The office would run more smoothly if more cats were in charge.

Every workplace has a few different types of employees. There is a person who answers emails before anyone else has finished their first cup of coffee. There is the coworker who somehow knows everything that's going on. And then there is the employee who appears briefly, contributes very little, and still manages to leave everyone wondering what exactly they do all day. Cats, surprisingly, have mastered all three of these roles.

In fact, if you've ever lived with a cat, you already know they take their professional responsibilities very seriously. Whether those responsibilities include supervising your keyboard, inspecting every package that enters the house, or sitting directly on top of important paperwork, they approach every task with absolute confidence. Qualifications are optional. Confidence is mandatory.

Of course, no feline employee is complete without a healthy sense of workplace boundaries. Human workers spend years learning how to say no to unreasonable requests. Cats are born knowing. Ask a cat to do something it doesn't want to do, and you'll immediately receive a look that clearly communicates that your proposal has been reviewed and rejected. It's an admirable skill, honestly.

Then there are the cats who excel in management positions. These are the ones who monitor household activity from elevated locations and silently judge everyone's performance throughout the day. They rarely offer constructive feedback, but they are always available to observe. Sometimes from a bookshelf. Sometimes from the top of a refrigerator. Sometimes from directly behind your computer monitor.

The hardest-working cats, however, are the morale officers. They show up unexpectedly, demand attention, accept praise, and then leave before anyone can assign them additional responsibilities. It's a system that would probably improve workplace satisfaction everywhere if more companies adopted it.

The cats in this collection represent the very best of the professional feline workforce. They may not answer emails, attend meetings, or meet deadlines, but they do provide something every office desperately needs: a welcome distraction. So if your own workday is moving a little slower than you'd like, allow these hardworking cats to demonstrate what true workplace dedication looks like. Or at least what they think it looks like.

Dressed up cats are the cutest, there is no denying that. But that cuteness comes at a price, after all our feline fur babies are not ones to suffer humiliation silently. And this hissterical collection of cat child pics contains the meowments before they got their sweet revenge.  

It is a price that all cat pawrents have learned to pay. Of course for each pawrent the price is different, some pawrents only pay for the top tier things like dressing up and bath time, while other pawrents have to pay up just to scoop up their cat children for a cuddle. It is a constant struggle in the life of a pawrent, striking the right balance between loving on your cat and letting them live their life so they do not maul you in your sleep. But that is the price of having a tiny tiger living in your home, you cannot control them, you most certainly do not own them, and like a vengeful roommate who cannot stand your behaviors, they will exact their petty revenge.

So if you want to indulge in the joy that is cats in costumes we invite you to kick back, relax and scroll this list to your heart's content, because finally you get to absorb all the awwdorablness of a fashionable feline, without any possibility of retaliation.
 

There's something comforting about bad design and DIY fails. We've covered those. We've laughed, we've shaken our heads, and we've felt a little better about our own life choices. But every once in a while, the universe insists on balance. And balance, in this case, looks like a guy in his backyard who has built something that absolutely should not work, and yet, somehow, completely does.

This post is for those guys. And gals. Mostly guys, though, and mostly guys of one type, let's be honest.

What would you do?

Life never ceases to give us difficult options. The aspect of choice can be maddening; sometimes it feels easier to be given a fate then having to take on the responsibility of deciding. In Reddit's r/CatDisrtibutionSystem, this woman hears a brazen little kitten meowing loudly on the street. It was in front of her grandparent's block, and her whole family ended up getting involved. The kitten ran up to her immediately, and she stayed with the kitten while the kitten was making biscuits on her lap the whole time. Her mom shows up with cat food and water for the little thing, and they took her home. She decided to make a Facebook post because she could tell the kitten was from a family. The kitten seemed like she was used to people and wasn't very dirty. 

That night, she barely slept because the cat was snuggling up to her, and she was lost in thought about who the cat belonged to. She received many comments from people congratulating her on her new cat, but deep down she knew she couldn't keep it. That's when it happened: someone messaged her that her cat as of two weeks has ran away, and she sent photos of the cat to confirm it's hers. Lo and behold, it was hers! But there's a caveat to the story that isn't solely about the love this woman cultivated for the cat. It also has to do with the fact that the photos of the cat's original home don't look as clean or comforting. The woman really worries that the cat won't be as happy or well taken care of. What will happen in the end? And would you give the cat back if you knew? Read the full story below to see what she ends up deciding. 

