The name of the company escapes me but in the 60s, an employee would find out he was fired when he showed up for work and find his belongings were sitting out in front of the building.
Or in the case of T.J Watson (IBM founder).
Famously, NCR’s star sales executive Thomas Watson Sr. (1874–1956) met a similar fate. In 1914, Watson argued that NCR’s dominant product, mechanical cash registers, would soon go obsolete. He proposed that NCR develop electric cash registers. Patterson resisted the idea. He warned Watson not to overstep his boundaries and demanded that Watson focus on sales only and intrude into product innovation. Following an argument at a meeting, Patterson dismissed Watson. In a fit of rage, Patterson had workers carry Watson’s desk outside and had it lit on fire. Watson Sr. was thus “fired.”
http://www.rightattitudes.com/2010/02/03/folklore-origin-expression-you-are-fired/