Idiom meaning, usage examples, facts

1. Constance finally quit her job because the situation was becoming intolerable. The boss asked her to make the coffee and act as a hostess even though she was hired as an accountant. The straw that broke the camel’s back came when the boss asked her to go out and buy his family’s Christmas presents and then complained because she couldn’t get her work done.
2. First the builder dropped paint on their new carpet. Then he backed his ladder through their window. They told him to get out and not come back when he backed his truck over their prized flowerbed. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back

Synonym: last/final straw. Both expressions suggest the idea of loading straw (a relatively light material) onto a camel’s back until one more light straw (the last straw) breaks the camel’s back.