Have you ever fired someone?

I used to manage a retail outlet and I fired people all the time. Maybe not all the time, but over the course of a year in retail and a standard staff of 50 or so, you burn through a lot of people. Most of the time the person involved didn’t seem to care, but I did end up getting screamed at a few times.

But I just had my first professional firing. Because he lives in a different country, it had to be done by phone and email. And it did not go well. I received a really nasty phone message and series of emails, followed by several messages seeking to apologize. Ironically, after a year, this is the first time this individual has replied to communication in a timely fashion..

So my question is: have you ever fired someone and how did it go? Was it civil or a mess? Do you have a good firing story?