One of the best employees at my company just put her two weeks notice in and accepted another job elsewhere. The company asked for a 4 week notice, because her job would be very difficult to replace. Being a very good person and never one time being in any trouble, she did what she felt was the right thing and accepted this (big mistake).
Fast forward four weeks. The company throws her a huge going away party with gifts and a cake. The next day, her last one before she was set to begin her new job, she got fired and was told by her new job that they would not be taking her on as an employee. Turns out the extra two weeks wasn’t just extra time to find a replacement — it was to make sure bad references got sent out so that she would get screwed out of BOTH jobs. Among a lot of other nonsense caused by this is her entire family was on her health insurance. All gone in an instant, and this was done to an employee that everyone LOVED.
The lesson, as always — two weeks notice is based on respect, and NO company deserves that respect with how they screw the working class. Just get a new job, say nothing to anyone, and leave. It’s the best way to protect yourself.