I am in a much better environment! This was about 10 years ago, and that particular store closed. I also ghosted that job. They had been harassing my trans coworker friend so we just stopped showing up. They did NOT try to call me :)

This guy fucks, what a kind soul

Don't you ever stop being you, you're needed.

Because the store management isn't going to organize with us rabble. It's also hard to mimic the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars worth of sales that regional looks at in their accounts. Pulling the wool over their eyes on that level is getting into bank fraud territory, and would require the aid of, and not just also not showing up, of bank workers.

Sometimes I wonder how people get away with stuff like this. I recall that story from Spain, I think, where a guy was getting a paycheck for like 20 years but not working at all. I guess they did a reorg and his new 'boss' didn't know about him and he never got work assigned and he just stopped showing up...for years.

It has to be a pointless job to start with, right? If I just didn't work at my job for a week it would probably get noticed. If I no-showed completely it certainly would.

I'd probably be given the benefit of the doubt for a few weeks if I just stopped producing work. I could maybe make it a month before someone said something about my performance but only because sometimes the things I work on take a while to come to fruition. And missing meetings isn't uncommon because of conflicts/being super busy.

Id probably also get the benefit of the doubt if I no-showed too. But after a two days they'd call my wife or come by my house, or send the police department to my house to check on me.

To be fair this is a counterpart for being harder to get fired compared to some USA states. It makes the economy less fast to adjust but it makes people's life less stressful.

Depends on the country. Where I live, the maximum permitted by law is 30 days (unless both the employer and the employee agree on a different termination period). That goes for both firing and quitting.

I don't know what are you talking about. In my country the standard is two weeks and max one month in special cases. I've participated in the hiring of multiple people from different European countries and they never asked for more than one month to join in, except when they wanted to relocate.

I have 6 months in Germany, all managers at my company get this. I find it a bit too much, but it can usually be negotiated

Maybe this is a difference between countries, but is fired for cause and laid off treated different? Like I can understand and appreciate the protections if your position is eliminated or something. In the US we have unemployment insurance where you can get I think 3/4 of your normal pay if laid off. But if you get fired for cause then you're on your own.

Yeah, that company is really tolerant. I'm guessing OP could've negotiated a sabbatical with people that lax.