Oh, Trojan cats, what will we ever do without their surprise kitten attacks?

Every child had a Greek mythology phase around elementary school age, so it means every adult learned in childhood about the Trojan horse story. In short: After a ten-year war with Troy, the Greeks built a giant hollow wooden horse. Elite soldiers hid inside, while the rest pretended to sail away. The Trojans brought the horse they thought was a gift inside their walls, leading to the city's fall when the elite soldiers burst out of it, winning the battle.

Cool story, bro, but what does it have to do with cats? Let's continue the narrative journey.

This culturally immortalized story inspired a name for a very particular type of cat: the Trojan cat. Like the horse, she carries within her an elite sort of crowd, but instead of elite Greek soldiers - they're elite cute cats. Kittens, of course. And just as the Trojan horse was invited in by the people of Troy, so do the Trojan cats - they're adopted into unsuspecting homes, and when the time is right, they attack! Well, give birth is a more accurate description. It's an attack of cuteness, invading your home and heart with sheer adorable energy. It's lethal.

Let us tell you that we love a good Trojan cat mama story, and this one was provided by a woman who saved a "retired" ragdoll cat from an unknown fate. Luckily for the cat, her previous "owner" didn't realize she carried a Trojan load inside her. It's no secret that ragdoll cats are highly sought after, and the kittens' fate would've been very different if their mama wasn't "retired". Besides, we just love any story with a happy ending for the cats, and we hope they all live a long, happy, and loved life.

There are times when the company does not know what's best, but that doesn't mean they will listen to other opinions.

Not every role can be a winner, and every once in a while, an employee is going to take a job at a workplace that seems to be going nowhere fast. Quite a lot of companies are run in ways that are neither sustainable nor profitable in the long term, and not only are the workers some of the first to notice that, they are also the first to face the consequences when things get tough. Almost all employees are considered to be some level of replaceable, after all.

When it is a role that they are invested in, or they simply do not want to quit that paycheck, it can be frustrating for those who work for a failing company to try to get their voice heard about the issues they are dealing with. More often than not, the bosses are more interested in what works for them than what may actually produce results and some level of employee satisfaction at the same time. There are a lot of people in management roles who probably shouldn't have that level of power.

A cat will give you space all day right up until you ask for two minutes alone in the bathroom.

The second you get up and head down the hallway, your feline is right behind you. Apparently, whatever happens in there is important enough to require supervision. Leave the door open and they stroll in like they have an appointment. Close it and suddenly you've committed the greatest betrayal of their nine lives.

Some cats settle onto the bathmat and keep watch. Others see bathroom time as the perfect opportunity to demand pets, climb onto laps, investigate the tub, or get into something they've ignored every other day of the week. You thought you were going in there for two minutes. Your cat thought this was scheduled quality time.

Closing the door doesn't solve much either. First comes the meow. Then another, slightly louder meow. Before long, paws are reaching underneath the door as your cat desperately attempts to make contact with the hooman who disappeared 30 seconds ago. Privacy is clearly not included in the cat pawrent package.

Eventually, having a bathroom buddy just becomes part of life. You're brushing your teeth while your cat sits in the sink. You're taking a shower while a concerned face watches from behind the curtain. You're having an entire conversation with a feline sprawled across the floor like this is a completely normal place for the two of you to hang out.

Cats could have the entire house to themselves, but the moment their favorite hooman heads to the bathroom, that's where they need to be too. Call it love, curiosity, or a complete lack of boundaries.

Your feline has appointed themselves bathroom supervisor, and your request for privacy has officially been denied.

Are we supposed to do anything other than what's written in our contracts?

This story came off as really peculiar to me. Of course, I'm not an alien, and I understand it's normal to sometimes go the extra mile in our jobs, and that's what pushes the quality of our work upward. I understand you can't go back and rewrite an employee's first contract for every minor deviation that comes up later, but I definitely don't think it's fair to judge an employee for anything other than what he was hired to do.

In short, I think the evaluation to be made here from the management's side is about what made the employee change his attitude towards his job. If he used to always go the extra mile, then something that happened pushed him in another direction. It could be that he has now returned to the office, or it could simply be that he finally got fed up after a long time of making extra, unrewarded efforts.

