but I thought I was doing something honorable or some shit.

Years ago, when I gave the boss my resignation letter, she asked me to stay longer than the required two weeks so they would have enough time to train my replacement… I was a sucker who stayed for 4 weeks and didn’t even get my last paycheck. I now know this is illegal, but back then I thought if I complained they wouldn’t give me a reference and I would be stuck without a job (low self-esteem makes it really easy for others to exploit you).