Definitely Still Doing Phrasing

(I work in an IT support office. One day, we have an emergency at one of our data centres across the street from our office. A colleague is sent to deal with it. This takes place at the team meeting the next morning.)

Manager: “[Colleague] did well with that incident at [Data Centre] yesterday. Just bear in mind, if we do get any emergencies or incidents like that, I’ll just tap someone on the shoulder and whack them off.”

(There’s a heartbeat, and then the team collectively loses it. My manager realises exactly what he’s said.)

Manager: “I could have phrased that better.”