Protip: This can happen even if the socket is locked, apparently.

One of those days...

have fun rubbing

That happens but hasn't caused me any damage.

Is that the next mac pro on the right?

@electrineer It didn't do damage to the PROCESSOR but the SOCKET was a bit of a pain to fix. The lock bar on the side became loose and dropped out of the side of the socket. That's why it wasn't locked but should've been.

@irene Yeah, it was kinda like that. The fun part was fixing the socket, the bar was in the locked position but it was unlocked. Why? Well, because the lock broke! I righted the PC after taking the cooler/processor assembly off and the bar just fell right out.

@Parzi The locking mechanism is just weaker than the thermal paste that turned into glue. It wasn't necessarily unlocked. You can probably avoid this by twisting the cooler before pulling it off or doing it while the cpu is still warm.