>>I'm sure the system works for you. As long as everybody knows the ground rules, it should work. Here, again, people know the ground rules. As I said, I could walk out today and go to another job, but as an employer, how happily would you hire someone who displays such an attitude toward his employer? Not very? Again, everybody knows the rules, and it seems to work.
>>
>I was on the other end of that discussion. I was offered a job on Wed and asked if I could start Monday. Told them that I needed two weeks to transition out of my current position and that "I'm sure you would appreciate a similar courtesy." They asked me if I could start on Wed.
>
>I declined the offer with some interperate words about professionalism that closed the door to any changing of the mind. The bad news is that a week later I found that I was going to need the job after all. The good news is that the company letting me go (IBM Global Services), despite making what I can only describe as a stupid decision, was very professional in how they handled it. A couple of months notice and a reasonalbe severance package. The other company was also an Outsourcing firm and I have no regrets.

In the end, you have to live with yourself. When you start ignoring your own sense of ethics, that's when you start the long slide. I had a situation a number of years ago when I was still working as an insurance underwriter. I was applying for a position, and the HR person at the other company wanted me to come in for 3 interviews with various people and take a couple of tests, and she wanted me to do it during the day. I told her I couldn't do that because the place I was currently working at was paying me to do a job, not to apply for other jobs. She told me that if I couldn't accomodate them, then I could forget the job. I said ok and walked away. I got a call a week later from the manager of the department that I'd be working in had I gotten the job. He told me that the HR person would be available after hours to give me the various tests etc. Apparently he'd gotten wind of what happened (not from me), and hit the roof. He liked my resumé, and was livid that the HR person felt her time was more valuable than everyone else's and that she expected me to treat my current employer like that. Ultimately, I did get the job.