Paying for the birthday party of the adult man who runs your company feels a little backwards. Yet, like a reverse bonus that comes every year, the boss's birthday is always played like some spectacle that HR can never afford, forcing that cost on the backs of every lowly employee on salary. 

Here's an idea: What if the boss paid for his own birthday party? 

Weirdly, CEOs making 6-figure salaries, who make an appearance in the office once a week, are rarely held liable for any financial struggles in the company. When quarterly goals aren't met, and revenue is plummeting, it's never the C-Level bosses who are expected to take on the jobs of laid-off employees, get their promotions furloughed, or who have the looming axe of unemployment dangling over their heads. Despite the workforce being expected to carry the brunt of the workload, they're still the most underpaid and underappreciated portion of the company. 

Until, of course, it's the Big Man's big day.

This is a great life lesson for everyone: don't work harder just because your company chose to fire all your talented coworkers

Ain't no such thing as company loyalty anymore. 

It doesn't matter if you've worked somewhere for 5 minutes or 15 years, because in your boss's eyes, you're expendable. A number on a spreadsheet. And if the right numbers aren't going up, employees will be taking the fall. 

Higher-ups would rather fire workers every day of the week rather than ever take a pay cut. I mean, a lot of C-suite workers make millions of dollars each year, while the workers who make their company rich are making like, $75k. It's all quite unfair, and this person is urging workers not to break their spirits by overworking just to correct an error that a rich CEO could've prevented. 

Bags don't stay empty for long around cats. 

Cats don't see bags as objects, they see them as opportunities. The second one shows up, it's game over. Paper, plastic, tote, doesn't matter. If it makes that little crinkle sound, it's basically a personal invitation. You put a bag down for one second and suddenly there's a cat inside it like it spawned there.

They also have zero respect for size limits. A bag that can barely hold a sandwich will somehow contain a full cat. Front half goes in confidently, back half gets sorted out later. There's a brief pause when the bag makes noise, then right back to business like nothing unusual is happening. Full purrsuit of bag living.

Once inside, they're convinced they've disappeared. Entire cat visible, tail waving around, head poking out, still acting like they've mastered stealth. They'll sit there staring at you like you're the one missing something. Peak delusion, zero doubt.

The bag is no longer yours. It has been officially reassigned. You could have just unpacked groceries, you could need it later, none of that matters. The bag has a new purpose now, and that purpose is cat.

You may pay rent, but the cat owns the place. 

Cats don't move in, they close on the property. No paperwork, no inspection, just one confident walk through the door and suddenly they're the homeowner. You might have signed the lease, but they clearly see themselves as the landlord. From that moment on, it's less of your place and more their purrsonal residence.

They set the house rules immediately. Doors must remain open at all times, chairs are first-come first-served (and they always come first), and any surface can become a designated cat zone without notice. You try to relocate them and get hit with a look that says that's not in the contract. It's their way or the hallway.

They also take their role seriously. Daily walk-throughs happen on their schedule. Slow, deliberate steps from room to room, occasional pauses to loaf in the middle of everything like a supervisor on site. If something is out of place, they'll inspect it. Quality control is clearly a full-time job.

After a while, you just accept it. You adjust your routine, work around their chosen spots, and respect the boundaries they've set. They're fully settled, completely comfortable, and running the show. You're not the owner, you're just lucky enough to live in their house.

What time is it? What day is it? What year is it? Seriously, who even am I? All I do is eat, dream, meme, and repeat. Actually… When I put it that way, it kind of sounds like I'm living the dream. Is memeing the dream? Tune back in at 10 pm! Do you know where your kids are? I think my brain is glitching from adding too many memes to my daily cup of scrolling… Join me in my adventures! 

Seriously, though, memes are fantastic. Here we are getting bombarded with dark headlines one after another. You'd think we'd all be in the pit of despair by now. But nope! Memes always come to the rescue to help bring you back to realizing that life isn't that serious. Nothing is that serious. Nothing is even real. How old am I? Somewhere between 33 and 1,000. How many lives have we all lived? Is that even a thing? I do not have answers to these questions, but I do have memes. We shall survive with memes! 

