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Shipped around for a new job, got a offer in hand but didn't give notice yet

Got laid off before I gave notice. I was the only one who couldn't stop smiling in the exit interview "your taking this very well".

A few months later got a contracting job with the first company on the side. Which was basically a 3x hourly raise to keep them afloat while they restructured. I'm sure I would have gotten that offer even if I didn't take it well, but I'm sure it helped.

is getting laid off with severance good or bad

That depends on a whole host of factors. In Japan, for instance, it's really hard to lay someone off or fire them legally without a whole bunch of steps. The one exception (and is a lay-off with no severance) is the company is in dire financial straights with proof of that. Often, though, if they want you gone, you take 'voluntary retirement/separation', they pay you a large chunk of your yearly salary, and you go on your way.

In the US, I took a similar buyout once and narrowly avoided needing a second one by quitting before things got that crazy. In both cases, it was a bunch of mergers and buyouts that shook up several companies, one of which I was employed at.

I once left a job for a better position. Around 3 months later the recession kicked off, massive government cuts hit and LOADS of people lost their jobs. I was really really lucky that I was in reliable work.

Three times I have left a job only for the business to close up shortly after.

In high school I worked at a video game store, I worked 40 hours a week. We went through a lot of managers during the year or so I worked there, but at the end we had this manager that was just stealing from everybody's register. He would give you like $5 to tell you to go buy a couple of burgers in the food court and then would just steal money out of the register using your employee number. We caught wise to it and would count down our registers and then at the end of the day we would call into corporate and tell them how much money we think he stole from our register. All of the cashiers were fired or quit when they saw others getting fired, The manager was promoted, and 2 months later the store was closed for almost 6 months before it got completely rebranded.

When I was in college I worked at a restaurant 7 days a week. I prepped food and washed dishes. When I told my boss I needed to go down to 6 days a week so that I could spend a day helping my mother he decided to close the restaurant down one day a week. When I tell my boss I needed to go down to 5 days from 6 days, he closed the restaurant another day each week. When I finally quit, the restaurant remained open for 4 more months before it was shut down completely.

After college I went to go work at a laboratory. I started as a janitor, talk to myself into maintenance responsibilities and eventually started and managed a CAD/CAM department. When I finally got fed up for getting paid in pocket lint and praise I gave them 30 days notice and was fired 14 days into it. The business closed its doors 90 days later.

Now I've just started a new job, I was at my old job for 5 years and was responsible for about 65% of the work on a day-to-day basis. My friend that I got a job there is looking for the exit and when he leaves I don't think they have any choice but to just turn off the lights and go home.

I raise you a Burned Down + Owner go totes cray cray during Covid Shutdown.

Same chef used to regularly burn pizzas on my tickets and I'd have to refire my meals to serve when his re-dos were done.

Also belittled me in front of customers over a tostada not being crispy enough one time.

Isn't that unlucky? You would probably have gotten severance