Early Dismissal

If you're told a week in advance that you'll be dismissed early Friday afternoon, what do you do? Well, after looking online for place tickets to New York to no success, I showed up a half hour early Friday morning. Then at 12:01, I was ready to head out the door. In truth, I didn't leave until closer to 12:30, but I think the important lesson here is that clearly the "afternoon" off means the second the clock hits PM, no?