What's going on with the college freshman class that's making this academic advisor so concerned? 

College students need lots of help navigating their first year of school. 

Some kids arrive without knowing how to do their own laundry. Some are so used to Mom and Dad waking them up for class that they oversleep for their 9 AM classes. Others are well-adjusted more or less, but still get anxious, and need reassurance about their path through their first semester or 2. Not to mention that a lot of college students enter without being 100% sure of their major. 

An orientation leader can really help out in some of these situations. In fact, a lot of colleges enroll their freshmen in a mandatory class dedicated just to navigating through the twists and turns of university life. 

But this academic advisor is very, very concerned about the latest crop of students that have been walking through the doors of the school. The advisor, lizz781, did not mince words in a post to r/Teachers: the kids are totally unprepared for their college journey in a way that they've never witnessed before. 

Why is this HOA steaming over the way this homeowner followed the rules? 

Buying and upkeeping a home is a great pleasure in life. But many people purchase their homes, realizing they're in HOA neighborhoods, but not realizing how much the HOA rules will cramp their style. 

When you first pay your HOA dues, you may already be wishing you never moved into HOA territory. Then, you get a fine for something like leaving your own car in your own driveway. You ask yourself how you could get a fine, hundreds of dollars, for something so small and fixable. 

Then, you begin to plan what you'll do next, which is exactly how this father made his own HOA totally irritated with his creative evasion methods. 

A divorce is one of the worst things a person can go through, but if it means a kitten at the end then maybe it's worth it?

When you see a cat in need, you help him. We're all on our own journey, and we're all going through something, but it shouldn't desist our sense of responsibility or ability to care for others. In Reddit's r/CatDistributionSystem, a guy finds a kitten outside weaving in and out of the road. He finds him on the side of the road and almost got hit by a car. There was no mom cat around and the little kitten was more than afraid. He posted on Facebook asking around about a lost kitten, but no one claimed him. Despite his intention for good, he knew in his heart that he couldn't keep the little guy because he already has 6 cats at home, all from the cat distribution system. 

His ex-wife happened to see the post, and she immediately fell in love with the kitten and claimed him. Now she's the proud owner of this sweet, little guy. It just goes to show that no matter what the situation is, things will fall into place when they're meant to be. Divorce doesn't have to be all bad, and usually it means that two people are actually doing what they need to do for their own happiness. Read everything below about the miraculous saving of a kitten running amongst traffic. 

When will employers stop being so obsessed with optics?

This fully remote employee was known for being productive and efficient at his job. In fact, it seemed like no one in upper management was taking any issue with his output, even though he was no longer working in an office environment. Despite the fact that he has been working in this remote role now for over two years at the mid-sized company, all of a sudden, he and his teammates were given a lecture about needing to be more active on email chains and Slack channels.

Yes, none of the feedback had anything to do with the quality of their actual work. Instead, it had everything to do with how performative they needed to be about all the work they were getting done. The employee immediately took to Reddit's r/remotework community and was met with similar stories from other folks who have found themselves in this situation.

What will it take for the people in upper management to realize that, despite what they may think, they are actually wasting valuable work time by enforcing that their remote employees stay engaged on Slack at all times? Yes, it takes time and effort to respond to any and all messages in order to show that you're working. Shouldn't that green dot demonstrating that you're active and reachable be enough?

It's only inevitable that leadership will eventually miss pertinent information that will get lost in the shuffle of all these unnecessary messages in Slack channels. Only then will they likely ask their employees to respond only when they are actively being asked something.

Contrary to the beliefs of folks from a backward time, performative optics and professionalism are not one and the same. Professionalism is about the output. It's about an employee's ability to meet and fulfill the expectations and responsibilities that they were hired for. It isn't about liking and responding to every single message on Slack. If upper management cannot see the difference, then perhaps they shouldn't be managing a team of fully remote employees anyway.

We've seen plenty of similar stories about the nonsense that some employees have recently had to put up with, from this Texas employee's conundrum with his former boss to this California worker's plight after a rough round of layoffs.

Just when we need a little tiny something to help restore our faith in humanity, we come across something like this. A tiny little kitten who was saved by a tiny little act of kindness. 

