When we bring a cat to a shelter, we imagine it will be safe there until it's adopted…

Every once in a while, we will come across stories of cats being abandoned by owners who didn't want them anymore or couldn't take care of them anymore. The cats whose stories we find are generally cats who have been found and rescued, but we're sure there are many more stories like these that we don't hear because the cats are not found. So, every time we cover a story like this one, we make sure to remind people - to educate them - that there are better options than throwing your cat out onto the street, one of them being bringing your cat to a shelter. 

Shelters are sacred places in the cat community. They take in cats in need of help and give them what they need until they get forever homes. Or at least that is what we thought. Today's story has, unfortunately, shown us otherwise. The abandoned kitten in today's story was one who was already rescued once before. A couple found her on the streets, decided, for whatever reason, that they couldn't adopt her, and did the right thing - bringing her to a shelter. 

Except that this shelter apparently has a time limit on the stay of the kittens there. When the kitten was found and rescued again, she was 6 months old and had been on the streets for at least 3 weeks. The shelter didn't have her for long. It was lucky that she was found again, and most likely, it was even bigger luck that this person went ahead and found this kitten a real foster, one that will wait for the right person to adopt her, rather than bringing her back into the shelter that dumped her for a second time. 

Why are her meetings and work obligations any of his business? 

Have you ever had a coworker who gave their all to the company, but ended up getting little to nothing in return? Growing up, we were all taught that if we worked hard and played by the rules, we would be rewarded. Hard workers got good grades, got into top colleges, and had a guaranteed future in whatever field they chose! It's a sad reality that hard work doesn't always pay off in the working world. Someone can grind in their position for years, sacrificing their personal life and time with their family, only to never get the promotion or raise that they objectively deserve. One of the best skills a working person can develop is gauging whether their company has room for them to grow. If people around them get promoted after a couple of years of good work, it's probably worth sticking around and trying to get promoted as well. If their coworkers are constantly getting burnt out and leaving the job because no amount of hard work will ever be good enough, it's probably time for them to start updating their résumés.

It's hard enough when you have to work harder than everyone else to try to make your bosses happy. It's even more frustrating when your coworkers perceive you as being a try-hard who cares more about your work than you care about socializing with them. 

There's nothing cuter or more stylish than an adorable little kitty showing off their tiny hat.

We all have come across a photo of a cat wearing a hat… and somehow that image never left our minds. That actually happened to me yesterday, while scrolling on social media. I saw two little kitties, a white one and a black one, wearing two little helmets made out of fruit, and I thought it was the most adorable thing ever.

Before we jump into these fashionable cats, I'd like to leave a little disclaimer. Have you ever had those days when everything is blue, and somehow, there's no way out of it? Well, if that sounds familiar and you need a quick fix to move on with your day, scrolling through a bunch of pictures of cats with hats might make your day better. Of course, I'm not promising it will change your mood, not at all. But at least there will be a tiny smile coming out of your face, that in days like that, is obviously a good sign.

I hope you can find them as cute and as funny as I do. There's something so funny about creating that little piece of clothing that goes on top of a cat's head… I found the idea absolutely ridiculous but extremely cute, all at the same time. And cats know they are looking super fine: that's why they let us put those things on them, because we know how they can get sometimes. Anyways, I'll leave you with the other cats!

Managers have a tendency to make their responsibilities their workers' problems. 

This factory worker, who works second shift Sunday through Thursday, has been forced to come into work at 2:30 pm on Friday, his day off, for only an hour shift in order to prevent first shift from having to work the hour of overtime after the first shift complained that it was unfair that they had to consistently cover that gap between shifts.

The worker is frustrated because of the cost presented with the extra day commuting along with what is essentially a lost day off for only an hours pay thanks to that hour being right in the middle of the day. 

Many workplace perks come with a hidden cost.

First and foremost, the main benefit of a job is almost always its salary. This is what (hopefully) pays the bills and any fun stuff that has a price tag, as well as allows you to generally exist in a world where money is everything. While there are people who do what they do professionally because it is their passion, those kinds of employees are few and far between.

At the same time, it is usually a nicer experience to work at a company that offers benefits other than the paycheck. Although attempts to cultivate a 'company culture' are easy to dismiss as a cynical ploy to distract employees from unethical business practices, it is also capable of placating the horrors a bit when it is done right.

