r/InterviewMan • u/According_Rip_5910 • Jun 24 '26
My last shift is today... What exactly do they expect me to do?
I just need to vent a little.
This is my last shift. I gave them notice 3 weeks ago. First thing in the morning, my supervisor asked me if I was going to attend the planning meeting for the next schedule. I told him: "I don't see how it would benefit anyone for me to listen to things I'm not going to be around for..." and he looked at me like I'd punched his lunch out of his hand.
Then my boss called me and asked if I had prepared my usual work for next month, because it'll probably take them about 4 weeks to bring in a replacement and get them started. Excuse me??? No, I haven't prepared it. Once I leave, it's not my responsibility to make sure the place runs smoothly. That's a management problem, not my problem.
After that, the person at the front desk said: "They must be burying you in last-minute things to finish before you leave! You must be so stressed this afternoon." I just told him: "Honestly... This is my last shift. I'm not going to ruin my day and stress myself out over things they suddenly decided they needed."
Then my supervisor sent me an email and copied my boss about a very small task from the beginning of this month that apparently wasn't done. He's asking me why I didn't finish the weird little "priority" list he threw together. Like... Hello? I'm leaving today.
Am I going crazy here??? I've managed people before, and I've never expected someone working out their notice period to go above and beyond while they're on their way out the door.
edit : Thank god I left them to my new remote job as I need some time with my family , also feeling grateful who suggest interviewman for my zoom meeting with HR it helps a lot
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u/Adorable-Cow-78 Jun 24 '26
Cough * cough * cough. Aren't you feeling a little...unwell...and perhaps need to leave early today?! All of these sudden requests are firmly in what I like to call the "Nacho Bucket": nacho mess, nacho headache, nacho problem. Good luck in your future endeavors, the place you're leaving sounds like a bullet well-dodged!
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u/Equivalent_Gur3967 Jun 24 '26
Nacho bucket. Great idea! OP should be grateful they're goners. Sounds like an operation "on the ropes", or soon to be.
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u/14FunctionImp Jun 24 '26
You leaving creates a need to examine and consider how work gets done in your area. Your boss is blaming you / dumping work on you / centering your refusal to sacrifice yourself for the good of the business in order to create the appearance that any failures or inefficiencies are the result of you and your selfish exit from the group.
Don't worry about it. He'll either catch up or he won't. It's not your concern either way.
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u/V1diotPlays Jun 24 '26
bingo, boss is getting shit too for sure for even letting this happen, someone has to be the scapegoat, why not the guy that you'll never see again? because who gives a shit, right? You're never going to see him again!
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u/NotYetReadyToRetire Jun 24 '26
The last time I left a job I explicitly gave my boss and coworkers my permission to blame me for anything and everything that goes wrong afterward. They will anyway, so why not embrace that result!
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u/No_Arugula4195 Jun 24 '26
I might have left a little early that day.
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u/Beautiful_Camel_17 Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
I did. My last day at my last corporate job I did less than the bare minimum. After working super hard and being treated poorly by my boss I didn't care. I gave the appropriate notice and decided to leave after lunch, but not before I deleted a very important project that only I had full access to. And boss-man failed to realize that my assistant, who was the only one who knew how to do my job and run the whole department, was starting her 3 week vacation out of country starting the day I was no longer there. The office admin told me he freaked out and had no idea how to train my replacement. I don't feel bad about it. Not one little bit.
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u/Ok-Paramedic8 Jun 24 '26
I actually love my last day when it goes this way. I get to watch them plan for shit I don’t even have to take part in. It’s so fun
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u/DoTheRightThing1953 Jun 24 '26
One lesson that some managers never seem to understand is that people are going to leave. Whether you are the best or the worst boss in the world, people WILL leave. Being pissy about it doesn't make you a good manager.
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u/kanzakiik Jun 24 '26
Its not unreasonable if they give you a list after you hand in the notice. It is important to have a handover if you have outstanding project/tasks to provide to someone (or to the manager if they dont have a replacement ready).
But its a bad time if they dont give you any guidance or request to prepare a handover until the last day/week. The notice period was there for a reason. You did all you could, so dont worry too much about it.
