There’s always a gap between when they decide and when they tell you.
In that gap, they’re building the documentation. Aligning the narrative. Making sure legal has reviewed the language. Making sure the script is ready. Making sure the letter — the one that will appear in your file — exists and is dated appropriately.
You spend that gap working. Going to meetings. Presenting to the team. Sending emails. Building things.
They spend that gap building the case for your removal.
The gap is the cruelest part. Not the firing — the part where you were the only one who didn’t know.