Getting Rid of Staff With High Access? 730
HikingStick writes "I've been in the tech field for over 15 years. After more than nine years with the same company, I've been asked to step in and establish an IT department for a regional manufacturing firm. I approached my company early, providing four weeks notice (including a week of pre-scheduled [and pre-approved] vacation time). I have a number of projects to complete, and had planned to document some of the obscure bits of knowledge I've gleaned over the past nine years for the benefit of my peers, so I figured that would give me plenty of time. That was on a Friday. The following Monday, word came down from above that all of my privileged access was to be removed — immediately. So, here I sit, stripped of power with weeks ahead of me. From discussions with my peers in other companies, I know that cutting off high-privilege users is common, but usually in conjunction with a severance offer (to keep their hands off the network during those final weeks, especially if there is any ill-will). Should I argue for restored access, highlight the fact that I am currently a human paperweight, request a severance package, or simply become the most prolific Slashdot poster over the next few weeks? Does your company have a policy/process for dealing with high-privilege users who give notice? What is it, and do you make exceptions?"
It's even surprising you must stay. (Score:5, Interesting)
In the early nineties, my dad was a high-privilege employee at a bank. Anyway, due to office politics, he pretty much got the boot because one of the higher ups didn't like him. (You know, how easy it is to fire someone if you really want). He had been working there for nearly 20 years, and according to local law he had 6 months notice. He was disallowed to go to the bank during those 6 months: from one day to another he sat at home.
I heard this is pretty much the rule with high-privilege employees. So, I'd suggest, sit back, enjoy yourself and troll on slashdot as if there were no tomorrow.
As long as they are paying you... (Score:2, Interesting)
The plus side of this is they pay out your vacation.
I'd take it as a hint to do nothing work related unless explicitly asked and do all that tech-reading and skill development I never get to.
Look at it as 4 weeks of paid training by your old company for your new employer
Re:It's even surprising you must stay. (Score:5, Interesting)
It isn't neccesarily personal... (Score:4, Interesting)
Company B, which I left a couple months ago, let me work my entire 4 weeks notice with full access.
I don't know how big a firm your talking about here, but a lot of companies have a pretty firm HR policy on asset access for short timer employees. Before you get too upset, check into the policy and see if your being singled out or if that is just the way the organization works. It certainly sounds to me based on your snippet the latter is much more likely.
Sit back and relax... (Score:5, Interesting)
I spent those two weeks typing documentation on everything I did, and in training one of the junior admins to wrangle SMTP until they found a replacement. The only real benefit I got out of the deal was that I didn't have to carry a pager anymore.
The other benefit? The folks there were okay with me burning off paid sick days to arrange for the U-Haul and to tie up loose ends before the move.
Most companies that I've worked with in the past were similar - you only really lose access to the vital stuff, but there's usually plenty of non-vital stuff that still needs done until you bail.
It is unusual (Score:5, Interesting)
It does seem to me that there's little point in removing access and keeping an IT guy on. If they need to remove access they should just pay you for a month and let you go. The fact that they want you to stay and took away your access says a lot of negative things about them. They don't trust you, but they want to keep you to the bitter end anyway.
Knowledge transfer as much as you wish during this time. If I was being treated this way, it sure wouldn't make me want to seek people out to give knowledge to, but I would probably help anyone who came to me with questions. I do suggest to you that you not ask for your access back. If your company wants to be a jerk about this, let it be a complete inconvenience for them and play by those rules. A company that has already shown that they don't trust you is not going to look favorably on any requests you make for restored access. In fact, they might find it suspicious that you need the access and they might suspect you of planting trojans, etc. Just live with it. In fact, you probably should fight to not get the access back and here's why. If something goes wrong after you leave, your company has shown you that they don't trust you. They might blame you for whatever happens if you get your access restored.
Most companies do not act this way. I've worked in IT for almost 22 years now (since college) and we've either just sent people packing the same day (never for IT staff, but it has happened for sales people and such) or they got to keep their access until they left.
Re:Are you crazy (Score:5, Interesting)
So, I spent 3 months or so picking my nose with little tiny things to do here or there. I was going nuts. I personally don't know how anyone can be at work for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and just "browse the web". I set up a proxy server at home and use FoxyProxy so I could get to any site that was blocked (youtube, fark, but not
I brought in a USB HD with GB's of stuff on it, like... games. I still wanted to slam my face on a fork. Daily.