A once fearful cat is now choosing cuddles on her own. 

This couple adopted Méi, a 3-year-old calico who had already lived a full life before even getting to them. She had been found outside with three kittens, so it made sense that she came in cautious and unsure. In the beginning, she kept her distance, hiding most of the time, watching everything closely, and not fully relaxing. They were even told not to expect much closeness from her, which made those early days feel a little uncertain.

But things started to shift faster than expected. Within about ten days, she made her way onto the couch, sitting near them instead of staying hidden. She was curious, clearly wanting to be close, just not fully ready yet. Even while her owner was away, she recognized her voice on the phone and came looking for her, which says a lot.

Then came the real turning point. After being gently introduced to the bed, Méi came back on her own. Not just once, but over and over, climbing up, getting closer, settling in, and eventually sleeping right on top of her. Now she follows her around, chats constantly, and purrs like she has a lot to say.

It's the kind of progress that feels small on the outside but means everything for a cat like her. She went from always watching from a distance to choosing closeness on her own terms. Now she keeps coming back for more.

What was supposed to be a simple wedding invitation quickly turns into an unexpected job offer with no paycheck attached. After being asked to take on full MC duties, this guest finds herself responsible for running the entire event rather than enjoying it. With little connection to the bride and no clear appreciation for the workload involved, the situation starts to feel less like a celebration and more like an obligation. Now she is left wondering if setting boundaries makes her the problem or if she is just asking for basic fairness.

See that? That's the look of pure kitty brainlessness.

We're not saying that all cats are stupid or something. In fact, cats are highly intelligent and skilled! But for some reason there's a strange dissonance between their intellect and abilities, and their countenance. There's a common and unforgettable dumbfounded look on their face. They're constantly bewildered at something, and it seems like they mentally just arrived in this universe. They could have been elsewhere, but we'll never know it. But in a way, that's what makes them so cute, unique, and memorable. There's something so pure and innocent about their silly smiles, their tongues sticking out, and their eyes wide in shock at some invisible thing. They're playful and imaginative, and that's part of why we love them so much. There's endless amusement with cats solely because of that blank expression. They look at nothing, and it looks like nothing is inside their heads. One moment they're elegant, poised, and regal, but the next they're staring blankly at a wall as if they've completely forgotten what existence is. The juxtaposition is more than funny, so please, enjoy this tasteful dose of dissociated cat memes with no thoughts. 

The boss's insistence that staff work from the office all the time without flexible arrangements created issues in the workplace when she refused to follow her own policy.

I'll never understand why some bosses and employers are so adamant that work of the sort that can easily be done on a computer from anywhere must instead be done in an office.

There's always this discussion about some conductive energy, this cultural surge that will happen, that staff will somehow link up like the Power Rangers or something, and with their powers combined, all of that collective energy will be greater than the sum of its parts, leading to new ideas and greater productivity. 

If this really happens in real life, I have yet to see it. Working in an office, especially all the time with no flexibility, is draining and, over time, pushes workers into "going through the motions," and any short promise of greater communication and smoother transduction evaporates back into a figment of an ethereal dream. 

While it might appear that workers are busier in the office, there is a lot of "performative" work giving that impression amongst all the added sudden distractions and long awkward silences punctuated by someone who probably should have taken a sick day and stayed home coughing a few tables away. 

If you thought a feline abandonment could not be a way for the Cat Distribution System to complete a fur family, then you have another thing coming with this story.

As we have come to find, the Cat Distribution System has some pretty out of the box ways of bringing the cats and hoomans it works with together. Sometimes it uses meet-cutes, other times it has cats literally walk into the homes of the hoomans it has chosen for them, and other times it apparently uses tactics like abandonment. Which while being rather traumatic, is quite the direct method, and in the case of this fur family the purrfect way for them to meet their new cat child.

It just goes to show that you can never quite tell how the CDS is going to bestow its great gifts upon you, and that you have to be aware and open to it coming from all sorts of different directions. So we invite you to step into this sweet and heartwarming cat family story so that you too might learn to recognize the signs that the CDS is reaching out to you.
 

