Employee hands in notice after getting hired for another job, only to be told on their first day the company already hired someone else: ‘I'm not gonna let them get away with this’

Should employees give any notice before they quit their jobs, or should they simply resign and refuse to work even one minute after that?

In the span of two weeks, the employee below would have changed their answer from the former to the latter. Those two weeks were the exact duration of their notice, and in that time, they learned a valuable lesson about employment and its rules. The main thing they learned is that no one waits around for you, no matter what. If you want something to happen, you've got to make it happen as soon as possible, and not let time have the opportunity to sweep in and mess with your plans.

This employee, being the responsible adult that they are, was looking for a new job while they were still working the job they wanted to leave, so that they wouldn't find themselves jobless. A few weeks ago, they got a job offer and were happy to sign with this new company and start this new journey. 

However, they were contractually obliged to give their current workplace a two-week notice, so they had to make sure that the new workplace was willing to wait those two weeks before they were able to come in for their first day. After some back and forth with the HR of the new job, it was confirmed that the employee will come in for their first day this week, and they even signed a new offer letter with the new date to set it all in stone.

Since then, the employee hasn't heard from the new company anything at all, until the day before they were supposed to start their new job, which was also the day they officially left their old one. Apparently, during these two weeks, the new workplace decided they didn't want to wait for the employee to make themselves available, and hired someone else for the job. 

That is how the employee found themselves quitting their old job while simultaneously losing the new position. Which brings us back to the question: Should they have provided a two-week notice in the first place?