As a programmer I actually want and need to
So, during my many, many of hours of downtime, I just started looking for a new job on monster, etc. Then I would just leave without even needing to tell anyone, and go on interviews.
Found a new job. Now happy.
Though to be honest, with a state job, once you have about 1 year under you belt, it almost takes an amendment to the state constitution to get you fired. Which was nice from a security point-of-view. Though it also allowed a lot of under-skilled "programmers" to be permanent fixtures.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:It's really the company's decision (Score:2, Interesting)
And your new employer would probably be happy to have you come on sooner rather than later. This shouldn't be a hard sell on either side. The old company yanked your access rendering your willingness to stay on to make the transition as painless as possible somewhat moot. If you no longer want to be there and they no longer want you there, I see no reason why you can't find some way to make that happen.
Re:Nice to know (Score:4, Interesting)
*laugh* That's nothing. One of our tech writers gave his notice two months ago, and has been working on tying up loose ends since.
I've never actually seen anyone give that much notice.
But, yes, giving advance notice and having them lock you out doesn't sound so bad. I've known instances in my company where someone gives notice and gets told "OK, you're on paid leave until you are done" because they don't want people who are leaving poking around in systems.
I guess to some employers, once you say you're leaving, you're persona non grata. If they don't want to use your time any more, it's their dime.
Cheers
Re:It's really the company's decision (Score:5, Interesting)
that pairing allows you to cover and discuss what you where doing and what needs to be picked up.
instead of spending your last weeks finishing your job you spend the last weeks as a source of information as someone else is trained to cover your job.
so far it has worked really well for us
Re:Four weeks??? (Score:4, Interesting)
Once, however, it was a defensive move. My manager was maneuvering to fire me (not justified, but I was a resident alien and appealing would have been more or less impossible) so I resigned before he got the chance--and padded my stay to four weeks, until I had my affairs in order.
Re:Nice to know (Score:1, Interesting)
Thanks for the heads up!
My family owns a couple of businesses, when an employee gives notice -- we say -- thanks, the good news is you can start your new job early. Security escorts them out, problem solved.
It's a waste of money to pay someone who doesn't even want to be working for you. Obviously their output is going to be nill so their pay should be nill.
If your management is piss poor and you don't have proper documentation and SOPs then you place yourself at the mercy of your employees -- which is a very bad place to be.
Re:You're not supposed to finish your projects (Score:3, Interesting)
So aside from it being the moral thing to do, enlightened self-interest also suggests that you should always treat your employer well, odds are, you'll meet them again in a few years.
Re:Access removal (Score:1, Interesting)
I suppose another poster above has a good point regarding needing to know what needs his lack of access creates, and dealing with that while he's still physically around.
Other than that, though... I'm just scratching my head. Maybe HR needs to rethink their policy?
Re:Are you crazy (Score:3, Interesting)
Most likely, something like that will happen to you again - but it's usually temporarily. You're going to get a new job every time?
Then what're you going to do after retirement?
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:It's really the company's decision (Score:5, Interesting)
Your example is exactly why giving notice is not something you really do anymore. I got further screwed. I was nice like you and did all that, then HR came back with a letter, "All vacation is canceled" you cant take vacation after you give notice, you also forfeit all vacation and sick time accrued.
So I sat there and watched TV the last 2 weeks in my office. I was going to document all I knew, I decided that I was not going to as they wanted to be jerks about me being a good guy.
I still get calls from people there about systems that I was the only expert on. I reply with, "what is your PO number for this consulting call? I would love to help you but management and HR told me point blank that everything has to be done by the book."
So they hired another firm to help them, that firm contracts me out as the consultant. It pisses off the upper managers.
see if you can work from home... (Score:5, Interesting)
if they won't do that, ask for severence and be on your merry way enjoying the time off.
I wasn't so lucky. I was 'fired' (new management didnt' understand my role as lead network security analyst, and even worse, feared my knowledge). But because of that fear, I got a severence package and most of the bonus I was promised for helping an outsourcing initiative (no, it wasn't me who was replaced through that). I was also able to collect unemployment. The downside is that I had to explain why I was fired in all of my interviews.