The real question is whether whatever special perks your workplace may offer are worth the payoff of what it is like to work there otherwise. For example, is that so-called unlimited PTO so great when you are expected to limit it to the extent that you actually get fewer vacation days? It takes some critical thinking to see past the marketing and understand what the company is trying to communicate without you realizing it. What seemed like a positive during the onboarding process could end up being one of the most insulting parts of the job.

Friday is here, and we need a little feline-shaped pick-me-up to finish this week strong.

Oh, Friday. Both the best day and the worst day of the week. The weekend is so close. Caturday is almost here. We need to survive just a little bit longer, and finally, we will be able to do all the things that we want to do during the weekend. Which are nothing. We want to do nothing. Just rest, chill with our cats, and scroll through endless cute cat pictures and videos online. That is our ideal weekend, but to get there, we need to get through Friday. And for that, we have some purrfect cat memes to purrk you up.

We are simple people. We don't need much for our mood to be uplifted. Just some internet cats. That's what we are here for - online, on social media, and of course, on ICHC. We are here for all the goodness that internet cats bring into our lives. Without them, we would be lost. Without them, every Friday would be a day full of nothing but staring at the clock and watching time crawl away. We need these purrfect memes in our lives, and we know that so do you. 

He is the daughter's boyfriend, not an ATM!

Boyfriends are sometimes expected more than girlfriends, at least monetarily. A lot has changed in the last decade, but still we encounter families that believe that the boyfriend who marries into the family needs to take care of everything financially, be the provider. As if just being the boyfriend wasn't enough. I don't like the idea that a man has to be responsible for every penny that is spent, especially when it doesn't only include their wife but also her in-laws. I believe that it is possible to get to a financial arrangement between a man and a woman who marry each other, and they should be the only ones deciding it. If they want to be a stay-at-home mother and a provider father, that's fine. It's completely up to them. But if the family is the one forcing those expectations onto the couple, then I believe that they need to place boundaries.

In the story of u/ihadnolunchtoday, it seems as if this boyfriend agreed to go to a family vacation with his in-laws without knowing that he was going to be an ATM instead of the daughter's plus one. He did agree to pay for his and his girlfriend's room and food. But he never expected to be responsible for his sister-in-law's baby's diapers. When he started to get asked for money to pay for different things, he started to make up excuses to try to get out of it, but he really disliked the attitude of the family, as this sister is even older than him. He had an arrangement with his girlfriend, not her entire family, and the fact that everyone, including the girlfriend, just assumed he HAD to do it was unsettling for him.

Putting myself in this man's shoes, I wouldn't want to be treated like this. These expectations that they are wanting to place on him seem unfair and too much. He has the right to decide if he wants to invite somebody's food or not. He has no obligation to do it, and no one should expect it, as he never offered in the first place. The fact that his girlfriend is just going along with her family is really sad, as this may end up with a breakup. I really hope this man stands up for himself, as he shouldn't be paying for anything that he doesn't want to. And let's hope this relationship can survive this with just some boundaries. 

The cat distribution system listens to you, so never fear speaking out into the universe for what you want. 

Sometimes all we have to do is ask. It may seem like it's too simple to be true, but it is. Of course it's not a science, and it can't be applied to everything in life. But there's some element of manifestation and the law of attraction in simple things. Sometimes you just need to imagine it and it happens to you, which is sort of what happens in this story of fate and cat distribution fun. If you've been following our stories, then you know how often the cat distribution system and fate work hand in hand. A wife and her husband contemplated getting a cat, but they have two dachshunds who are still young and learning how to behave. The wife told her husband yesterday that, "unless a cat comes and adopts us, I don't see us getting a cat." And like the universe listens, those were the magic words. Their AC unit broke and the little doggos were kept in a separate room sequestered from the main house. Since repair men were in and out, their door was wide open, and of course a cat comes crawling in to answer their hopes. She was skittish and cautious, but she cozily got comfortable on the husband's lap and fell asleep. They slowly are carefully introduced the kitty to their dogs, and after some tension everyone calmed down and relaxed together. 

This woman never believed she'd have a cat, and certainly didn't think the cat would come so quickly after her wish. The kitten is only 2-3 months old and they decided to name her Terry. They actually discovered that the cat is their neighbors, but decided that it's better for the cat's sake and health to be inside with them and they keep her. The story is inspiring and beautiful, and feel free to comment if you have a similar story regarding the cat distribution system. 

How do you handle constant criticism from your boss? 

