In a relaxed office environment, pranks and playful moments are often the norm.

But when one harmless joke set off the wrong person, things took a serious and unexpected turn.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

I got my coworker fired on April Fools Day

I work at a firm in the southern states, in a pretty small office about 20 people and we’re pretty unorthodox: trivia, play mini golf inside and can watch videos while working etc.

I (25F) have been here a year and “Phil” has been here 6yrs.

Our office began expanding with new hires, that include a few minorities including me, and a few other Hispanic people whose primary language is Spanish.

Not everyone in the office was pleased with the added diversity.

Phil is a very religious old white man, about 58, with very traditional values and likes things to be his way.

Recently since all the new hires started, he’s been very rude to some of the new hires that work here, especially the Hispanic people.

He’s said some pretty offensive stuff to the new hires.

He’s said stuff like “well you can just go back to Mexico” when in disagreement, and “black people don’t need a national anthem, if you think otherwise, then you’re racist.”

But he wasn’t rude with everyone, including the narrator.

I’m pretty nice to Phil when he speaks to me. I’m pretty sure he’s very alone in this world, and I think his mental health was starting to take a toll.

I have a grandpa with dementia (who’s not an AH just to clarify lol) so I gave the guy grace.

The company decided his contributions to the company outweighed his xenophobic outbursts.

And so did the HR department in our small office.

We consider him a very useful asset to the company so our boss just told him not to talk to anybody unless it’s strictly regarding work. Cause I guess his comments were “small talk.”

Given that it was a fun office environment, the narrator decided to do something special for April Fools’ Day.

Fast forward to the week before April Fools’ Day, and I planned to pull a prank on a coworker.

I bought a little multi frame and was gonna place pictures of this OTHER coworker sleeping at his desk and was gonna display it on my desk for all to see 😁. We’re friends btw.

But when she returned the next day, something was amiss.

I did all that the night before, and low and behold, the next morning, my frame had “Jesus is risen” and “Happy Easter” in it. Phil’s doing.

I love Jesus like the next person, but that was my property on my desk.

So now it’s Phil’s turn to get pranked.

So after some thought, I wanted to pull a small, petty prank on Phil.

So I placed a small piece of paper between the battery and the connection in his mouse that night.

This turns out to be a huge mistake.

When I tell y’all this man had little evidence bags written with red marker of the mouse, the battery, and the paper on our boss’ desk the next morning.

He was specifically accusing of one my hispanic coworkers because they’ve argued in the past.

This only exacerbated Phil’s xenophobic tendencies.

Phil was saying “you’re a lying piece of garbage” to him, then telling our boss, “he’s a liar.”

This is all heard through closed doors and over some cubicles, so I might’ve missed some words, but I know a cuss word when I hear one.

The narrator decides to come clean.

So I went to the boss’ office and told him I pulled the prank, and what happened the day before with the frame.

He said it’s ok, just don’t mess with Phil again.

But Phil still couldn’t let it go…

Later that day, Phil was still ticked that our boss wasn’t confronting who he thought pulled the prank and even some “accomplices,” none of which included me.

They were screaming arguing, and it was Phil’s last day as he was fired…April Fools?

And Phil has given gun threats post his firing and we had to lock our doors to any without a key for a few months.

Take a chill pill, Phil!

Redditors weigh in.

April Fools’ joke aside, Phil was bound to go off the rails eventually.

Phil’s firing may be for the best.

Everyone else who has to interact with Phil should watch their backs.

Phil can either get with the times or be left behind.

While Phil sure could dish out the petty antics, he sure couldn’t take it.

Improper office conduct is no joke – even if it is April Fools Day.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.