Ask Lemmy

I work in an industry where reputation is everything so as much notice as possible is recommended, and it goes both ways. I’ve had companies give employees notice on when they would be let go, and this is in the USA. But in this industry it is known that contracts will be terminated both directions, and you will be working alongside the same people who terminated the contracts in the near future. So it is in everybody’s best interest to be above board and cordial about the whole thing, so you can negate hard feelings.

Working for walmart i once put in my two weeks to my Assistant Manager who then said "are you serious?" And my final response was "i can make today my last day."

And then walked out of the office to never return again.

The safest is to line up other business first, go straight to HR and tell them today is your last day to get instructions for returning equipment, and NEVER talk to anyone about why you’re leaving, where you’re going, or anything. Say as little as possible and don’t say goodbye to anyone. NEVER provide any feedback because it won’t change anything and can only be used against you. Process the pain of change on your own.

I always give two weeks. I've never quit a job without having another lined up, so maybe that's the difference.

Honestly I love the feeling during those two weeks. The "I don't gove a fuck" vibe that I feel deep down in my bones is kind of nice.

Only 2 weeks ive ever given was as an ultimatum to the restaurant I was working at.

They'd just fired the chef over a dispute, and I told they had 2 weeks to fix it or id leave behind him. Besides him, I was the only other person on staff woth a food saftey cert- which our town requires someone on staff to have at all times a restaurant is open.

I quit, walked by the next day, saw the doors were open, and called the health inspector. He closed them for 2 weeks. They decided, that since they were closed for 2 weeks, to just have the staff take a 2 week vacation. Hired another 'chef' (he was new to town and eventually became a colleague and friend) and told him to start the day they could reopen.

So they all walk back into a kitchen full of rotting product,start cleaning up, and the health inspector shows back up. Closed them down for a month. They never tried to reopen.

Meanwhile I had gotten a job at a resort in town, was actually recruited by the executive chef, who was an old coleague, that first night- he saw me out for a drink at 7pm , asked why I wasnt cooking. I told him, and he hired me on the spot, and then hired my 3 cooks when the other place folded.

Always via letter.

I once gave a job three months notice. I knew I was moving and wanted them to know as soon as I did. It worked out well for me for two reasons. One, they uncapped my overtime, said I could work as much as I wanted to get ready for the move. Two, after I moved and jobs weren't quite what I thought, they re-hired me at my new location and transferred my file, so I got to keep my previous time and training credit.

I once, and only once, walked out on a job without hardly any notice. It was just a temp job, we were working in a call center, and they had this alarm that blared in our department whenever someone was on hold in another department. That department didn't have the siren, and they pretty much just fucked off all day, and we were punished for it, quite directly. So I went to the supervisor and told him that wasn't going to work. He told me to deal with it, so I did — I left, and when I got home (this was before we had cell phones), I called the temp agency and told them what happened. They said they were already called and said I walked out. When I told them why, they asked me to come in to speak to them directly. I did so. They'd begun an internal investigation, and I had to make a statement for the record. Well, I wasn't compelled to, but I damn sure wanted to. Ended up getting my pay for the whole week, and the agency pulled all their people out. They took the investigation to the call center people and asked them for a statement, and they basically confirmed what I said, and then tried to justify it. Apparently there was a clause in the contract the temp agency was able to invoke and it cost the call center a fair amount of money. Supposedly. I got a lot of this secondhand. It kind of snowballed from there because the call center itself was a contractor to a much larger company, and the company found out about the call center's misdeeds and they may have lost that contract, too. I mean, no company really wants a reputation as having poor customer service, so the place was already being investigated from the other end.

The only other time I put in notice wasn't for quitting, it was for vacation. My supervisor tried to deny me vacation, so I put it another way. I told her I was going regardless, and if my minimum wage fast food job wasn't there when I got back, I'd just apply at the 2-3 others in the same area and one of them would pick me and my work ethic up, and I'd probably get a little more money out of it. Lo and behold, my job was waiting for me when I got back.

depends on the job. shitty jobs I won't give two weeks especially if there's already animosity from management (which has lead to some pretty entertaining quitting stories). most I'll do for something like that is ask my coworkers if they think they can get by without me (assuming I also liked the coworkers).

if it's a job I liked, I typically give notice via email and then go and bring it up in person to the recipient as well.

"hey boss, in two weeks you're gonna notice I ain't been here in about two weeks"

I was put on a pip and had to write an essay on how I failed and how I'll fix it.

so I wrote an essay on how they failed me as managers and how leaving was going to fix my problems.

I gave them one week.

I let them know in person then make my letter as you do

I typically do NOT give 2 weeks notice.

I went from 'camp' jobs where you're fired and you have until the truck or boat or plane comes to pack all the shit you can carry and leave, to secret-squirrel jobs where quitting renders you instantly from "valued human asset" to "probably a diseased criminal".

I have

• given two weeks at the start of my 2-week vacation
• given notice that the taxi arriving now is taking me to the airport to my new city and job
• just ghosted (that was an international one)
• came in, dropped off my stuff, catalogued it with a peer and then had the peer escort me offsite

I used to work as a cheapo part-time-on-paper software developer to pay for university. All devs in the company were student workers and the quality of the work reflected that. That clown show of a job actually took so much of my energy and attention that it delayed my thesis by two years. Yikes.

My boss was straight up delusional. Among his many bizarre ideas was the assumption that I'd stay on for about nine months after my graduation, obviously for the absurdly low pay I was making as a student. That arrangement would've worked out very well for him so he assumed I'd be all for it.