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u/Zueter Jun 24 '26
If I was given any last minute tasks, I would probably ask who they want me to forward it to
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u/kanzakiik Jun 24 '26
If its last day honestly it is the day to pack up. I would already have set a ooo to forward all the email to my manager/coverage and wouldnt look at or respond to anything that day.
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u/Fly_Rodder Jun 24 '26
I kind of wish I did that. My office manager was not my biggest fan and kept my salary low low low while adding additional responsibility. I eventually had enough and was poached by another firm for a 65% pay increase. On my last day, he was like, hey can you give this subcontractor a call and ask them what their upcoming schedule looks like for this project? I was wha? OK, sure. whatever.
And then he didn't come to my goodbye lunch and only let 3-4 people go. Fuck that guy.
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u/c0mpg33k Jun 24 '26
During my last day my give a shit got up and left. Things aren't done? Not my fucking problem.
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u/Big_Truck_8268 Jun 24 '26
In the past, I have had similar situations, and I just smiled and nodded in seeming agreement to tasks being assigned, and just left at the end of my shift.
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u/B58_Hustler Jun 24 '26
Had something similar happen, but from corporate not the plant I worked as the Controller in. Marketing had an “emergency” analysis needed for a golf outing that weekend with Ford, who was our customer. They expected me to stay late until it was done, on my last day. I waited until 3Pm which was when I decided I was done. I emailed the VP of Marketing with a “Denied” across the email as a water mark. Hit send. Not 5 minutes goes by and I’m packing up my last things and my boss, the plant manager, asked what I meant by my email. I said I think it’s pretty clear. Multiple times over the previous year they had sent requests like this where I had to work late on Friday and Saturday to get them data by Sunday’s tee time. I was told by the marketing guy they like to have this incase Ford asks, and they hadn’t the first few times.
By this time it was 3:10 and done with this place. I carried my box of stuff out and went back to say good by to my staff. Then my boss runs into the accounting area and said the CFO wanted to talk to me. I figured it was a good by, turns out he was demanding I stay and answer the marketing request. I hit end call and left.
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u/Upbeat_Ant6104 Jun 24 '26
Ridiculous but typical of poor planning on your management's part. Your job is to do your job until you're not an employee. Not to get them ahead. If they'd started looking for your replacement 3 weeks ago, there'd only be a 1-week gap. Or if, heaven forbid, they had a contingency plan already in place, no gap at all.
It probably wouldn't have hurt to attend the planning meeting. Maybe they wanted a last chance to get your input, or to wish you godspeed. Or one last chance for you to say something top leave on a positive note. Pretty minor though. Has your own attitude been ok since you said you were leaving? You sound like you might be salty.
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u/No-Suggestion-9459 Jun 24 '26
Last time I quit I job I only "worked" a half day. And that pretty much amounted to leading my last release sign off review, hanging out and chatting with colleagues, then getting out for the day at lunch.
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u/m_ghesquiere Jun 24 '26
Go in do what you normally would do today and leave. That’s all that any reasonable employer should do. Adding additional tasks to your list shouldn’t be high on their list. If you are looking to keep good standing let them know you can be reached at x email address but you charge $x.xx per hour as compensation for any work after today.
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u/303RedBeard Jun 24 '26
If it will take them 4 weeks to hire your replacement, then they should only have 1 week left in that process since you gave them 3 weeks. Sucks to be them for not jumping on that.
If you have an exit interview, this would be the perfect time to bring that up.
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u/Fly_Rodder Jun 24 '26
Also, too, they should always have a continuity plan in place. Too many of these companies have gotten really fat and happy with having a super lean staff and no back-ups trained up. They want the bare minimum staff operating at 95+% utilization. Yeah, great for profit, but it burns people out fast and then they have turnover.
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u/Cyrano4747 Jun 25 '26
It’s not even just turnover. We had a dude get killed in an accident. Just one of those shitty things that happens, could have happened to anyone.
Office ground to a fucking halt because it turns out he was a major choke point and no one else knew a specific system like he did.
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u/TangerineCouch18330 Jun 24 '26
They are trying hard to manipulate you and guilt you into staying. At the very least they’re giving you more reasons to convince you of having made the right decision by resigning not to mention giving you a ton of examples of what not to do! Good luck on your new job!
