And then he was fired.
This is the second "quitting mad" I've seen. The feeling seems to be
something like the irrepressible desire that gets piled up sometimes in
the ranks of the army to "tell 'em to go to hell" and take the
consequences. It's the result of accumulated poisons of overfatigue,
long hours, overwrought nerves, "the military discipline of the mills."
The practical advantage of being "given the hook" is that you can draw
your pay immediately; whereas, if you simply leave, you have to wait for
the end of the two weeks' period.