “Say levee”. (Those French people are wierd)
I walked out of a job in 1998 after telling off the general manager and a year later when I went in with my friend who still worked there so he could pick up his paycheck that same manager hired me back to start the next day. After that, I had 3 jobs outsourced out from under me with no notice - I went in like any other day and was hauled into a conference room and laid off, then escorted out as soon as I packed up. This most recent job I and 52 others were called in and laid off thanks to the economy. I now get the dropped butterfly stomach and crawly hot back of the neck stress and anxiety reaction if a boss wants to talk to me anywhere other than my desk or their desk. Being asked into a conference room and closing the door indicates to me my job is gone. I haven’t had the chance to give 2 weeks notice in better than 20 years 
I hated managing retail as a young adult for this reason. Because if you don’t show up for work, its a huge burden for your coworkers. But in retail, its pretty normal to just stop showing up - as someone said, its a McJob. And if I can make 20% more at the store across the street, but I have to start tomorrow, I’m going.
I once “quit a retail job with no notice” - I gave notice, but the manager decided to keep me on the schedule. During finals. Ignoring my need to have certain days off so I could TAKE the finals. So what looked externally like me not showing up, was me giving notice and being ignored. That was another thing I loved about retail - you could get the worlds least competent management.
Now, in a professional corporate environment (cube jockey) the two weeks are almost silly. Because they aren’t going to even get approval for the reposting of the position in two weeks. You won’t have anyone to train. You can spend two weeks trying to get your coworkers caught up on your projects, but they have their own jobs and are just going to have to sink or swim in the end. It does give you a few weeks to say goodbye and box up your desk. But as a professional, its also expected.
As people say though, it cuts both ways. If the firm expects its staff to give them an extended notice period to allow for replacement planning, then they should reciprocate. In my case I have to give 12 weeks notice of termination, but the firm I work for also has to give me 12 weeks notice (or pay in lieu).