It's not fun to be constantly berated. Criticism is welcome if it's constructive. It's a good rule of thumb to only offer criticism when you have a potential solution to offer. Just pointing out that someone is doing a bad job is not helpful, unless you know how they can fix it. Humans don't respond well to being disrespected. If you feel like the people you work with have no respect for you, then you probably won't last very long at the company. You want to work with people who encourage you with their leadership and set a good example. And when they have criticism for you, you want to feel like it's because they have your best interests at heart, not that they're out to get you. This employee shared their story to the antiwork subreddit about their boss who was constantly trying to give them unhelpful advice. 

There is very little place for unnecessary criticism in the workplace. If you have something negative to say, there better be a good reason for saying it, and you're hopefully putting it in a compliment sandwich. Not that we have to all treat each other with kid gloves, but we should maintain a good streak of professionalism where we can. The boss in this story was not upholding that standard, though they wanted to seem like they were in control. Keep scrolling to read the story and decide what you would have done in their shoes. 

Things happen, but cats will always be there to make you smile. 

There are moments in our lives that mark us furrever. It could be a bad breakup, a career choice, meeting someone you never thought you could meet, or something serendipitous. We all have bad spells, times where we're down on our luck and try our best to pick ourselves up. Sometimes it feels like nothing seems to go right, and the weight of small frustrations and bigger disappointments presses down like a storm cloud you can't shake. During these times, it can feel impossible to imagine the light returning. But lifting yourself out of a bad spell is less about the sudden or dramatic shift in your life, but about the little deliberate steps that slowly reclaim your sense of agency. 

And sometimes a cat can be that shift. It may sound silly or dramatic, but it's not. Cats really have the whole package to help us grow, even if we don't realize it at the time. We don't necessarily know how bad we feel until we compare ourselves to someone else, someone who seems to have everything together. We might even look at our cats and think to ourselves, "wow, if only I was as happy and content as he is." And although it's unnecessary to compare ourselves or draw conclusions about others, cats really do have all the answers! Even if they don't go out and tell you, they're keeping secrets of life and happiness to themselves. But with a little bit of love, petting, and tuna they will reveal everything you ever wanted to know. So enjoy these adorable cats and remember life will get better.  

People don't understand how lucky they are if a kitten chooses them as their furrever family.

One of the biggest qualities cat owners will tell you is necessary to adopt a fiest feline is patience. Even though cats can be extremely loyal, they need time to gain trust and become comfortable with their owners, which some people (ahemdogownersahem) don't have the patience for.

But every cat owner will also swear that gaining a cat's trust is one of the best feelings in the world, because once they do, my friends, you gain a companion for life. A cat that trusts you is a cat that will give you their hearts and soul, and you will want to do everything in your power to ensure that they choose right, that they are happy with the bond you two have created.

It's rare to find that connection with a cat, and it's even rarer to do so with a kitten. Even though you might think that a kitten is easier to impress, they can actually be a lot more cautious, not to mention difficult to find. Kittens are skiddish and weary, and even though they haven't been out in the world that long, they wouldn't lower their guards for just anyone.

So if a kitten chooses you as their hooman, consider yourselves the luckiest people in the world.

That is how we imagine the Reddit user u/nikolasdimitroulakis feels at the moment, after he found a 4-week-old kitten in his garden, and formed a bond with her that many would be envious of. The sweet kitten he named Delia seemed to instantly trust the hooman, including trusting him to ensure she is a happy, healthy kitten, and to find her a place in his home.

The two are now inseparable, and their story is truly inspiring. Keep scrolling to read the full furrtastic tale!

An agreement to build a new fence along a shared boundary and split the bill deteriorated, just like the old fence, when the neighbors had the fence built with the "good" side entirely facing their property, not following the existing design.

When these homeowners were approached by their neighbors about splitting the cost of replacing an 85-foot long fence that ran between their sections, they had expected that the replacement fence would preserve the "Good Neigbor" design, which is when a fence alternates it's facing with each section so that both sides have an equal mix of "clean" fencing without any framing showing, and then sections where the framing is showing on their side. 

The carrot is always better than the stick.

Understanding how to motivate employees to give their best work is a key part of running a company, and it is something that many employers struggle to get right. In this era of quiet quitting and doing just enough to justify the paycheck, inspiring people to go above and beyond can seem like an impossible task.

