I'd seen the "fire him 26 hours before his pension kicks in" behavior first-hand in the workplace.
My boss had back surgery.
Surgery went OK, but was told he'd never play soccer with his kids again.
My former employer was in the process of laying off 8500 people.
The director of my department knew my boss was sweating over possibly losing his job. He had told this guy that he was recovering from back surgery, on meds, not functioning at 100% in order to seek some kind of mercy for his situation.
Slowly, methodically, they carried out their layoffs.
And the director saved my boss for last. It wasn't the luck of the draw...it was deliberate and carefully staged. My boss thought the layoffs were over and that he had escaped the noose.
That's the tip of the iceberg...let's just say that the company was run in a very "Trumpian" manner, and was the primary reason I started my own business 17 years ago.