It's not the whole story, as I can't speak on behalf for the toxic employee, nor on behalf of the manager's. However, there's not much use dissecting it, as it

It's not the whole story, as I can't speak on behalf for the toxic employee, nor on behalf of the manager's. However, there's not much use dissecting it, as it serves to represent many months of multiple employee altercations with this individual summarized into a paragraph. To be frank, I was part of and witnessed a smaller role compared to others, as I prefer to keep my head down and work, and not participate in office politics. Regarding the lunch, it was something we often did when we were feeling cheerful. Most, if not all had a reason to be plenty cheerful by the time lunch hit, but I digress. It turned out to not differ from a normal outing. It was the defining topic of discussion, of course. In this case, I think catering to the notion of trying to "fix" someone this toxic who is bringing others down in hopes of rehabilitating their work behavior is a lost cause. He had numerous chances and it was unanimously understood that work life would be easier for all without his presence. I believe you are very right in stating that this shouldn't be a primer. Thanks for your response.