Kindness feels like something relatively rare in the world today. Everything we see on social media is ragebait, clickbait. Those are things that are purposefully there to emphasize everything that is wrong with the world. And there's enough of it to emphasize. But there are good things too. Sprinkled throughout your feed, hidden within the maddness, are stories of people rescuing itty bitty kitties in need of help. And as long as those wholesome cat stories are there, then we cannot lose hope. It means that good people and good deeds still shine through. 

No matter how difficult it might get in the world, there are always people out there who make time to rescue kittens who need them, like this one shared on r/cats. If you just focus hard enough, you will see these stories everywhere. Click on one, and suddenly, your feed will know to show you more of them. And you want to see them all. You want this kindness on your feed, in your life, showing up as much as possible. 

Every great home cook has a few culinary disasters in their past…

Nobody starts out knowing exactly what they're doing in the kitchen. Every confident home chef was once a beginner staring at a recipe that somehow took three times longer than advertised. We have all been there. You read the instructions, gather the ingredients, and convince yourself that this time everything will come together perfectly. Then, somehow, reality has other plans.

Part of the problem is that cooking videos have completely warped our expectations. Online, someone effortlessly prepares a restaurant-quality meal in under sixty seconds while cheerful music plays in the background. What those videos never show is the pile of dirty dishes off-camera, the forgotten ingredient, or the moment of panic when something starts looking very different from the photo in the recipe.

Of course, confidence plays a major role in most cooking fails. Sometimes a person decides that measuring is more of a suggestion than a rule. Other times, they substitute half the ingredients and act surprised when the final result resembles a science experiment. Then there are the brave souls who glance at a complicated recipe once and immediately think, "I've got the general idea." Those are often the stories that end up becoming family legends.

The funny thing is that kitchen disasters are usually much more memorable than the successful meals. Nobody talks about the perfectly acceptable pasta they made three years ago. They do, however, remember the birthday cake that collapsed in spectacular fashion or the cookies that somehow fused into a single giant cookie-shaped object. Those moments have staying power.

Strangely, cooking fails are almost a rite of passage. They remind us that learning any skill involves a little trial and error, and occasionally a lot of error. The important thing is that most mistakes make for excellent stories later. Even if dinner doesn't turn out as planned, at least you'll have something to laugh about the next time someone suggests trusting the process.

So if you've ever confidently followed a recipe only to create something completely unexpected, you're in good company. These cooking fails are proof that enthusiasm and talent don't always arrive at the same time, and that's part of the fun.

We have ended up at the vet's with our cats for a myriad of different funny reasons, but our cat "stretching too hard" might be the funniest one that we have heard. 

Over out time writing for ICHC, we have heard of some absolutely ridiculous reasons people ended up at the vet's with their cats for. People paying hundreds of dollars because their cats had tummy aches and didn't know how to handle them. People paying thousands of dollars because their cats couldn't stand the diet that they were on and rebelled against them. Cats eating things that they shouldn't eat, cats being overdramatic about something completely normal, cats being spooked by something and having a crazy reaction. Some of the most expensive vet visits are over silly things with cats. 

And yet, with everything that we have seen, we think that this story from r/blackcats might be the most ridiculous. We didn't even know that cats could dislocate their tails, let alone do it because they were doing a biiiig stretch. Those are supposed to be cute, not dangerous. Cats are built for stretching as big as possible. Or at least that is what we thought. We also didn't think that a dislocated tail from stretching would end up costing $1000! 

In most cases, when you start a new job, you know you are there to replace someone else, and that your main focus is to learn everything they used to do and, hopefully, do it better.

Whether the person before you left on their own or was fired is basically irrelevant; all you are there for is to learn the job and do it as best as you can. After all, that is what you were hired to do.

Well, sometimes, people start a new job and quickly discover that the job they thought they were hired to do and the job they actually end up doing are two completely different things. As soon as their first day starts, more and more tasks and responsibilities are uncovered, often with nothing to do with the job title that was stated in the offer letter.

Suddenly, it becomes a bit clearer why the job was vacant to begin with…

The employee who wrote the story below was initially hired as a data analyst, but they quickly discovered that they were actually getting set up to inherit a retiring finance employee's job, something they definitely didn't sign up for when they took the job. Not only were the tasks of the retiring guy unrelated to the job of a data analyst, but as days went by, the new hire realized they would basically be doing the job of three people, and they were not prepared for that whatsoever…

In a recent update post on an online community, the new employee shared their decision about this confusing position, so scroll down to read the full story and the update that followed…

Black cats are called voids for a reason, it seems - this one kitten was so hard to find to be rescued.