Your company does respect you (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:It's really the company's decision (Score:5, Interesting)
When I was laid off from a previous job-- they cut off my server access immediately. Though it wasn't necessary in my case, it certainly makes sense as a basic policy when letting someone go.
EXCEPT for the fact that they didn't bother to check for running processes first. Completely unaware of the fact that I was about to be laid off, I had kicked of an elaborate SQL script on the live server just before my boss called me into his office. They killed my account with this script still running-- oops. A friend of mine who was still at the company said that the resulting zombie crashed the main Oracle server, requiring a reboot, three days after I left.
So the "safe" choice of immediately removing access caused a major crash, while the "dangerous" choice of not removing access would have caused no problem whatsoever. (I'd say something about irony, but I don't want to kick off a debate on the word's meaning and whether it applies...)
Re:It's really the company's decision (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Nothing new here (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:another option (Score:3, Interesting)
You start with a knight on an empty chessboard and you need to write a simple algorithm to solve for a method where the knight can move over every square of the board only hitting each square once.
it a classic recursion interview question.
its even more relevant in my industry - embedded - where many of our uCs only have a stack depth of 31 so forces the interviewee to think creatively. any questions like "whats stack depth?" might send them straight out of the door....
its always a good problem to look at in a new language as well....
Re:Nice to know (Score:5, Interesting)
I was laid off from one large company once and they provided two months of paid time off. Once they notified me they cut off access. Their take was that my new job was to find another job. The kicker was that if you found another job during that time period then you did not get the payoff package at the end of the two months. Kind of funny, I found a new job just after the check cleared. They setup the rules, we just play by them.
I also had a situation a long time ago where a contractor that worked for me decided he was going to relocate for a new job. He gave two weeks notice. I checked his projects he had which were done and told him that he was no longer needed. I did not have any make work that justified me paying him for another two weeks. Such is the life of a contractor.
And don't forget the main rule here, no one is irreplaceable. No one! Not even you. (Yes, I even mean you there in the back with four digit
Keeping someone who will leave is sometimes good (Score:5, Interesting)
The one time I was laid off I was told it was effective in six weeks. I spent much of that time documenting and training coworkers on projects that I had worked solo on. My network access and other privileges were not affected. I asked the VP of engineering if I could take some of the source code home for reference so that I could answer questions over the phone or by email after I left. He drafted a letter stating that I was allowed to keep the source for this purpose only and that it remained company IP and could not be disclosed to anyone else. We both signed it.
This was about a 150 person company owned by a large international conglomerate. The VP was originally from the conglomerate's corporate headquarters and joined us two years earlier when we were acquired. The rest of management was local. I had been there about four years. A year after my layoff the situation at the company had improved and I was asked to return.
The moral of the story:
I don't deny that it is common to be immediately cutoff when you resign, but it is not a given.
Don't burn bridges.
It's a waste of money to pay someone who doesn't even want to be working for you. Obviously their output is going to be nill so their pay should be nill.
Myself and at least one other poster have demonstrated diligence training those who will be taking over. I think it is far more of an individual judgement call based on past projects and the individual level of trust.
If you are going to be involved in managing those family businesses I would suggest a less black and white perspective. Sorry, but management is not easy and such a black and white perspective often indicate the less capable managers or someone in an unforgiving bureaucratic/politicized environment who needs to cover their ass with policy compliance. That said, I agree that it many cases the proper decision is immediate cutoff, immediately issuing a final check, and wishing them well as you walk them out in a friendly manner. My point is merely that in some cases keeping them around for a little while can be beneficial to the company.
Re:fuck it up for everyone else (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:It's really the company's decision (Score:5, Interesting)
I had a similar story; I got canned, and the second I left the building they started reformatting my equipment to make sure I hadn't left any time bombs. Due to server problem, I'd been using my desktop for development, and I had a huge code package sitting there waiting to be deployed (They fired me because I'd completed it).
So they ended up wiping out the code. Woops. The icing on the cake was that they changed all my passwords, and revoked all my access, but they didn't check for running sessions, so I got home and I was still remotely rooted in a pair of live servers. I changed the MOTD on all the machines I was still logged into to: "When terminating an employee, make sure to abort active sessions before you change the passwords." Then logged off.
I'm sure that sent them into a frenzy of paranoia, but frankly, they were acting like idiots. They went out of business in 3 or 4 months, and the guy who fired me spent a year or so after that trying to get me to do contract work for him.