That's another thing: if you recognize an employee under your supervision who is always making extra effort and succeeding, you shouldn't take that for granted, no matter if he works from home or not. Management should always try to encourage that attitude by giving something in return.

I think this employee realized he would receive the same amount of money whether he was only available from 9-5 or made additional effort, and he chose the option everyone in his situation would've chosen.

An old boss is publicly nitpicking a longtime bookstore employee over tiny mistakes, turning ordinary work into a weird little power show.

Some managers run a shop like a workplace, and some run it like they're auditioning for the role of Smallest Possible Dictator. This one sounds like the second type. The actual book business is almost beside the point. The real product seems to be tension, public correction, and whatever strange pleasure comes from making a younger employee feel watched all day.

Nothing ends a lovely night out quite like crawling under a stranger's car with a fistful of Cuban pork to rescue a screaming kitten.

It was 10 p.m., and one couple was wrapping up a party and getting ready to head home. The husband had already carried their things to the car when he returned with four words that completely changed their plans: "I just heard a cat." Sure enough, a kitten was crying from underneath a Toyota RAV4.

Soon, his wife was in a stranger's driveway trying to coax the frightened feline out with leftover pork. Her freshly washed white shirt was in danger, the kitten was answering their kindness with claws and angry little roars, and their quick exit from the party had officially turned into a rescue mission.

They hoped the owner of the RAV4 could pop the hood and make reaching the kitten easier, so they rang the house's doorbell. The woman answered remotely with quite the update: she wasn't home because she had just given birth that day. With nobody there to open the car, reaching their stubborn little stowaway became even more complicated.

The couple already had two adult cats, furniture they preferred unscratched, and no desire to add more vet bills, litter, and cat hair to their lives. They knew exactly what another feline would mean, which made "someone else will save it" sound pretty tempting.

That argument clearly didn't last long. The couple managed to rescue the kitten, and after going through all that trouble to get her safely out, they ended up adopting her too.

They left the party expecting to go home with the same family they arrived with. Instead, one faint meow from underneath a car sent them home with a brand-new member of it.

It only takes one tiny pink tongue sticking out for the most elegant cat to look ridiculously goofy. One little blep, and the majestic feline patrolling the living room becomes a fluffy little goofball who forgot to finish what he was doing.

Cats try to act mysterious and independent, but in reality, they're peak goofiness. Or at least, they have their moments of silliness, like any of us. Don't let yourself be fooled by their elegance, because the moment you catch them off guard, the smallest slip of their tongue becomes comedy. And they don't even seem to notice; they'll keep staring out the window, supervising the house. They could be sitting proudly in the middle of the room, thinking they look sooo interesting and serious without realizing they're wearing the funniest expression imaginable. 

Bleps are even better when they are accidental. A cat doesn't decide to pose with its tongue out. It just happens. I guess they're so relaxed they forget to pull it back in after grooming. Every cat has its own version, too. Some let the tip peek out while others leave it there long enough for everyone in the house to notice. And if you have an orange, then the blep is their distinct personality. Oranges are the personalization of silliness and goofiness. 

There's something refreshing about the blep. Cats may look like they spend a lot of time looking perfectly put together, but then one little blep reminds us they aren't trying to impress anyone. They aren't worried about looking graceful every second of the day. In fact, they exist just the way they are, even when that means looking a little goofy. 

We could all borrow a bit of that unconcerned feline energy. Not every awkward moment needs to become a lifelong embarrassment you'll replay in your mind for years before falling asleep. Life goes on. Sometimes you leave your tongue sticking out, someone laughs, and life is still the same. So if your day could use a little more silliness, these blep cats are ready to help. Their silly expressions are waiting just below. 

Incorporating a new employee into the fold can be tricky work.

When you're working a job, you probably want to get into the flow with your new coworkers. Building a team takes time, and too much turnover can be a bad thing for teamwork. You need a combination of people with different strengths and different weaknesses to complement each other. The best bosses and hiring managers know this and try to assemble teams of people who can work well together. It's a delicate balance though, and not always easy to get right. And when you add a new voice to the mix, things can go wrong pretty easily. It's not difficult to get stuck in your ways as an employee. You have your certain way of doing things, and when something comes along to disrupt that, you bristle at the change. But change can be a good thing. Maybe you're an employee who has really gotten used to the way things run. You're in your comfort zone, and you're in your flow state. But just because you're in your comfort zone doesn't mean it's the best way to do something. Sometimes it takes a fresh perspective to help change things up and get some new life force in the organization. 

