To leave half a day early?

[Isthismykarma]

I’m currently working my notice period after having issues with a new manager. He has already made somebody leave without notice, and a new member of staff doesn’t think they will last their probation period.
However, love the company and all my other colleagues.
My notice period ends next Friday lunchtime. Thursday is the day everyone is in the office, that’s when we are going for a little lunch to see me off and say goodbyes. Nobody goes in on Friday but I would have to to work the half day and hand back equipment. Manager would also be there but no one else. Office is 90 min commute each way, for the sake of less than a 4 hour last day.
Manager just won’t have it and will make my life hell if I go to him and mention trying to leave on Thursday. I was thinking of just saying Thursday afternoon “by the way today is my last day, I won’t be here tomorrow”.

Do you have an HR and IT team? Can you arrange this with both of them and then just tell the manager? They may dock you half a day's pay but fair enough. Might be worth it to finish on the Thursday!

HR will just state my notice period and refer me to my line manager. IT will be chilled either way, they just need the laptop handing in

I wouldn’t even tell him. Hand everything back on Thursday and email HR Friday morning to say you won’t be in. They might dock you half a day’s pay but they can’t do much else

It completely depends what kind of job you have and if you've finished your tasks or if you're meant to be on call.
If the first would say I can only hand my laptop in in person on Thurs would you like
Me to do this or arrange a courier /post on Friday ? (Assume post is cheaper than train fare)

If you're mean to be on call and customer facing then you need to work your last shift if you want a reference

(I'm assuming you can't work a lazy half day from
Your personal
Laptop or phone)

I’d just work an extra hour Mon to Thursday and tell him you are taking it back as time off in lieu on the Friday

Do you have any leave that you could use?

Internal finance function, I’ve been working on cleaning everything up for whoever takes over and have good process notes in place. There’s never a need for on the spot cover or anything like that, eg if I worked in a nursery and needed a ratio or a hospital ward and somebody couldn’t finish their night shift unless I showed up

Unfortunately not!

The TOIL suggestion is a good one.

alternatively, do you have a permanent desk? Can you leave the laptop locked in a draw (key nearby) Thursday night, ready for Fridays working and unfortunately get food poisoning from the Thursday group lunch? Call HR and IT to confirm your sickness, apologies and all that and confirm you left the laptop there ready for working today

I could say TOIL, I’m more nervous about telling him before if that makes sense. I know I only have just over a week left, but he really knows how to break people.

Very tempting to phone a sicky!