It may be you’ve just had nice bosses, Misnomer.
I’ve had nice bosses, but none so sweet that I would have felt comfortable telling them far in advance that I was looking to leave. That’s a good way to get fired.
The Most Evil Boss I’ve ever had took the pissy route. “Two weeks notice? Well if you’re so unhappy just leave now.” He couldn’t for the life of him imagine why anybody would leave his $5.15-an-hour-hellhole.
I went against the advice of most here and told my boss about it. She was very nice. She reminded me about another staffer who we all knew a year in advance would be leaving - assuming that she finished nursing school on track, which she did. Liz never made any attempt to replace her until she gave notice. She told me that she would never interfere with someone leaving in order to grow, which she recognized was the case here.
I asked to use her as a refernce. She said she would be glad to.
I submitted the application about 2 hours later.