Re:It's really the company's decision (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, the first time anyone had heard that the company might let people go instead of letting them serve out their two weeks was when our supervisor (who was extremely well liked) gave his two weeks, was given a box and escorted to the door in a very humiliating manner. The company then claimed that it was standing policy in spite of the fact that multiple people of all levels had served out their two weeks. Morale tanked and it was awful for productivity.
Re:It's really the company's decision (Score:4, Interesting)
And there is no need to say that I should have done better documenting this along the way. I did what I could, I even added time into my project estimates to allow me to do just that but when a company is hell bent on making as much money as possible and not care at all what kind of quality it pushes out the door it does not always happen.
The peer I left behind is a good friend of mine and in the months after I left he would email me from time to time asking for hints on the "little problems". I helped where I could but I was limited to memory alone, no more looking at my little notes, hints or tips and tricks stuff in the code.
Don't burn bridges, and transfer knowledge (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't take it personally. Especially if you are leaving a large company.
So.. what to do with your new free time? If you really want to not burn a bridge, spend the time documenting all the little ins and outs of the stuff you really think is important, or that you have had some nagging concerning about. Find out who will be picking up your tasks, introduce them to the folks that you interact with on a routine basis. If you have direct interaction with end users, let your replacement know which end users requires a little more attention, or have difficulty with things. Give your replacement(s) a little "tour" of the more obscure tasks that you do. All systems have little quirks, transfer those bits of knowledge. Any special configurations, unusual setups, etc.
Why would you want to do this. Because it's a professional way to respond. And it is possible that years later it might come back to you. As a personal antidote, when I left my first company (after 13 years), I didn't burn any bridges. They let me keep my system authorities, but what I did was to set up a new account for my replacement and with my replacement looking over my shoulder I started to remove my old accounts, just to make sure that things would still work. I worked closely with my replacement in "cleaning up" all the little hooks that my old admin accounts had and made sure that he had the same access that I did. A few years later in the new company, I was laid off as part of a large downsizing - several hundred people (everyone was literally given notice, told not to touch any system, make one phone call, grab your personal stuff and escorted out of the building - in a very unprofessional manner). My old manager from the original company contacted me and asked if I was part of the downsizing and let me know that "there is a desk here if you need it". (As a final note in this, about 6, 7 months after I was laid off, I received a call from the company that laid me off.. asking for my skills again.. my response was "hell hasn't frozen over yet") -- so the karma works both ways..
"Word came down..." (Score:3, Interesting)
You are done. Speak to your immediate manager for your options, whether that's a severance package or leaving after two weeks. Or decide for yourself and leave. Effectively you no longer work there. Do what's best for you.
Take heart. I have worked for many firms. For one of them I was only 1 removed from the CEO and President. We had regular meetings. I was still ordered off the premises in my own office after I asked for 5 minutes to grab my books and a poster. When I didn't comply in 30 seconds the President picked up the phone and started calling the police for trespass. I waited for 5 minutes on the curb to hand them their keys and security card when he came down to "chastise me" for my decision. I was "de-invited" from a co-workers going away party. That was in 1998.
To see folks continue their positions after giving notice is still a surprise to me. It all depends on your experience.
You can't argue against ignorance and paranoia. If it really matters to you then you will need to negotiate these matters for ending your job at the beginning. Else be glad they donot call the cops or worse, blame you for errors or problems after you leave. I still received threatening phone calls from that firm because they didn't secure the passwords upon my leaving and were still demanding them 2 weeks after I left.
Earn a high wage. Buy awesome toys. Die happy.
Well wishes to you.
Re:As long as they are paying you... (Score:1, Interesting)
Thursday or so:
- Requested vacation for Monday, Tuesday - not only so I could avoid the pointless Monday meeting, but also so I could attend interviews.
- Tuesday, interviewed with a certain Linux company who later sold out to MS (no, not Novell)
- Wed, Thu - at work, but rather unproductive
- Thu evening - attended another interview; told them I might not be long at present company.
- Fri 10am; email was sent to an apparently random list of employees asking them to meet at 11am. 10.50am - email stops working. You can guess the 11am meeting of course.
- 11.30am - supervisor lords over me whilst I clean out my work computer (was nothing of value not checked in). Said computer was later claimed by colleague at my suggestion, who wipes it with Ubuntu. He later gets grief from paranoid higher ups in case there was something of value I'd left on it.
