I am about to leave an employer I’ve been with for eight years, and am doing so amicably. I’m sure my last day at the office won’t be terribly productive, but I’m determined not to just “phone it in”, as that wouldn’t feel right. So what was your last day on the job like? Did you spend the day with your feet up on your desk and shooting the breeze with co-workers? Did they take you out for a meal and drinks? Were you escorted out of the building by security after quitting in an epic explosion of rage and instructing the management to perform various anatomically impossible acts? Share your stories, good and bad.
I went around shaking hands with people ( more than a decade’s association) in the shopfloor. My replacement was already in place and was on the job.
Turned in my ID at the security gate and walked out.
I’ve done a couple ~2 year contracting stints since 2008 and my last days on the job were a flurry of organizing stuff and documenting procedures so my successor could take over without too many mysteries. Dropped my badges off with security and off I went.
I got laid off from a job before that and took a separation package. I was there 7 years. I was one of the last to go, so the office was pretty much a ghost town on my last day and the preceding couple of weeks. Kind of depressing actually. Some folks had moved to other positions so I went around and chit-chatted when I wasn’t boxing stuff up to be moved or shredded (mostly shredded). I was kind of late leaving, so as instructed I left my ID in my desk drawer, walked out by myself, and that was that.
I hadn’t really thought about what it would actually be like to say goodbye to people. I’m really not very good with goodbyes at all, so I may be blocking that part out. I’m hoping for a very low-key, dignified exit, but I know it’ll still feel terribly weird walking out of here knowing that I’m never coming back.
I could have done without the handcuffs.
When I retired (nearly 2 years ago - yoiks!!) my last day was just a few hours long. My going-away lunch had been a couple of days earlier, so I got to say most of my good-byes then. I’d packed out all of my personal stuff already, and I think they’d taken my computer the day before. Because my job required security clearances and “read-ins” to certain programs, the main part of my last day was being debriefed. After signing the agreements that I wouldn’t tell anyone about what I had been doing and acknowledging that they could toss me in jail if I did, the security person took my badge and walked me to the lobby. I walked to my car, pulled out of the parking lot, and realized that after 37 years, I could no longer get on a military base without an escort or a sponsor… weird.
The other strange thing was that my boss didn’t say a word to me that last day, and he was gone from the office when I had to go. Altho my computer was gone, I was able to log on to the network via a coworker’s computer, and I wrote my boss an email saying things that I found difficult to say in person. GOOD things, really! He was the best boss I’d ever had, but our relationship was full of snark, and I didn’t know how to be sincere without getting snarky with him. So I put it all down in the email, hit send, and left. A couple days later, I got an email from him at home - he’d been deliberately absent because he didn’t want to cause a scene. I knew we were friends (we had been coworkers before he became my boss) but I thought I was just one of the guys. Turns out he relied on my point of view a lot because I was the oldest one there (older than he by 10 years) and he just liked me. I’m glad I didn’t find that out till I was gone - it would have made things weird.
My last day was last Friday. My coworkers for the most part were out of the office. I’d had my exit interview and goodbye events the day before. I took care of some stuff, had a last phone meeting with my boss, said goodbye to a few people, and was out the door by 1
I started my new job as a trophy wife this week 
Congratulations! 
It was pretty much a day long party. My coworkers gave me a bunch of gifts and mementos in the morning (including a hilarious photo album chronicling my time at the company) then we went out for a boozy lunch and just came back and chatted until about 3pm when I left for the final time.
My plant was making money, more
than any like us had before.
Yet, the frowning pinstripes
coughed and typed me,
“That’s not the buzzword now.
We’re sorry, but you’ve got to see,
You’ll never fit our new profile,
Our Long-Term Strategy.”
Came thirty years, the plant was sold.
The sign pulled off, the boiler cold.
The last thing done, went down again
to let him know.
It seems there’s nothing left to try…
Ed, I think , I’ve done all that I could.
The cobwebs fluttered, I nearly felt,
I almost heard,
“You know, we always thought you would.”
And then, I thought, “Good-Bye”
Unfortunately, my last day at work was usually a pretty normal day until I was called into my boss’s office late in the day. . . .