It's no surprise to us that cats are capable of saving people's lives. They save them by providing them emotional support when they need it most, and are acutely aware of changes to their surroundings. But, even knowing all of that, some of these stories truly touch our hearts and remind us how great it is to live with our fluffy felines. 

Somehow, somewhere in history, a false stereotype was invented that cats do not love their owners like dogs do. You and I know that that's complete bologna, but a lot of people truly believe it. They believe that cats are aloof, cold, and couldn't care less about the humans who care for them. Well, we finally went out and gathered all the evidence necessary to prove these people wrong.

It all started when one pawrent was awoken by his cat screaming in his face - where he noticed that his phone was so hot that it, and the outlet were smoking. They avoided losing their whole lives and personal belongings because of their cat, and when they posted about it, many other pawrents chimed in with their own purrsonal stories of how their cats stepped up and became the hero of the meowment. Thanks to their cats, each purrson in this post was physically saved by their cat's alertness and care for their pawrents and their home. 

To all you nay-sayers out there, if these heroically wholesome stories aren't enough to prove to you that cats love their hoomans as much (or more) than doggos do, then you should probably just adopt a cat and see for yourself. Sounds like the purrfect logic to us!

These micromanaging tactics are getting out of hand.

Do bosses not have anything better to waste their time with? When I hear stories like the one below, where the bosses start to demand their employees' unimportant things, such as their Team's status always showing as available. I start thinking about how unimportant everything you do at work must be if you are focusing on the color that appears below the picture of each employee. Instead of making themselves be seen as people who are on top of everything, it seems as if they don't have anything else to do. When I hear these things, I can only compare how much work each employee does and how little the boss must be doing if they can check that.

Corporate is kind of a lie. We know that you don't need to work 9 to 5 to complete your work tasks. If you didn't stop for breaks or lunch and put effort into it, you may be able to finish everything in 4 or 6 hours. We all know that, and it's fine. But that's why most employees have mastered the act of appearing to be busy, when in reality they are done. That is the case of this user who has made everything so automated that now he doesn't have many things to spend his work time on. It means his extremely efficient, but if his boss knew he wouldn't take it that way. If he showed how quickly he does everything, he would probably be assigned a load more of work to do each day, which isn't really fair, to be honest.

So, the ultimate tactic to avoid getting more work when you do everything quickly is to appear busy. Sometimes that is harder than actually doing the work. With apps like Teams tracking you every second and showing you as "gone" every time you stop pressing the mouse for two minutes, you feel a little overwhelmed with all the pretending to be busy stuff. This employee was able to fix that, but what would you do to appear to be busy when you finished the work for today hours ago? Would you just click around to always be seen as "available"? Would you start a side project? Would you copy the tactics of this user with his invention? Sometimes appearing busy is a full-time job in itself! 

There's no denying the parental instinct that kicks inside us when we see a kitten in need.

Before I tell you about this cute cloud kitty that was saved from the highway, I want to share something personal about parental instinct. Less than a year ago, I became a mom. I remember when my daughter went out into the world, her first few seconds were spent staring at the ceiling lights, while a sense of immense responsibility came over me. It's one thing to say "parents are responsible for their kids", and totally another to feel it burning in your bones. It was probably the closest thing to a divine revelation I have ever experienced (and I'm a total atheist). Parental instinct is a real, tangible thing, that I find I can't explain to anyone who's not a parent. And sometimes, this parental instinct is activated when a person sees a kitten in need.

This is what happened here, with a soon-to-be father who saved a little kitten from a highway, while all his pre-parenting hormones are in high drive. And yes, men definitely do experience significant pre-parenting hormonal shifts while awaiting a baby. Research shows that expectant fathers undergo measurable biological and hormonal changes while waiting for their baby to be born that help prepare their bodies and brains for caregiving. So imagine all that spiraling within you for months, and then you see a little baby abandoned and in danger - no matter if it's from a different species. If this not-yet-father felt even half of what I experienced right when my daughter was born - I 100% understand him.