It's not only that kittens find themselves in the most unlikely of places before they get adopted, but when we're talking about black cats, it's even more prevalent. There's already the persistent stigma about black cats and bad luck (which is absolutely not true, mind you), so they tend to be pushed to the bottom of any adoption list. But then, in cases like this one of a woman from r/CatDistributionSystem, where the willingness to adopt the kitten in need is there, it's even harder to find them because of their fur color. Such a plonter.

Now add the fact that this kitten was hidden in such a tangly place - not the flowerbed in front of your house - but inside the tube-y mess of a car hood, and you have a disasterpiece of potential complexities. Now, now, this is not the first cat to be stuck inside a car's engine, by any means. But add together the size of a small kitten and the pitch-black fur color, and you've got such a low chance of success for a rescue… yet, it succeeded. Which is already a delight in and of itself.

Most kittens have this instinct to meow when in distress. Sometimes, though, stress and fear might make them freeze in silence. But, lucky for this void kitten, using the right meow at the right time is what got it out of this dangerous situation. Even here, it's not the first time a kitten's meow led to its adoption, but here it's even more critical to the successful kitten rescue we're seeing here.

How is everyone so comfortable with spending $300 a year on in-office birthdays?

Let's preface this story by saying I'm on the Redditor's side this time, and also that I find it so puzzling how some people can't even fathom considering others' economy when making suggestions like this. That said, it was my 29th birthday last week, and that also got me thinking about how people relate to birthdays and celebrations. I've forgotten so many people's birthdays, no matter if they were friends of mine, partners, colleagues, or even close family members, and I didn't tend to take it personally if somebody forgot mine or didn't give me a present. At least, that's what I thought before my favourite aunt couldn't be bothered to message me that day. In that moment, I felt all those years of karma staring at me right in the face. I know this seems beside the point, but bear with me here: birthday celebrations ARE an important event, even if they are not obligatory, and intelligent managers should make them a part of their agenda if they would like to have a healthy, enthusiastic team of workers; however, the expenses derived from that endeavour should ideally come from the company and nowhere else.

Why is this father-in-law having a conversation about driving with his daughter's husband? 

In most relationships, tasks aren't split 50/50. They're split depending on a variety of other factors. Like, maybe you load the dishwasher for your spouse because the repetitive bending motions hurt their back, and in return, they cook meals, because you burn every meal you make. For some couples, one partner always takes out the trash, and to reciprocate, the other person will sweep the floors. There's always some give and take to it. 

Naturally, this also applies to driving. Say one spouse works, and the other is a stay at home parent. It would make sense for the stay at home spouse to just drive most of the time, because they've already got the seats and mirrors adjusted to their own specifications. They're already driving 5 days per week, so if they don't mind driving, or even enjoy it, who cares which person drives?

Well, this father-in-law cares a lot, actually. And his reasoning has got his daughter and her husband questioning who should actually be doing the driving. 

What should you do when someone else does something wrong and then acts like it is your fault?

Buying a lot and building a house is a job only for the strong-willed people who are not afraid of challenges and know how to deal with any obstacle that comes their way. Because boy, are there obstacles when it comes to building a house…

One has to deal with all the building permits, construction workers, unexpected extra costs, and endless other issues that uncover themselves along the way. There are always twists and turns, and months of sleepless nights because of all the work that's still left to be done. It is truly a task no one is actually ready for.

The story below is a perfect example of an unexpected twist that would have made the faint of heart turn around and never come back. Yet these homeowners are willing to fight for what is right…

Last week, they finally got the permits to start digging in their lot and build their home. Two days ago, a massive bundle of fiber optic cables was uncovered directly beneath their lot, right at the center of where the house should be. After a few calls, the homeowners discovered the cables belonged to a national telecom provider, who have admitted they laid the lines and had taken an illegal shortcut through their lot.

However, the telecom provider refuses to move the lines. They claim it will cost them over $100k to do so, and warn the homeowners that if their construction causes a disruption to the lines, they will be held liable for millions of dollars in damage.

Since the telecom provider is the one transmitting, the homeowners are not willing to give up without a fight. They need to build their house, and no cable will stop them. So, they turned to Reddit's r/legaladvice to understand what their next steps should be…

How do you define the cat experience?