As we know, it is honestly pretty justified to give the bare minimum in many places of work. Most of them will not be shy to leave you behind if you suddenly don't fit into the business plan, no matter how much effort you give. The issue is that a lot of workplaces don't even pretend to want to listen to the interests and anxieties of their employees. If they just focused a little more on improving their day-to-day experience, they may see better results.

While fearmongering can be a temporary motivator in desperate circumstances, it should not be the immediate fallback in times of workplace crisis. It makes it all the more likely that employees will start looking elsewhere for a job, and that will leave the company in an even more stressful situation than it was in before.

 

We often mention how varied and unexpected cat distribution encounters often are, but this one truly takes the biscuit as it were. In the middle of nowhere Australia, in the middle of a scorching summer, in an area that is fully anti-cat. But where there is will, the CDS finds a way.

Originally posted to r/CatDistributionSystem, this story is a shining example of the CDS at work. Oftentimes the stories we hear from the CDS, while magical in their own right, are not all too different from being lucky and finding a cat in a box by the roadside. But in this tale the cat literally jumped on his chosen hooman's roof and sang the song of his people until the hooman came out to help him off the roof. He marked his territory, claimed his hoomans and was welcomed with open arms. It cannot get any more CDS than that.

However, what is even more curious is how this feline, in such a cat hating community, found itself free and running around on this hooman's roof. For this we turn to our CDS delivery's origin story. The tail of a feline who started life in a really tough spot, was saved from that life, but given a new one that simply didn't suit. No matter how much he tried, no matter how much his family helped, there was no click and this cat needed to move on. So much so that he himself went ahead and chose his own home, a neighbor next door. 
 

I've said it before but this time I mean it in a much more clinical, much less meow-aphorical way. I don't just relate to these cats. I am these cats. These cats are me

There's no separation between us anymore, no gap where the hooman ends and the cat begins.

When does family financial contribution simply become a means of control?

I think a lot of us will expect to face a difficult reality with a business partner or employer where the numbers just don't line up and cause a rift in the relationship, where we might run into trouble because the money just isn't there.  The justification given at this point will probably be something along the lines of "It's just business," as your boss, business partner, or creditor turns the screws. But each of us has probably experienced our parents exercising some type of control over our lives through financial means; I don't think many of us would expect to face this callous and cold behavior from them. But that's what this 40-year-old woman alleged happened when her mother began blocking the sale of the family's home under the condition that she receive a return of the full $450k that she put into the purchase of the home. 

 

In this account of events, shared by a 40-year-old woman, she tells how her family bought a Florida home for the family with the help of a generous $450,000 "investment" from her wealthy mother into the property. This came with strings attached, and the mother insisted on being on the title of the home. After the woman's husband lost his federal job when a return-to-office mandate was implemented and the family began struggling to make their mortgage payments, they found themselves needing to sell the home—urgently. 

But a quick sale means a lower price, and her mother wasn't willing to accept any loss of money. So she is blocking that sale from happening, refusing to accept a lower price, which would mean a percentage loss in her "investment." Despite her daughter's pleading and promises to repay the portion later, even offering to sign legal documents stating as such, the mother is refusing to budge. This has been pushing the family deeper and deeper underwater as they fall further and further behind on payments. 

The story prompted all kinds of discussion on family finances, inheritance, and intergenerational family conflict.

When a certain thing happened in 2020, a lot changed, but I don't think we have gotten back to normal yet…

The events of 2020 were a roller coaster of emotions for everyone. All jobs that could be remote changed to that. All activities that could be remote also changed, and even the ones that weren't. During that time, I remember taking physical education class through a virtual meeting, having to play with my hockey stick and film it with the camera on my cellphone –of course, I almost broke my phone multiple times with the ball. I also remember having to take math classes at 7:30 a.m from my computer, which meant that I never turned my camera on and sometimes even slept through the whole class. It was a mess, but that mess didn't fix itself back to normal when things ended.

Almost every office job became completely remote during that time, and that, 6 years later, seems not to have changed for some. I think that part is one of the best changes that came during that time. Working from home or even from different countries is great, especially when there is no real reason for an employee to go to the office. But some other changes weren't that great. The community was severely affected by that time period. People stopped being friendly with neighbors and coworkers. We all stayed in some kind of bubble that hasn't even popped open, not even to this day. We are closed off to ourselves, making it impossible to make friendships out of everyday interactions.