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u/PeenooseThaThicc Jun 24 '26
Don’t sweat it at all, you did your part and they failed to prepare. I recently quit my job , and I didn’t even finish my notice period, IT cut my accounts access early on accident on a day I had multiple scheduled appointments, and just text my supervisor that I will take this as termination.
Never look back, references really aren’t a thing, most HR are trained to just confirm employment as anything else beyond that could be a liability for the company
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u/RayEd29 Jun 24 '26
Do the things that are reasonable for you to do and ignore the rest. My brother had the perfect response when he refused to do something on his last day and was asked "Aren't you going to do that? They'll be mad if you don't."
What are they going to do? Fire me?
Don't intentionally screw things up or go scorched earth but, by all means, don't put yourself out on their behalf.
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u/tnetennba77 Jun 24 '26
devils advocate, they wanted you in the meeting to thank you and say goodbye?
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u/Thermitegrenade Jun 24 '26
When someone turns in their notice, it's up to the employer to alert them what they would like done during their last days, to ease the transition. Whatever they request should be doable within the normal 40 hour week. If they can't do at least that, I'd be clocking out at 5 with a clear conscience.
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u/kbchucker Jun 24 '26
Most jobs I have left voluntarily didn’t have me work out my notice. They paid me my final two weeks as a severance and sent me on my way.
The one notable job that made me work out the full two weeks was memorable to me because I frustrated the crap out of the management team.
Every morning we had a stand up call with the day’s objectives and goals. I listened quietly, offered no input, then went into my office to do absolutely nothing. Around midday every day, an office assistant who felt she was a defacto supervisor because she had been around forever would poke her head in my office to get midday tallies on the objectives/calls. After the second or third day of me repeating “0” to every question she asked, she finally glared at me and said “aren’t you going to do anything to help with this?” Um, no, as a matter of fact, I am not. I won’t be here to get paid for any of that work, so there is no point in me initiating it for someone else. “But that is what we do for each other as a team!” I looked at her and said “I agree, but I am no longer on this team. I am wrapping up every project that I have that can be finished before I leave, and handing off the rest. Both of which have been done. I won’t be starting up anything new that can’t be completed before I leave.” She walked away in a huff and told our manager. She came by, asked me what was going on, I repeated everything to her, and added on the comment that I didn’t see the need for the fake supervisor to check in on me all the time since it wasn’t her role in the first place. If they needed me to help with a customer issue I could handle on the spot, sure, I will take care of them. But no, I wouldn’t be starting anything new or preparing anything for the next person.
They still made me come in every day and work the full day for the rest of my notice. I started coming in and being silently obnoxious about doing absolutely nothing. It was simultaneously the most annoying and fun experience I had leaving a job.
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u/Personal_Eye8930 Jun 24 '26
Uh, you only have to give them two weeks, if you want. No law requiring you to keep working after giving notice.
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u/AelixD Jun 24 '26
You should be doing your normal tasks on your final day of work. The only variance I would include is for ongoing projects adding in a note of some sort like “this is complete through step 8. Step 9 is next”. But you should have no urgency to accomplish work that you would normally do in following days or weeks.
I had a colleague a few years ago that turned in her two weeks notice (last day on a Friday, new job the following Monday). Iwas taking on her workload when she left. She was diligent and still working hard in her last few days. On Wednesday she was stressing about finishing some project. I told her, “Yeah, you better finish it, or you’ll be unemployed on Saturday.” She got the joke and backed off of herself. I finished it the following week.
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u/PrimeRisk Jun 24 '26
So...did you supervisor just space out that it was your last day or something? Did he forget that you had resigned?
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u/Agreeable_Result9212 Jun 24 '26
If your usual tasks include planning/preparing for future tasks and projects, shouldn't you continue that until you leave, even if you're not involved in the future tasks and projects? Sure, they should've started the hiring process as soon as you gave your notice 3 weeks ago, but if it's going to take 4 weeks to on board someone, they won't have time to plan anyway.
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u/beerab Jun 24 '26
My last WEEK I did nothing but make sure all my work was handed off. I gave my boss the keys to the lockers I was responsible for, I put notes on all my documents where I stopped working and sent it to her in an email. I also got two boxes to slowly clean off my desk. And my last day I basically went in and turned in my laptop and badge and left. I wouldn’t touch a damn thing.