Taking this kitten in and saving his life is the right choice, always, no matter a person's parental situation. But this man expresses that he might not be able to keep this kitten permanently. But you know what I extra-appreciate him for? That he still made another right choice by not throwing him in a shelter. All cats deserve a forever home, but sometimes, the Cat Distribution System makes sure a cat in need arrives at the right place that'll foster them and find them one. And if that kitten is adopted by this man and his expanding family, or given to another loving home, I hope he'll have a good life, full of snuggles, snacks, and sweetness.

Not every employer believes in the work-life balance.

In fact, one of the first things that every employee learns is that the vast majority of companies will gladly take as much of your time as they can get away with, and if that includes unpaid overtime, even better. More than anything, the average worker has to prove that they are good value for money, and some places take that to greater extremes than others.

Unfortunately, certain industries and businesses have a toxic work culture, and working crazy, non-contracted hours isn't just something that secretly happens—it is an open expectation of the role. What's worse is that some jobs can manage to hide this until they employ somebody, and then it comes as an unwelcome surprise.

We all know that more and more individuals these days feel that working around the clock is neither sustainable nor admirable, and as a result, they are more likely to try to set limits with employers who are demanding about working hours. The issue with this is that they can often expect them to ac out in response. If it costs them the job, it may be better in the long run anyway.  

It's not like your soul needs any extra warming on these hot summer days, but cats can just do that in any season.

When summer arrives, I usually prefer to stay inside with the AC on, emulating what winter felt like. It's a matter of preference, really. Some people prefer the warmth of a blanket while the air is super crisp with cold and the rain washes everything on the outside, and others are wrong. Seriously, how could you endorse what's going on outside as we speak? I sweat like a horse if I dare open the window for 2.3 seconds (horses do actually sweat a lot, google that). But luckily for me, I can keep the AC on… and my cat loves that.

My sweet little house feline absolutely adores it when the scorching sun stops, you know, scorching the inside of the house. Once the temperatures return to a normal range, she resumes her winterly activities: sitting on my lap and purring, sleeping by my side beneath the blankets, and being extra close in general. If that's not a soul-warming situation. I don't know what is. It's basically the recipe to melt every cat pawrent's heart, mine included. I just love it when my cat decides I'm the best pillow in the house, or that she wants to be close to me. What cat person wouldn't want that?

But the days are hot, the weather is violent, and the sun is not forgiving. But I say - if every part of me feels like this summer is extra, I might as well warm my soul, which is much better. And the best soul-warmers are cats. Wholesome, whiskered, and full of whimsy. And that's the only part of my body where I'd like a summer heat. So, obviously, I need a lot more wholesome cats to achieve that right meow. And I'm all about sharing with other fellow feline fans. So, here we go - they're right here below, waiting for that soul of yours to sit and purr on.

Tips on learning how to receive feedback

The ability to receive feedback doesn't come easily to everybody. Some people have learned the skill very early on, for example, in school or in any activity involving teamwork and a certain degree of hierarchy. Still, even if you have had those experiences, it's not an easy skill to master for many people.

It's desirable to be invested in our jobs, but sometimes, it's precisely that investment that clouds our vision when it comes to feedback. For example, one can notice that some things in the workplace are unfair, but one should be very mindful of one's own position in the company so as not to come off as 'difficult to work with'.

Our primordial task should be our top priority. After we excel at that, we can concentrate on making further contributions. The key to making those contributions in a healthy manner would be to communicate them in a positive way, not as complaints, but as ideas that you came up with, trying to make a positive impact on the company.

The thing is, once you've communicated those ideas, there is nothing more you can really do, because your job is still being an employee, and you have no management responsibilities. So if some degree of injustice remains not being taken care of, sadly, you'll have to put up with it.

Of course, one can always look for another job if one's not aligned with the current company's values, but we all know how hard it is to find one that truly is aligned. In my opinion, we will always have to accept some things we don't like or don't agree with in our jobs.