This woman was stunned that her BF was asking her to contribute $425 toward a family dinner of steak and lobster, then blamed her for not wanting to pay! 

Meeting your partner's family is a big deal. If you have a future in mind, those family members will become your family too. 

You want to get to know their parents and siblings, and spending time with their extended family can be really fun, too. 

Not to mention that joining in on treasured family traditions is really great. Even just going out for a family meal at a nice restaurant can be a lovely way to spend a night! 

But it was certainly not a lovely night for this person. 

Listen here, fellow feline fanatic fans raising a coo-coo cat - the crazy hours are the best of the cat experience, and we're here to provide a healthy meme-fied way to pass the time until your cat calms down to their cuddly and cute form.

It's known that all cats are lovey-dovey love bugs. Cats purr, cats cuddle, cats like to be petted and won't leave your side until they feel you've given them enough love. But that's the default state we all know and love. Much like gremlins, though, some cats can sometimes turn into fluffy demons with what seems to be a Formula 1 engine powering them through the nightly zoomies.

Not every cat is a ruckus cat kid, but if you have one, you know exactly what we're talking about. Your house is full of meows that demand to be let up on the fridge and hunt a bug on the wall. Your house is turned into a racing track at 3 AM. Your house is the playground of the goblin with fur that lives there like they're the king or queen of this domain. Crazy cats are the best entertainment ever.

Since raising such a chaos gremlin might not be the easiest task, we usually like to pass the time until gremlin-mode is over by looking at some online feline funnies. It's essentially waiting until cuddle-time comes back, but with more cats. Because filling your time with cats is never a bad idea.

Here's hoping your next home doesn't come haunted; living ghosts and heirloom storage were never part of the agreement.

Buying a home is an exciting, slightly terrifying endeavor. You never know for sure what you're getting into, and regardless of how many inspections you have and however many property value assessments you scour, homes and properties are like Pandora's box; once you've opened it up to see what's inside, there's no telling what other little surprises come along with the good news. 

Alas, that doesn't stop people from buying weird, old houses. 

Often more affordable than new builds and seeping with that old-world charm that doesn't exist on the market anymore, old houses can be really cool. However, they may come with more ghosts in the cellar than you'd care to imagine, and if you're like the homeowner in this next story, your new/old house might just be haunted by the ghosts of property owner's past, present, and future. 

Cats are our babies. Leaving them in the hands of someone else is as scary as finding a good daycare for your child. And when cat pawrents go for a long time, they want to know their cats are well taken care of, with the bare minimum of them being fed and clean. So if and when a cat pawrent discovers their beloved cat child was outright neglected, it's only natural for them to go livid. We know we would be. And with this couple's cat? It's even worse, since the neglectful cat sitter is family. These are the closest people to you, ones you're supposed to be able to trust, and definitely ones who know how dear your cat is to you.

Balancing work and family is already a challenge, but it becomes even harder when expectations suddenly shift. This working mom took a job with the understanding that flexibility would support her childcare needs, only to have that agreement pulled out from under her. After being upfront and communicative the entire time, she was met with frustration instead of support. Rather than compromise what mattered most, she chose to walk away. Now she's left wondering if standing her ground was the right call, or if she should have handled things differently.

It's going, going… it's gone!

Is there any smell sweeter than the fresh feline scent of Caturday? It's the day we can finally sleep in, spend a lazy day in bed if we want to, or enjoy an afternoon out to enjoy the new Spring weather. On Caturdays, though, we prefer to spend our free time with the ones who matter most to us - our cats. Maybe it's time for that dreaded grooming session (now that it's shedding season), purrhaps it's the day when you're finally going to deep clean the litter boxes, or just bed-rot with all your fluffy felines cuddled around you. 

