Me, too! I have never had a bad employee review since, but even when my boss is just calling me in to go over a new assignment and says, “close the door behind you,” I feel like Don Draper is going to accuse me of embezzlement and I am going to have to hang myself.
The first time I was called into an unexpected one-on-one meeting where I’m currently employed, I must have been white as a sheet because my boss said, “Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble!” And I wasn’t, that’s just how they conduct reviews and coaching sessions. 
Her simple reassurance set a positive tone for an experience that had hitherto been negative, and I’ve had less anxiety about meetings since then.
I miss that boss! She was my favorite.
While I think it’s burning bridges to just quit without notice, I don’t think it should be unexpected for a minimum-wage job. Plus, it sounds like she was trying to do less work and get paid more for it, which is silly. It’s not like she’s the CEO developing an exit strategy.
[QUOTE=Antigen;15204142Now, 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.[/QUOTE]
Same here. I HAVE to give them 2 weeks or I forfeit my sick day/Vacation day pay out. The odd thing is…when you give your notice here they walk you out the door at the end of the day and you are “REQUIRED” to use that 2 week notice period as vacation time. So when/if I leave here I won’t give them notice until the last day I plan on working.
Yup, I use that as a “trick question” when I’m interviewing a job applicant. I’ll think twice about you if you are currently employed and won’t give your current employer the courtesy of two weeks notice. If you do it to them who’s to say you won’t do it to me?
That’s kind of a dick move, isn’t it? My answer would be something like, I would prefer to give my current employer notice, but if I can’t get this job unless I start tomorrow, I’ll start tomorrow.
In professional jobs, unless you are being fired for cause (stealing, drugs, etc), 2 weeks severence for every year of employment is standard. In one job I had, I was told 30 days ahead of time my position was being eliminated. And for the most part, I didn’t need to come into work for those 30 days.
Unless your boss is a total jerk, it’s really an unprofessional dickish move to just up and quit without notice. The only person you really fuck over is the poor schlub who has to cover your shift.
I do know one guy from a job I had like 15 years ago who one day just up and went to lunch and never came back. It was a consulting firm that was known for having a weird cult-like culture in the 90s. I remember working there thinking if I was still there when I turned 40 I might shoot myself in the head. Ironically, I’m almost 40 and have been thinking about going back to work with them.
My answer is if you are so desperate to have me start tomorrrow without giving proper notice, you need to increase my salary 25%. In truth, you don’t want to work for a company that encourage such behavior because they are usually either totally unprofessional or so desperately mismanaged that they would be a nightmare to work for.
Employers have the ability to create loyalty in their employees by offering benefits, like leave. When a job is day to day, with no security of any kind for the employee, the company gets exactly what it asked for. I’ve heard this lament from bosses before and it always sounds to me like the guy who wants to keep his options open so won’t make a commitment to a girl, then is offended when he finds out she has been exercising her options.
We’re not talking a minimum wage job here. We’re talking about highly skilled/trained professionals. I’m not going to hire someone if I don’t think they are going to stay and/or leave me in a jam. There are only so many questions I can “legally” ask an applicant so I use every tool at my disposal.
After several years in middle management having to deal with the companies layoff policy of immediate termination with no severance, I harbor no ill will when an employee leaves with little or no notice. Nor would I feel obligated to give notice before turning in my own resignation. As others have said. If the company does not show it values it’s employees, it seems strange to expect the employees to value the company.
I’ve been effectively given notice before getting fired: a two-week suspension with pay, when my immediate boss (who didn’t want me fired) told me there was no real chance of me not getting fired at the end of it. That said, I agree that such is the exception, not the rule.
Harsh? Maybe. Unrealistic? For a minimum-wage job with few real benefits, yep. Heck, in those jobs, most people quit by … not showing up anymore.
If the employer can and would dismiss the employee with no notice and no severance pay, why should the employee be held to any greater standard?
Exactly.
Oh, and I’d never ASK you to start tomorrow. My line is “What’s your availability?” and the answer I’d expect would be (from someone currently employed) “I’d have to give my current employer two weeks notice.”
I haven’t come across companies that require extended notice, I’m talking about the standard two weeks.
In my case I gave three because on week three consultants were coming in to start the project I’d been working towards for the previous year, so I stayed to turn it over.
Honestly? Because it looks bad for the employee to do so. It is in the employee’s interest to honor the custom of two weeks’ notice, not the employers. It’s not fair; it just is.
Looks bad to whom? In most cases analogous to the employee in the OP, quitting the old job and starting the new one immediately is exactly what looks best to the new employer.
Yeah but we’re talking about minimum wage jobs here. It’s possible that they don’t have shifts for that week, or they know someone wants their shifts, or they plan to work both jobs for a while. Or they just work somewhere that escorts you out the door when you give notice and they know their employer doesn’t want or need 2 weeks notice. (Actually the last one can be true even at a salaried job.)
Obviously you can do what you want regarding hiring but I’m not sure what exactly your test is supposed to measure or filter out.
I’ve worked at places where you got escorted out immediately if you were going to work for a competitor. I’m sure that they thought they were protecting their assets - but why they thought someone planning to steal intellectual property wouldn’t do it before giving notice is beyond me. It now seems to be common practice to keep your new job a secret.
As for the OP, it is unprofessional but it is hardly surprising that someone in an unprofessional jobs is unprofessional. I had a great two weeks when I gave notice, since I could go home at 6 and not at 9 pm, and had no stress.
As layoffs indicate, a direct manager might get screwed by someone leaving without warning (through layoffs or quitting) but the company didn’t care. When I resigned from Bell Labs during the trivestiture 1/3 of my center was leaving all at the same time. While we had 2 weeks between the time we told them we were quitting and were off roll, we all had about 6 days of time off we either took or didn’t get paid for. (Not vacation, another category.) This was obviously chaotic, but that was the plan. I was glad I wasn’t around to deal with the consequences.
I think the job itself and the treatment of the employee will determine the amount of loyalty and respect they give you.
Based on the OP, I would say she had zero loyalty, and having been refused the raise it was her way of saying F U