Unfortunately for him, I was already working out the terms of my employment with another company. On the other side of the country. Who actually employed real full-time devs for real market-rate pay. There was no chance I'd stay on for longer than necessary.

So I hand-delivered my written resignation, effective in two months – that being the legal minimum notice period based on my employment duration at the time. Boy, was he upset. He thought we had an agreement (that I never agreed to) and that I'd take as much time as needed to finish up that major project we'd recently started (because clearly that's a reason to work for pennies).

Hell no. I did tell him I'd reconsider... if he beat the other company's offer. That would've meant a 200% pay rise. Suddenly he was much more amenable to my leaving.

I've been working at the same place for over a decade, had the same boss for many years. I respect him, so I'll give him at least two weeks when I leave. But if he leaves before me, I'll be giving no notice at all.

My company has experienced a lot of enshittification over the last decade. In the last few years, the company has begun firing people with no notice. That is, you get a meeting notice for a one-on-one with your supervisor (which is a common enough thing), and security is there to walk you out. Someone else is sent to your desk to get your shit for you. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Want to say goodbye to your coworkers? Fuck you.

In the last round of firings, they gathered a hundred or so people in the training center and told them there that they were all fired. Because apparently we're cattle or something.

So yeah, if my boss leaves before I do, I'll be following company policy and give my two-seconds notice with my laptop and badge on a Friday around lunch time.

I just wrote up a small letter saying that I will be leaving and my last day of work will be X day.

If they as questions I do answer them but don't go into detail.

I worked at a place whose policy was that you had to give four weeks notice to get your vacation paid out.

I remember getting the call from the place I was going to where they gave me the offer. I said yes and they asked when I would start. They said "well, you probably have to give like two weeks notice so that would put us at such-and-such date" and I had to tell them that no, I had to give four weeks notice. I remember them being surprised that that was a thing.

At the place I was leaving, I also had a real asshole boss. He decided randomly that we were slacking off or some shit and started demanding 7:00am demoes every day. (I wrote software there.) When I'd secured a position elsewhere, I pulled the boss aside and gave him my 4-week notice. I was the tech lead and lead architect and basically in-charge-guy on the team of only 4 people for "Big Project(tm)". The boss had arbitrarily made up a due date for "Big Project(tm)" and promised that timeline to the managers over him over my team's objections. By the time I quit, the arbitrary deadline had already passed and he was getting pressured. With me gone, it was doomed to slip much later still.

The asshole boss asked me why and I ended up telling him -- politely -- exactly all the problems I had with him. That and leaving him in the lurch of his own making were kinda cathartic, honestly.

The asshole boss got fired on a "do not pass go, do not clear out your desk, security will escort you out" basis after I left. As if I wasn't already overdosing on schadenfreude. What exactly he did to get fired is the subject of rumor only. I heard someone say he called the CTO incompetent and promised to replace him in a meeting with lots of people. Another rumor involved a possible affair with someone else high up in the IT department.

Whatever the case, I think it was more awkward for asshole boss than for me. But he deserved it.

I think it's remarkable that you and several other folks actually give notice. Now-a-days, I think that's somewhat unusual.

A lot of people just bounce. Sometimes they don't even bother telling anyone, they just don't show up and stop picking up the phone. I hear about this happening regularly at my husband's workplace (which to be fair is retail).

I told my last boss when I began reaching final round interviews so that he could plan accordingly. A lot of people thought that was risky and that I should've just quietly lined up my next job and told him I was leaving once I'd accepted, but I liked him and liked the work (it was lab research. I wasn't a big-time scientist, but I'd been managing the lab for a while and actually gave a shit about what we did).

Regarding your situation, I think you did what you could and showed a lot more integrity than is common. Could you have stayed until your boss was back from vacation and then given a proper notice? If so, well... then maybe you should've. If not... then it's unfortunate, but there wasn't much I think you could've done.

Always via email and BCCed to my personal email.

I normally just send an email thats very short saying im resigning effective this date then give 2 - 4 weeks notice.

"Due to the continued denial for training and commensurate pay increases which were part of the employment agreement, I have chosen to explore other options. I am providing 4 weeks notice to allow time for a replacement to be found."

Before the day was done my mamager walked me out of the building with the agreement they would pay me for the 4 weeks but I did not have to come back to the office.

Yes I have. In most cases I gave more than two weeks.

I've never felt awkward about quitting, but I have given notice depending on how fucked over the colleagues I cared about would be.

If I didn't have any, I was out effective immediately.

If I did, I told my colleagues first and used a boiler plate to give the company a two week deadline to replace me.

I've only quit jobs when moving, one I gave 2 months notice and confirmed I would be around for two peak periods. I have done what you did without the vacation bit. Tell them first and then give them the letter.

I've never given two weeks usually I just walk out on the job when I've had enough

Yes. I had a boss cry during the two weeks trying to convince me to stay.

I pretty much have always given at least two weeks notice, the one exception was during training at a warehouse job and I think I was going to get fired shortly if I didn't quit since it was clearly not working. Sometimes you have to give notice in bad situations.

In retrospect I'm glad I took that job anyway though, it got me out of a job I hated and I quickly found a workplace that respected me. I did worry a lot at the time though, I didn't have much savings. Also, a few days after I became unemployed Hurricane Harvey hit us in Houston, which could have turned out pretty badly for me if I lost my apartment or my car, but it had no serious impact on my livelihood. Giving no notice definitely feels better when you have options and the ability to burn bridges.

I haven't. I've only either been fired or quit on the spot after too much BS.