But we here at I Can Has Cheezburger want to put in a little extra effort to make your Caturday special. For it to feel like a home run of a day. Like all your traffic lights are meowgically green, or you find $20 in your pocket. And the best way for us to do that is to supply you with the funniest, the fuzziest, and the silliest feline tweets to hit your Caturday out of the park. They have everything a good Caturday needs: cats, giggles, and no effort wasted. 

The only thing that would make this Caturday better would be a pile of kittens delivered right to your doorstep, and as much as we would love to send you one, that's actually quite a lot of work, and we're opposed to working on Caturdays. But as long as you scroll down and laugh at one or five of these hissterical tweets, then we can safely say that we've achieved our goal for today.

If you saw your neighbor performing what seemed like a mysterious ritual on their front porch every night, would you say something?

Most suburban residents who encounter something like this might initially shrug off any concerns they might have, especially if it's a one-time occurrence. After all, it's dark out, and they might not fully see or understand what's happening. Besides, aren't neighbors meant to mind their own business anyway?

Of course, the idea behind this notion is a fabrication. The reality is that the vast majority of neighbors enjoy gossiping about one another out of curiosity alone. However, these residents weren't exactly making something out of nothing. 

From their perspective, they were bearing witness to a neighbor's strange nightly routine, and each subsequent morning, there would be a whole flock of crows sitting on his front lawn. 

Was he just a strange and lonely guy, or was this actually the premise of a real-life horror film?

The Hound has been a feral cat for nearly his entire life. He got into trouble, got banned from some places, made himself a reputation… until he got older, decided to retire, and chose the one and only human that he wanted to live with. 

Life as a stray cat is hard. You have to look for shelter, look for food, face the weather. There is a lot to do, and although many cats do it, probably because they don't know much else, we, as owners of cats, know just how much happier they would be getting spoiled at home. Cats love their cozy blankets that they curl up in. Cats love cuddling with us - occasionally, when they deem us worthy. Cats love being fed endlessly, having as much water as they could ever need, and always having a warm spot to warm up in. 

Some cats spend years outside, living that harsh life and facing every difficulty that comes with it. And these cats seem to like it. But there is a reason that house cats live longer, and some street cats come to that understanding. Like the Hound did. He understood that it is time to retire, and now, he is living his best life, being spoiled, loved and telling all of his stories, from inside a warm home. 

Another week has come to an end, and now, it's time for our weekly recap of the best things on the cat side of the internet. 

We did it again, friends. We have made it to the weekend. There were some moments when we weren't sure it would happen. So many crazy things are happening all at once in the world right now, and everything feels a little shaky and unsure. The one thing though, at least on the internet, that never changes, is the people's love for cats. And that is what we are here to enjoy today. In this weekly Caturday meowgazine, we put together the best of the best of cats on the internet. 

In this segment, we bring you the best cat memes of the week, the ones that people shared and smiled at. We bring you the most viral cat tweets that had people talking all week long. We give you the most wholesome cat stories, the ones that made people smile even while things in the world around them were stressful. People are always loving on cats on the internet, and we, the cat lovers that we are, are thanking the internet every day for it. 

Potluck dinners are fun for people who want to show off their cooking, not for professional chefs. If you already show off your cooking as a full-time paid gig, then potluck parties tend to lose their pizzazz. You don't invite your mechanic friend to your house and then expect them to service everyone's car? Or expect your dentist friend to check everyone's teeth while they're yapping at the party. Why would you want your friend to have to do their job (unpaid!) at your party?

This chef had finally had it with her friends' potluck-style parties. She enjoyed them because she appreciates gathering around food with the people she cares about and enjoys each other's company. However, it quickly turned into her having to cook the most extravagant meals for all her friends to eat and then judge everyone else's dishes. It was no longer a fun social event with her friends, it was her clocking in for an unpaid shift. 

So, she did what she could to turn it back into a friendly social event for herself by not cooking. She showed up with a store-bought hummus and some sliced-up veggies, and that was that. She was excited not to have to "perform" for her friends anymore. Unfortunately, they were all disappointed that they weren't getting their free gourmet meal/cooking class. She tried to explain that she just wanted to hang out and not have to do her job, but many, including the host, didn't seem to get the picture…