Something that is, in fact, in our control is learning how to communicate those things in a way that causes no friction in the workplace, and learning when not to communicate them at all.  If I had to help someone to learn to deal with feedback starting from scratch, I would suggest delaying the response.

The key is to remain silent when you're receiving feedback, and then take your time to dissect it and process it on your own, so you'll be clearer when you give (or don't give) an answer.

What would you advise this employee to do?

A soft and silly kitten is all you need in the middle of the week. 

Kittens don't know what day it is, so they aren't counting down to Friday or stressing over everything that still needs to get done. They're completely absorbed in whatever tiny adventure is happening right now, whether that's chasing a bug across the floor or investigating a paper bag. If only Wednesdays were that simple… Fortunately, your weekly kitten delivery has arrived right on time for your midweek mood boost. 

By the middle of the week, the weekend still feels far enough away that it almost seems imaginary. It's easy to get caught in a routine of checking emails and crossing things off lists, trying to stay productive and promising yourself you'll rest later. Eventually. Some day. Well, our weekly kitten meme package offers a welcome interruption to all of that. 

Baby cats don't feel embarrassed by not knowing something. They investigate until they figure it out, and if the experiment ends with an awkward tumble or a surprise, they move on without giving it a second thought. Instead, humans stop doing that somewhere along the way. We grow older and we start to feel like we should already have the answers for everything, already know what we're doing, and already be good at everything we try. That's not true. 

So that's the reason why I'm bringing these kittens this Wednesday. To remind you that learning has always looked a little messy, because falling over while learning isn't failure, it's part of growing. And neither is changing direction after realizing something didn't work. That's just part of finding your path. Take these kitten memes as a gentle reminder that life doesn't always have to be perfectly organized to be enjoyable. Sometimes the best moments happen because someone, or some tiny cat, decides to follow their curiosity without worrying about how it looks. And it's okay to feel vulnerable and need a hug when something doesn't go the way we planned. It's the support from the people we love that helps us keep going sometimes. And other times, it's a kitten.

Doing the work and getting credit for it are, unfortunately, two very different things.

Starting a new job is already stressful enough without watching someone else take credit for your work. One employee automated a painfully slow reporting process with a spreadsheet macro, only for the senior coworker to train him to become the office "tech genius." Eight months later, that coworker has earned praise and a raise, and the real creator still hasn't said a word.

I was never a fan of those people who feel like they can do whatever they want with new employees. Yes, we all know that new members need training at first, and everything they do needs to be supervised. However, in this story we are talking about a guy who joined a distribution company, which some of their procedurees were long and not updated at all. Since he's good with computers, he invented a system that accelerates the process of how they would put data into an Excel spreadsheet every morning.

Marcus, the person who was assigned to his training, took full credit for this innovation and got praised by every management member of the company. Not only that, he got a raise and was invited to important meetings, where people were expecting to have his creative ideas for improving some other parts of the company. Since Marcus doesn't have any idea of how to do these things, he regularly asks the OP to solve the issues that come his way. 

The OP has not corrected anyone nor spoken up about him being the one responsible for these advantages. Needless to say, I hope he ends up finding a way to get compensated for his good ideas and stop having Marcus be praised for things he doesn't know how to get done.

How long would you spend trying to gain a stray cat's trust? 

Gaining a stray cat's trust is not an easy endeavour. Many of them, at best, have no interest in humans, and at worst, are terrified of humans - for good reasons. They live their lives the way that they know how, fighting for every bit of food, for shelter, for warmth. They do it because that is just how things are, and most of them don't know anything else. And although it's true that some cats decide to quit being a stray, decide to get adopted and by which person, a lot of them… don't. Because they don't know it's even an option. If we want to help a cat like that, it is up to us to take the risk, make the first move, and work for as long as it takes to gain their trust. 

We imagine that a lot of people would give up rather quickly. In today's story, it took three months of gentle coaxing for this stray cat to finally reach out. It's an unrewarding mission most of the time. You don't know if your work will pay off, if investing all that time will be worth it. We would have started doubting ourselves far sooner than at the three-month mark. But we do know that if you stick it out - for as long as it take - the reward is absolutely meowgical. The cat we'll be talking about today didn't just begrudgingly accept this random human's love after three months. No, she became obsessed with them. Finally, her walls came down, and she was able to trust the giant. And once that happened, all bets were off. Now, she's the cuddliest cat, spoiled by her humans every day, and she will never have to eat trash again. 