There are a few ways to look at it, but the cat experience can be experienced through more than one way. First of all, the obvious way is to have a cat of your own. Once you become a cat pawrent, you begin to see the world differently. You care for your cat, you love your cat, and that's part of this human-feline relationship that changes our world, a little bit every time. Having a cat companion at home, living by your side and showing you how cats love, can really shift something in you. And that's the cat experience.

Another way to witness all this wonderful cat experience is to engulf yourself in cat antics. It ight be from your cat, it might be from silly cat videos online, but one thing's for sure - cats' silliness is a prime example of the cat experience. The midnight zoomies, the random staring into nothingness, the weird sound they make when they see birds outside the window. All these silly cat antics are the funniest side of the cat experience. And yes, even the silly cat memes count.

But that's not all the cat experience there is. You can also take an active part in the online feline family and engage with other feline fans. Because, honestly, these are the best people online. And what better pastime is there than to fawn over cats, together? That's why other cat people are here for - so we could all have a whole cat experience.

Nothing says home sweet home like walking in after work and discovering your landlord has played interior decorator with your bedroom while you were gone

There are a lot of ways a landlord can be annoying, but this one has a very specific flavor of invasive. It is one thing to handle maintenance, check a leak, or fix something that actually needs fixing. It is a completely different move to enter someone's home without notice and then start rearranging their bed like the room auditioned for a magazine spread nobody asked for. At that point you are no longer checking for moisture. You are freelancing.

The weirdest part is how casual the explanation sounds after the fact. I came in to check something and moved some furniture. That line has enormous energy. It is the landlord version of I just borrowed your car and also changed the radio presets. A bed is not a lightweight suggestion. A bookshelf does not accidentally end up in the closet because someone was doing a quick inspection. This took effort, and effort is exactly what makes it feel so much worse. If you are going to cross the line, at least do not make it look like you set up shop.

Landlords being a medieval concept makes them do stuff that makes you want to go medieval on them. So at least everything makes sense. As annoying as everything may be.

Some cats were simply born looking like they need to speak to meownagement immediately.

Some cats just naturally look annoyed all the time. They can be lying on the softest blanket in the house, fully fed, half asleep in a sunbeam, and still somehow look like somebody just asked them to work a double shift. Cats really have mastered the art of looking deeply inconvenienced by their own extremely comfortable lives.

The attitude also never matches what they are actually doing. A cat will be purring, rubbing against your legs, following you from room to room, and staring at you like you personally ruined its week at the exact same time. The face says "absolutely not," while the behavior says "please never leave me alone again."

Some cats have a level of side-eye that feels almost personal too. One glance from across the room and suddenly you feel judged for everything you have ever done. Sitting weird? Judged. Eating chips at midnight? Judged. Existing too loudly? Definitely judged.

Meanwhile cats somehow always look the most offended right after causing complete chaos themselves. They knock a glass off the counter, sprint through the house at 3 AM, attack somebody's feet under the blanket, then sit there glaring like everybody else is the problem. Cats cause complete chaos and still act like everybody else in the house is overreacting.

Seven years outside and now this little guy is finally deciding hoomans might not be so bad after all.

Fluffy has apparently spent years being the mysterious neighborhood cat who kept everybody at a distance, and now he is slowly turning into a full-time porch resident with his own heated setup and dinner routine. Stories like this are always so sweet to see pop up on Reddit's r/Feral_Cats subreddit because the tiny little trust milestones feel huge. Going from being impossible to approach to rolling around, chirping, making biscuits, and allowing tail touches is massive progress.

The heated pad situation also feels incredibly cat-coded. Fancy insulated cat house? Suspicious and wouldn't touch. Heated pad placed exactly where he already liked sleeping? Purrfect. No notes. Fluffy clearly knows what works for him.

The sweetest part is how much more relaxed and comfortable he seems now. Waiting by the porch for food, hanging around all day, sleeping there overnight, and even losing the winter mats all feel like signs that he finally feels safe and cared for. Some outdoor cats never become super cuddly, but watching them slowly soften around humans honestly feels just as rewarding.

Fluffy already sounds pretty committed to porch life. Heated sleeping spot, fresh water, nightly wet food dinners, and humans who talk kindly to him every day? That is basically luxury living for a neighborhood cat. It may be only a matter of time before he finds that inside life is even better than outside.