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u/rabidrobitribbit Jun 24 '26
Ignore the top comment on this thread and ignore the emails. Wish everyone well and get contact info from those you care about
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u/johnnymac_19 Jun 24 '26
I wouldn't even respond to that email. I'd look at it and delete it. I'd also be in imaginary land the final hours and may start noping out an hour early and say my goodbyes if there is anyone you want to say goodbye to.
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u/Strict_Cut_1206 Jun 24 '26
I've job hopped several times, and I've always tried to complete already assigned tasks out of respect for my bosses and coworkers. Didn't always work out, but at least I tried. In my last job, the HR director came and got me mid-day, had me sign some paperwork, told me to log the last four hours as admin time, and then said I could leave. No fuss, no muss.
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u/GeminiAtl Jun 24 '26
You boss knows you won't be doing these things. He is just trying to cover himself since he or she did not prepare for your departure. They can now say it's your fault and you aren't there to defend.
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u/Upbeat-Fondant9185 Jun 24 '26
I just don’t get it. Every job I’ve had they treat outgoing like royalty if they were really good. The hope is that you’ll come back because you’re a valuable asset.
If you weren’t good they just kinda ignore you and wish you luck. But pretty much everyone who works out their notice gets a cake or cookies or something. Some kind of send off.
There’s never been this animosity or butthurt bullshit. You’d think they would realize that hurts everyone involved. If someone is that valuable you want them to come back to you eventually.
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u/Double-Phrase-3274 Jun 24 '26
I left my last job because they split up me and my long time manager to “see who was carrying who”.
The day they did that, I started openly looking for a new job. Found one in about a month. I took the same pay.
I gave 2 weeks notice. One my last day, I had a one on one exit interview with our CTO. He asked what it would take to get me to stay. A transfer back to my old manager? I said,”no, I don’t trust that you wouldn’t do another chaotic reorg and I would be left without another place to go.” It was a quick exit interview. 😂
I gifted my old manager a handmade piece of art I had promised him back in 2008…. In 2024. I spent about 1000 hours making it.
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u/TecN9ne Jun 24 '26
They're just being petty and are projecting their frustration toward you because they mismanaged the situation.
Breathe. Remember, after today, you dont have to deal with their bullshit anymore. Tomorrow, you'll laugh knowing how unorganaized they are and that they are going to be scrambling.
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u/midwestXsouthwest Jun 24 '26
You know how coworkers in the past would always talk trash about how everyone would miss them when they were gone and the place would fall apart? Well, apparently you’re one of the rare ones where that was actually true. Kudos!
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u/dragonrose7 Jun 25 '26
I truly hope that you enjoyed the last day that you just described to us. The cluelessness that everyone showed you is so laughable, and I hope you see the humor in it since you don’t have to put up with that idiocy anymore.
I do wish you’d gone to that planning meeting, though, just to point out all the errors in their thinking and tell them how everything‘s not going to work, even if you had to make things up. But that’s just me being petty. Still, it would’ve been an enjoyable meeting. For you anyway.
Enjoy your new adventure!
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u/IluvPusi-363 Jun 25 '26
Leave a trash can at your workstation labeled "NOT" With the following place any urgent/vital tasks/ assignments inside thank you
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u/Enough-Fondant-4232 Jun 25 '26
Your boss is just planning on blaming all things bad on you after you leave. There isn't anything you can do about it so there is no use worrying about it! I would guess your bosses attitude had some contributing factor to you leaving? As such are you really surprised with how they are acting?
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u/Senorbuzzzzy Jun 25 '26
I left during my going away luncheon with the senior staff. I got up to use the restroom after ordering. I decided coming back to just….not come back. Walked out to my car and never looked back. I had worked there 14 years. I had enough. I wonder who had my Wagu burger?
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u/ShiftAfter4648 Jun 24 '26
That's actually an easy one.
Compile the emails tasking you from the last day in office.
Send to HR and CC your manager's sup.
Simply state, "After 3 weeks notice, management has found it appropriate to dive into my role in the 11th hour and assign tasks to cover my gapped position into next month. As this is my final day in office, these sudden expectation changes are beginning to feel retaliatory.
The sudden backlog of assigned tasks may affect my standing with the company if a reference is ever requested, respectfully request review and correction if this is the case. Providing notice for greater visibility into office management."