Sorry to hear that. What were the details? General layoff, or something specific to you?
I retired from the U S Postal Service seven years ago. My last day was bittersweet. I loved my co workers, customers and the job in general but despised the management.
We had a little ceremony on the workroom floor where the postmaster said nice things, gave and gave me a card with some money in it from the staff. I gave a short little thank you speech and everyone went on with their day. Lots of goodbyes out on the route.
I was the only carrier back at the office at quitting time. I went to the break room and changed into street clothes, left my uniform shoes, pants, shirt and hat in a neatly folded pile at my case (work station), gave my supervisor a hug and went home.
I’ve never gone back.
Having quit 2 jobs and been laid off from 2, the ones I quit were pretty low-key. The first one I told my boss (who I trust) that I was going to be leaving in several months, so he had a long time to prepare. My last week was really just a round of hanging around, drinking a lot of coffee and shooting the breeze with people, and running my boss and my replacement through all of the stuff I used to do for the final times to make sure they had it down.
The next job was much the same way, except I only gave them 2 weeks notice. I worked during the last week, but the final day was just saying bye to people and hanging out.
The layoffs were more immediate- one was a mass layoff of 60% of the company’s workforce (a dot-com), and we were notified by letters on our chairs when we came in the morning, and the opportunity to talk to our boss, who was as shell-shocked as we were. I think I was there for 10 minutes total, including using the bathroom before going home.
The final one was fairly excruciating- the big boss was in from NYC, and I got summoned to go see him along with our local guys, and got the usual “it’s hard to let you go” speech, when in reality, it was as much a firing as a layoff; I ended up getting mad and it became a bit of a fight. I left, and got my stuff and that was that- I was home by 2 pm.
I don’t remember much about the last day at my last job, and that was only 5 years ago. I do remember that we were going to a Korean buffet that I liked for lunch, but when we got there, it was closed for renovations & new management. 
It was pretty nice actually. I was working as a contractor project manager for a large insurance company. I knew ahead of time that due to recent economic issues, they were no longer converting contractors to full time and my contract would end in a few weeks once my project concluded. Which was a lot better than most contractors who would go home and find out they wouldn’t need to come back the next day. So mostly my last week was spent wrapping up my project and having going away lunches with the various teams I worked with. My team bought me a cake.
A few years back in 2009, I was laid off from another large insurance company. It wasn’t unexpected as the company was going through some big layoffs. I was given a big severance package and told my job would be eliminated in 30 days. As I no longer had a boss or bosses boss at this point, my “last day” was mostly me returning my stuff and then “working from home” for next month.
But usually when I leave a company, within 15 minutes it’s like I forgot I ever worked there and I hope they feel the same.
Back in 2010, after 11 years at our local public television station, I decided my short hours (<20 per month) didn’t warrant continued employment. I notified my supervisor and provided the station two months notice. In that time no one was hired to replace me. I worked as usual until the end of my employment. After two months everyone had forgotten that I was leaving and on my last day I went around at my usual departure time (2 pm) and told the usual people (my office mate and the business manager) that I was out for the day. In short, no one realized I was gone for good. I thought it a bit funny. I received a call a few days later from the business manager asking where I was. I have no idea what conversations were held following that call.
I don’t remember. I got laid off a permanent job, then took a temporary job, then worked for several years at a part time job, from which I took a leave of absence, and never went back.
As for individual jobs, there were some in which I was escorted from the building by security personnel.
Oh yeah, I had one of those. In my case I was told they had to get rid of someone and that someone was me. A friend of mine was the hr guy and he just sat there with his head in his hands like “I can’t believe this is happening”. My boss then escorted me from the building - the long way through the warehouse past all my workmates.
I was going back to school in a few weeks anyway and ended up in a much better job so it all worked out for the best.
I left AT&T as part of the trivestiture. I left at the same time as about 1/3 of our center. They had a big going away party where the people staying said good bye to the people leaving. Since it was mostly voluntary (except for a very few) and we who left got a nice pot of money, it was all very positive. Given that the end day was Jan. 15, and we had to use our personal days which got recharged Jan 1. before then, and since it was all in a churn, very little work got done.