"At will" employment is yet another reason I would never, ever, move to the US. When I was a child I thought the US was the thing to aspire to. Now I realise they're decades behind Europe in virtually everything. It's like a backwater of civilisation. So glad I'm not American.

It baffles me how anyone still accepts at-will employment laws, why are they still allowed? Please don't try the BS about it giving employees extra freedom, they don't have any more freedom that employees who live in states with proper employment laws have. The only people who benefit from at-will employment are employers.

I've quit two toxic jobs by not showing up for my shift. Felt so much better both times. 2 weeks notice is bull. I'm an employer now and would expect my employees to not give 2 weeks if I treated them like crap

My last jo I did not give two weeks notice. In reading the employee handbook, once you give notice, they can just tell you to leave right then and there, and I wanted my Christmas bonus. I sent HR an email that night that I quit, and told them that is the reason I did not give two weeks, it is a two-way street!!

The " I quit the bosses not the job" can be so true. I'm a mom with children in school, I didn't need a special schedule as much as a consistent one. Told the boss that he could schedule me for whatever days/hours he wanted, however that is what I'd work then each week every week, so then I would work my life around it. Couldn't do it. I did tell him not to schedule before 6 am on the weekends. So he doesn't listen and I was due to be there at 6 on Saturday. Made an error Friday afternoon and got called in to the office and let go. Came home giddy with "I have good news and bad news, bad news first, I got fired, good news , I don't have to bust my a*s to get done with one job to be there at 6. sounds like a win-win to me.

I worked with a REALLY nasty black woman, she was nasty to everyone. And she always played the race card when she was called for her behavior. One day, some government people came and took her out in handcuffs. Seemed that someone had written a letter threatening the president of the USA's life and signed her name. She was found not guilty, but didn't stick around long after that. Everyone had a laugh and wondered who actually did it.

Stop saying people don't quit jobs they quit bosses. Sure, but I have quit plenty of jobs even though I got on well with my boss. I love my last boss, and will be keeping in touch, but my role there could never be more than transitory. I left another job where I loved my boss, and we're still good friends. But corporate started laying off everyone in my role. The writing was on the wall. My boss was let go about three months after i left. When I put in my two weeks, he handed me his CV and asked for a recommendation. Sometimes s**t happens. I gave him one, but it's harder for middle managers to find work

I once worked at a very busy restaurant on the Jersey Shore. The owner had a habit of coming in at noon to do bills and ordering and he was fine. Then he'd go home and tie one on, coming back around 5pm to rant and rave and be a complete creep. This particular day at noon he asked me to do the Specials board that the hour long line out the door could see. I did it and he loved it. Then around 6pm he came back very drunk and particularly bitchy. I had just been sat with 15 people when he pulled me aside and ordered me to redo the Specials board. I told him I was completely slammed and there was already a long line. He started screaming at me in front of the whole restaurant, so I took off my apron and handed it to him, along with my order book, and told him I quit and was going home to have a cold beer. What I didn't find out until later was that he flipped out after I left causing the entire staff of 19 people to also walk out that night. Surprised he didn't drop dead.

Laws allowing "at-will" employment happen because legislators are purchased by corporations who want such laws. Workers need to organize (ever hear of unions? they used to be a thing) and pressure legislators to repeal those laws or face replacement.

I had a former boss think she could swindle me into staying with the office during a busy tax season. I found work with another branch of the company and told my current boss I was leaving. She found out through HR that I was moving laterally and called my new boss telling her I still had obligations to fulfill with her, even though I had given two weeks notice. When she told me I couldn't work for the new boss until I finished with her, I said "I guess I don't work for either place then." And hung up. Why would anyone think that threatening someone like that would work?

Your decision but you are foregoing a reference. Also, Mel is a bad manager - she should have been formally coaching and disciplining you up to and including dismissal for the repeated mistakes.