Nine interviews should lead to a job offer, not a surprise salary rewrite.

Imagine clearing interview after interview, completing a major take-home assignment, and meeting roughly 25 people, only to discover the job you applied for apparently never existed as advertised. This candidate stuck through nine rounds for a role listed at $120K-$160K. After postponing the decision three times, the recruiter finally called with an "error": the real ceiling was just $95K.

We all know that the job market is crazy, and getting a well-paying job nowadays seems like the most impossible thing ever. Companies know there're a lot of candidates out there, and not only take the time they need while assessing them, but they also play around with salary rates and benefits they can offer. This leaves every single interested candidate disappointed and very angry.

This exact thing happened to this OP, who decided that nine interviews with a potential company were going to get him a secure offer for sure. This position was not only right up his alley, but the salary rate was insane, and he was more than eager to land the job. However, things took and expected turn when, after the longest recruitment process ever, HR told him that the original $120K-$160K rate was going to be around $95K.

As we can all imagine, the candidate was absolutely angry and devastated, and confirmed how extreme the job market is right now. In other times, when people had more options as to where to find employment, companies were more respectful with time and were not as playful as they are now. We hope that this person can finally find a job that is willing to pay him what he deserves, and that he doesn't have to go through this process again without any more disappointment.

You don't need pep in your step, you need purr and some fur. 

There is one rule to life that has always existed and will never change, and that is that cats make literally everything better. And the internet knows this. In fact, the whole world knows this. It's why Cheezburger.com, headlined by ICanHasCheezburger?, has existed for nearly 20 years. 19 years and 7 months to be exact, and still going strong. Humanity needs cats. And more than that, humanity needs funny cat memes. 

Cat memes are one of the earliest forms of internet humor, and there is a reason for that. Everyone loves cat memes. We're sure that all of you know the feeling. You could be having the worst day in the world, and out of nowhere, you will be scrolling on some social media platform online, or a friend will send you a message, and you will see a funny cat meme or a silly cat picture, and just like that, your mood will be uplifted ever so slightly. Cats may not fix everything right away, but they sure do make things better. 

All it takes is a couple cats on your timeline, and suddenly, you're reminded of why you keep getting on social media in the first place, despite constantly saying you will stop. It's just- worth it. Those few viral cat posts in the midst of the madness. Monday morning, Wednesday, Friday, cats make every day and every situation better. Because they make us smile. Because they remind us of why life is so worth living in the first place. All the cuteness that there is to see in the world. We should thank cats, really. It's not enough for them to rule the internet. We should help them take over the world already. 

Some people really forgot what thinking is

AI-generated ideas all sound the same; it doesn't matter if they come from the free version of the LLM's or if they come from the most perfectly designed model to date, or whether you've prompted it to exhaustion. They sound bland and style-less, especially if you are looking for them to be creative.

AIs are really good at investigating or organizing your thoughts into outlines, for example, but even if you only use them for that, you still have to be very careful because they tend to make mistakes in sourcing, interpreting, and reasoning. You can totally use their output for a first draft, but you certainly have to check the sources and everything the AI has written, in search of errors and irregularities.

I've worked with design teams before, and when AI entered the picture, things started getting a little more confusing. For example, yesterday, we were trying to develop a tagline for a campaign, and I noticed most of the ideas and copy were AI-generated, and the people who were pitching them really thought they were actively involved in the thought process with the LLM, when they actually only prompted it with a question for the model to solve.

So not only are people overusing AI, but they also think they are actively coming up with ideas when they are not. My point is that people can intuitively tell when an idea is generic and made by a bot, and that works to the disadvantage of what you want to communicate with the message you came up with by prompting the model. I believe people will naturally choose things they feel humane, no matter if they are a little bit more 'imperfect'.

At any rate, we've got a long way to go before most people catch up with that knowledge and stop favouring their 'seemingly perfect' bot's creations. If we have a job, we will most likely have at least one coworker we don't like, and we should consider ourselves lucky if it's just one, like it is for this employee.

Do you think he should leave in search of a better work environment?