body: I used to work as a contractor for a construction company, when one day, a manager brought me over and casually said "I'm letting you go." So I checked out early because I had asked to go home early that day. 
  
  
  I come back the next 3 days and work, business as usually, when on the third day the same manager appeared and became irate with me still being on the field. I had apparently been dismissed when he said "let go" and refused to pay me for the time I had worked already. 
  
  
  I had threatened legal action and he eventually surrendered what he owed me, but now I am wondering how it might've played out had he not.
  
  
  My question here is, how clear must an employer's language be before an employee's dismissal is effective?
  
  
  
title: How understood must an employee's firing be in order to be effective?