It has been 6 years, and we still aren't the same we were before. Several things should have gotten back to normal, and others that we really appreciate having nowadays that wouldn't have been possible without the event of 2020. In u/Work, we take a perspective look into the past and present. We see the changes that have molded the workplace into a completely new place, and we value them among the great ones, and the ones we wish would go back to what they were. Maybe there is no going back, but if it were, what would you change back? 

It's not only the fact that you are using work time as you please, but also that you are making work harder for everyone else…

Being a bad coworker can be more impactful than you expected. When I say "bad," I mean the employee who is always looking for an opportunity to take advantage of somebody else. It can be the one who steals other people's lunch because he sees them in the fridge, or the one who is always playing "playful pranks" on everyone, even though they've told him multiple times that it makes everyone uncomfortable. Or, as in the story below, it can be when one employee thinks they deserve far more lunchtime than anyone else, so they take it, leaving their coworker with more tasks to manage without any help. No matter what exactly they do, if they are taking advantage of other employees, then they are doing their job incorrectly, and probably also being a bad person who doesn't take into account other people's feelings.

Why would somebody be so entitled that they think that whatever they do is excusable just because they wanted to do it? If you take a 2-hour lunch when you know that everyone else in the same job position as you takes 45 minutes, then you are not only using work time to do nothing, but you are also putting everyone else in an uncomfortable position where they are forced to do more work than they normally would have just because you think that you deserve better. Why would one employee get to enjoy all that free time and less workload while everyone else continues to work hard enough?

When we face a situation like this, it's normal not to want to involve management. I get it, you don't want to seem like a conflictive coworker or a snitch. But by not saying anything, you are making your own work-life harder. You are taking over tasks that aren't yours and seeing how somebody who doesn't deserve it gets benefits you will never enjoy, even though you are working harder and better. Firstly, confronting the coworker directly seems like a sensible idea, but if it doesn't work, don't feel bad about having to reach out to management to fix the issue. They have a job, and they need to do it correctly. Is better to be a snitch than to continue working like that. 

Another week has almost finished passing us by and the weekend joyfully awaits us in just a few short hours. But seeing as the work week has filled us with frustrations we figured it might be nice to quickly flush them away with the help of some hilarious felines.

There is no denying that out of any pet that people have normalized having in their home, our feline friends are by far the feistiest. And it is just that feisty nature that allows them to constantly release their frustrations as they arise in real time. Often allowing them to also show the pawson who has done them wrong that it is them who has caused this and pawhaps even teach them a lesson. It is something that for the sake of decorum, we hoomans have abandoned entirely, but it is something that we could do with more of. After all, it is not healthy to hold things in and the more you do, the more you hurt yourself.

So while we do not expect you to suddenly 180 and start being sassy the moment someone wrongs you, we do think you should kick back and enjoy these feline funnies and let your laughs flush those frustrations far away one at a time. And with time, you might even start adopting some of our sassy feline friends' strategies to stay stress free. They might be feisty but would you rather be happy or miserable? Sometimes you've gotta think more about number 1.

 

Do your coworkers even care about your birthday? 

Not once have I heard of coworkers planning a surprise birthday party at the office for each one of their colleagues. Mostly it's just a "Happy birthday!", maybe a small gift from the people who know you better, and in some cases, they give you the day off. But in some offices, things work differently, apparently… 

A new employee found out that at their office, every month each of the coworkers pitches in $27 to buy cake and a gift for whatever colleague is turning one year older. This time, a coworker named Emily declared that she didn't want that; she preferred that each of her coworkers spend the same amount of money to buy several individual gifts. The manager still thought it was necessary to buy cake and balloons to celebrate at the office, and she asked the new employee to organize it, even though she had already spent her $27 on the gift. She did it anyway, spending a total of $53. The best part? None of the other coworkers pitched in or paid her back, and Emily was mean to her and made her cry. 

This Emily sounds like a delight to work with… Please, if someone knows of another place that has the same custom of organizing celebrations every month for every employee, I need to know. And I would very much like to ask the manager: if they're always partying in that company, when do they actually work? 

Celebrating birthdays every month requires having the budget to do so, and maybe not everyone can actually afford it, especially when the celebration is for people who are not actually your friends, just your coworkers. What we're all hoping is that those coworkers pay the girl back; she deserves to have everything reimbursed for being nice enough to plan everything for someone who clearly doesn't value it. And next time, she'd better learn how to say no. Because obviously, you can't trust anyone in that office.