# A letter to my employers (long) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 12, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-letter-to-my-employers-long/372464 "2006-09-12T21:40:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-letter-to-my-employers-long/372464/41 "2006-09-15T14:38:55Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] \Why the fuck have you worked there for so long? [/QUOTE] That’s really the heart of the matter right there. I don’t think anybody can require notice legally when employees quit. It’s a societal convention, but not a legal requirement. Companies have all sorts of legal requirements to get rid of employees, but that’s not a two-way street. Imagine trying to enforce people being required to give two week’s notice - it’s just not practical at all. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-letter-to-my-employers-long/372464/42 "2006-09-15T15:58:41Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] That would be HUNDREDS of checks by now. You’re supposed to quit after the second bounced paycheck. One I can understand, maybe they made a mistake. At two, you leave. An employer that doesn’t pay its employees prompty on time is unethical. Paying the employees takes immediate priority over everything else. If you can’t afford your employees you’re supposed to lay them off, not string them along. Why the fuck have you worked there for so long? [/QUOTE] They only started bouncing checks when I went full time. So half my paychecks as a full time employee, 12 out of the last 24. I know this doesn’t make it any better that I stayed, but I have known the owners for a long time at this point and they always covered the checks. You are right, I should have left after 2, but I was dumb. I am leaving now. I have 20 or so resumes out for advertised postitions, I have my resume on Monster, Hotjobs and Career builder, and I enrolled with appleone employment services. I am giving my 2 weeks on monday and will be out of there by the first. I figure in that 2 weeks I will be able to find SOMETHING, and if I don’t, there’s always Starbucks. And as a friend pointed out to me yesterday, there are receptionists that make more than I do, and I am in a fucking managment position. So I am gone. I am giving 2 weeks as a courtosy to them because I have known them for so long. Me leaving at all will hurt them badly enough, I am the only one who knows how things work there. ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-letter-to-my-employers-long/372464/43 "2006-09-16T00:49:50Z")
[QUOTE=NAF1138] -snip- I also found out that the company’s finances are in worse shape than I had previously assumed, and think that the business will probably fold within a couple of years anyway. [/QUOTE] I’m wondering if you’re the only employee whos paychecks are bouncing? You say there are less than 10 employees including the owners. Are they paying you from a separate account? Have the other employees complained about bouning paychecks too? Are they paying you off the books? And if so, can you prove you’re an employyee of theirs in court when you try to get re-imbursed? ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-letter-to-my-employers-long/372464/44 "2006-09-18T17:23:06Z")
[QUOTE=Emily Litella] I’m wondering if you’re the only employee whos paychecks are bouncing? You say there are less than 10 employees including the owners. Are they paying you from a separate account? Have the other employees complained about bouning paychecks too? Are they paying you off the books? And if so, can you prove you’re an employyee of theirs in court when you try to get re-imbursed? [/QUOTE] I have been slowly finding out that everyones checks are bouncing, but that everyone is being quiet about it. An employee just quit recently, and after he left (for unrelated reasons, his mother was sick and he was moving cross country to be with her) we started talking about all this. Apparently my bank, which he and one other employee bank at too, takes a few days longer to clear checks than the other employees banks. All three of us have had several checks bounce, presumably because they just don’t have enough money in the payroll account, and the last check to clear is the one that bounces. But the bouncing checks isn’t limited to just us, we just get it the most. Why haven’t we all quit en mass? No idea. Can’t even tell you why I haven’t quit before now. Maybe it is the Stockholm Syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-letter-to-my-employers-long/372464/45 "2006-09-18T17:42:31Z")
[QUOTE=Cheesesteak] I’d love to see a cite on this. That smells way too much like forced servitude to be enforceable. [/QUOTE] You won’t. It’s nonsense. For some reason people have this firmly-held belief that the employment concepts of _right to work_ and _employment at will_ are the same thing. They’re not. Nothing to do with each other. Despite this, and despite repeated correction, people keep on saying otherwise on the SDMB. **Tashabot** is only the latest to falsely post this. The former pertains to whether union membership can be a requirement for the job. The latter is the general rule that allows either party to the employment relationship with no notice. ---
**Author:** ![velvetjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f9b8f/32.png) [@velvetjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velvetjones)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-letter-to-my-employers-long/372464/46 "2006-09-18T20:27:28Z")
So? What’d they say when you handed them your resignation? And good for you for getting out. Better late than never. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-letter-to-my-employers-long/372464/47 "2006-09-18T20:38:12Z")
[QUOTE=Random] You won’t. It’s nonsense. For some reason people have this firmly-held belief that the employment concepts of _right to work_ and _employment at will_ are the same thing. They’re not. Nothing to do with each other. Despite this, and despite repeated correction, people keep on saying otherwise on the SDMB. **Tashabot** is only the latest to falsely post this. The former pertains to whether union membership can be a requirement for the job. The latter is the general rule that allows either party to the employment relationship with no notice. [/QUOTE] I agree. Umm, dude? Did you forget a word in that last sentence? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-letter-to-my-employers-long/372464/48 "2006-09-19T01:44:04Z")
Yup. More than one, actually. (Thanks) Last sentence should have been: The latter is the general rule that allows either party to the employment relationship **to terminate it** with no notice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-letter-to-my-employers-long/372464.md?page=2)