A coworker played a prank on one of our night guards last night. It didn't end well.

We employ 3 guards. A night guard, a day guard, and a weekend guard. We have strict instructions about how to act around the night guard. We are not to interact with him at all. No matter how hard it is, we are to keep our hands and arms away from him. We can talk to him but must never ask him questions because he will not answer back. We must speak to him as if he is an inanimate object, like a chair or a table. Our bosses take these rules so seriously that any deviation from them will result in immediate termination without pay.<br><br>I'm a janitor at a large office building that houses many different companies. The past few nights I've been getting stuck with a lot of over time since one of our janitors quit and they haven't replaced him yet. This has meant that I've run into the night guard more often than usual. He looks like every other guard. A large muscular looking man covered in tattoos. Before taking this job, I had never risked talking to the night guard. It just feels too weird cause I know he won't answer back and I don't want to end up losing my job because I asked him if it was cold outside or something. The other night while I was cleaning up some spilled coffee, he was nearby sweeping. I felt like I had to say something so I told him that the coffee machine in the break room next to us was leaking. Then I said that’s probably why they were moving it in the morning. He looked at me for what felt like an eternity but didn't say anything. Then he started sweeping again.<br><br>Yesterday I was again working late and the night guard was walking down the hallway. I was sitting next to my cart mopping the floor. It was very quiet and I could hear his footsteps. I felt stupid sitting there so I tried to break the silence. I said that we are going to get a new coffee machine tomorrow because the other ones are leaking. Then I said that the one he swept up wasn’t actually leaking anymore, it was just clogged up. I’m not sure why I felt it necessary to repeat the story. It's not like he would remember me from the night before. Lots of people work here and they all look the same after a while. I think he looked into my eyes this time but I’m not sure. I’m just glad he didn’t report me.<br><br>I got home from work pretty late last night and went to bed. I woke up to some weird text messages from my boss. Apparently, one of our janitors decided to play a prank on the night guard and it looks like I may have inadvertently set it up. The way it happened was that one of our other janitors (his name is Kevin) decided to try to scare the night guard by hiding in a trash can. Then when the night guard got close enough, he was going to pop out and scream. I risked my job the last two nights by talking about a leaky coffee machine. Kevin knew about this and decided to incorporate it into his prank. He hid in the break room where I told the night guard the coffee machine was leaking. He hid his cart down the hallway and filled his trashcan with trash from it. Then he waited for the night guard to spot it. I guess he waited for over an hour but finally the night guard came down the hallway where he was hiding. Our boss said that Kevin told him that when the night guard saw the trashcan sitting there all by itself, he stopped and looked into it before dumping it into his cart.<br><br>The boss described what he found to me. Kevin's head was in the trash bag. There was a small whole in the side of the bag that looked like it had been poked through with a finger. His eyes and mouth were missing. There was a trail of blood on the floor leading down the hall to the supply closet. His body was in there but it was torn apart. The boss described what looked like a finger print mark in his ass cheek. I’m just glad that we have workers comp so Kevin's family will get some money to pay for the funeral.