- 12pm or so - take junk and leave (just happened to have driven that day)
- 1pm at home - call Thursday evening company and tell them I'll start Monday.
Severance is 1 month Salary plus some extra amount, _plus_ some extra amount, plus remaining vacation. And that two days vacation - it was normal practice to report vacation at the end of the month - but I wasn't there to do so, but I got paid for that was well. And I also got my quarterly bonus (not much, but still).
Still at second company. And as for the first one - well, I think their love of mediocrity is well reflected here:
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=CNVR#chart6:symbol=cnvr;range=5y;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined [yahoo.com]
Re:It's really the company's decision (Score:5, Interesting)
YOu give your notice...you get to work normally till your last day.
The only thing I can think of is that they know if you do anything stupid...it is a major federal offense..and that that would be a deterrent?
But seriously, some of these systems have MUCH more valuable and sensitive info on them....and the people leaving don't get treated like shit, like many of the posters here allude to...
Re:It's really the company's decision (Score:3, Interesting)
Do that many people REALLY have such a problem with sitting around, doing nothing and getting PAID for it?? I've gotta guess these are the same type people that don't like to take vacations.
I mean, ok...it might get a bit boring if even your basic websurfing access were cut, but it isn't the end of the world. Bring a book or two....your iPod...hell, your gameboy...
I wouldn't mind my hourly billrate for a couple weeks doing nothing but self entertainment.
Re:Nice to know (Score:4, Interesting)
I personally know someone that cost a large company what likely turned out to be a few million dollars when she left. She quit because she couldn't schedule vacation time without working her butt off for 2 weeks preparing things in advance, and then returning buried for 2 months playing catchup because nobody was willing to let her train anyone else (in the WORLD) to do what she did, which was quite a few obscure yet important things. (imagine a 40+ story building that occupies a city block, and 4+ floors of that building can't do their jobs, (jobs where work snowballs when not done) for several weeks, and ongoing impacts to parts of the building for the next 4 months) The result was a lot of heads rolled and several new policies were instituted after about 6 months of unbelievable chaos. "this will never be allowed to happen again" was heard by one of her coworkers as things wound down. At least it looks like they learned their lesson.
Given, that's an exception and not the rule, but it's fun to look at what can happen.
Always give someone a chance to fix a mistake. (Score:3, Interesting)
It's very well likely that the Policy that comes from On High cannot be fixed, but I do think it's a requirement to try-- once. If they can't fix it, I'd do the things in the plan that I can do, and then I'd implement a telcommute policy for the remaining week or two.
From the beach. I've done my due diligence.
I mean, what're they going to do? Fire me?
Relatively honest option (Score:2, Interesting)
When I left IBM to pursue a life worthwhile, I was well aware of how they dealt with folks who intend on giving notice. I knew when I planned to leave and started working on finishing my active projects that could be finished and bringing in more of my employees to co-develop on the projects that would continue to exist after my departure. A couple of key trustworthy developers I clued in to my general departure plan. I did not inform anyone of my specific departure date, in order to give them plausible deniablity.
Management saw me as a wonderful mentor. When I did turn in my notice, I did it on a Friday as I was walking out the door. I came back in on Monday with an escort to officially say goodbye. To my knowledge, everything continued to operate normally without the guy who never got to take any vacation because he was critical to the success of the business.
It was a win win. The corporation had trained personnel in place to continue without disrupted services. I left knowing that any of the projects I had any emotional vested energy would be properly looked after. I happily cashed the paychecks they sent without a twinge of guilt.
Re:It's really the company's decision (Score:5, Interesting)
Layne
Re:Nice to know (Score:2, Interesting)
Ok, I wouldn't do that, but AI worked ata company where someone did do that, and it was software fro a hospital so everyone was scared to let him go.
He got to the point where he just came in at 10, left around 2 and would only handle 'crisis' as per his determination.
I keylogged his ass, and 2 days latter he was let go. Heh, he a actually said "You can't fire me, know one else has my information" And had a smug ass look on his face.
Then I told him the previous passwords to all his accounts, and that they had been changed.
I wish I had a picture of that assholes face right then, priceless.
Re:It's really the company's decision (Score:2, Interesting)
re: Why not take a break between jobs? (Score:2, Interesting)
In some cases, I felt like the new company trying to hire me was really interested in my ability to start almost immediately. Telling them I'd be "ready to go after the standard 2 weeks' notice" with the last employer was a big "selling point" for them hiring me in the first place.
And other times, yes, I DID need the next paycheck ASAP. It's not about being fiscally irresponsible, necessarily. It's about having been forced to live paycheck-to-paycheck because the previous job didn't pay enough to do more than scrape by. (That's why I was trying to get something else!)
Re:It's really the company's decision (Score:2, Interesting)
I have a Top Secret clearance and it took about 9 months to process
But as the previous poster mentioned, when someone on our program gives notice, they work until the very last day. No permissions are revoked until they step foot off the AF base on their last day. In this time, they are tasked/requested to brain dump everything they can think of pertaining to their job. It's very unlikely someone would do something malicious on one our systems. Doing so would mean a very lengthy prison sentence. Even not cooperating would probably get you black listed from any other classified jobs within the company.
However
Re:It's even surprising you must stay. (Score:2, Interesting)
His department wasn't hurting for work and he was supposed to be put on a new project (he liked working and there was no policy to encourage or force retirement). One Tuesday he gets into work at 6:30am before most people and finds out he can't log into the network. At 9am someone from HR and a guard come by, gets escorted to the HR office where he finds out he's been laid off, paperwork is done, personal articles would be boxed and shipped to him, he's escorted out the door. After decades of exemplary service to the company, he was essentially curbed and dumped on the street like a piece of crap with little explanation. His own line of management apparently didn't see what was coming, their department was profitable while the layoffs were otherwise in departments that weren't cutting it. My dad was depressed and confused since he didn't see it coming after decades of praise and bringing profits to the company far beyond what was required by his job.
Turns out he was one of a dozen employees that were laid off the day before, just that he had taken it off so wasn't around for it. The tactics employed for the others were not much different. The others were stopped at the entrance before entering, HR business was conducted near the entrance where other employees could pass by and see, something entirely new for the company.
Also turns out that the only substantial reason for letting him go was that it looked bad to be laying a bunch of people off and keeping a worker who was past retirement around. They figured that at 70 he's already set with a retirement package, social security, his annual and sick leave payouts, and now a big severance package that accounted for 35 years of work, so he's fine. The severance package was great but the layoff tactics employed were horrible, especially considering his decades of past service to the company. My dad even said they could have talked to him about leaving and he would have left, he previously had the impression they wanted him to work as long as he wanted, especially when plans were in motion for him to be on a new project, but they just resorted to the HR boot with little explanation, probably to scare and shake up the other employees, with no consideration for my dad's feelings.
For a couple of days my dad's buddies, some of his coworkers and I spent a lot of time counseling him, but I think the only thing that saved him from depression were the unsolicited job offers that were rolling in within days, for more than he was being paid before. He started working for a new company within 2 weeks that he loves to this day and wonders why he stayed at the old one for so long, kind of like being a victim of abuse, after time you just take it as being normal.
Being laid off like that still gnawed at him for months until he was invited to the old company's Christmas party (like what do those a-holes want?), then some of the partners tried to provide a dinner invitation to ask if he'd like to come back as either a full-time employee or an independent contractor. And he told them, with the way the company let him go, punted to HR and tossed out, why should he come back? Why should he work for a company that doesn't show respect to its valuable employees?
Earlier that same year, I know other well performing engineers and project managers who w
Re:It's really the company's decision (Score:3, Interesting)
I've been laid off with no notice before, and it sucks. Of course, it was because the startup was closing down. I would have preferred more notice, but I understand why the owners did what they did. I would definitely work with them again.
If a employer lays off people with no notice (and no or very little severance) then people talk and it becomes difficult or impossible for the business to hire talented new people. That's why businesses generally offer severance and try and give some sort of warning. If I quit without giving notice I would expect my employer to do the same to me. I don't know what the market is like where you live, but where I live it is relatively easy to get blacklisted.
Besides, I make it a rule to not act like a jerk just because someone else might act like a jerk. For the most part this has worked out well for me.
You may be careless with your own reputation, but I am very careful with mine. I'm only 36 and yet I have already been recruited by a previous boss on several different occasions.
You apparently have a different history, and a different strategy. That's fine.