This grandma learned to text because of cats. Now, someone needs to show her ICHC. She will be amazed. 

I've always thought of myself as someone who is relatively hip with all the new technology. I'm old enough to have had to learn to use phones in my lifetime but also young enough to understand that it's important to move on with the times and to learn the ways of new technology. I've always looked at my granddad, who until his last day thought that my phone was a wallet, as something strange. That's not who I'm going to be! Yet, here I am, and AI is here, and I simply do not like it. Especially when it comes to cats. 

There are so many cute cats in the world and on the internet. There are endless funny cat memes and pictures and videos. We don't need AI for cat stuff. Maybe with other things, it could be useful in some ways, but it does nothing for the cat world. And I say these things, and then wonder if, to people who are younger than me, I sound like my grandfather. And you know what? I don't care. This is a hill that I'm willing to tussle on. Some new technologies are worth it, and some are not. 

Texting. Now that is a technology that everyone should be able to use. And this 90-year-old grandmother, after years and years of her family most likely trying to teach her, finally found a good enough reason to learn. And of course it's cats. This grandmother has so many stray cats in her yard that she loves taking care of, and she has a grandson who loves cats, and now, she has a texting ability that she uses, and what does she send? Pictures of her cats. 

This will not go the way you'd expect

At first, I thought I was going to read about something terrible a coworker had done to harm her teammates, but it turned out to be much less harmful than I expected, and it ended up revealing more about the teammate who wants revenge than about the lying coworker. To me, in normal customer service jobs where you are not saving the planet or curing a very serious illness, it's common knowledge that nobody really really wants to be there. One should always try to give the best service one can provide, of course, out of sheer humanity; but that's it. In my worldview, your teammates understand when you just need to rest or take an extra day, and everybody plays along with the 'sickness' performance because you are not truly harming anyone; in any case, the employee who's switching his day off with you will have their day off another day.

You walk into the supermarket with a grocery list and one mission: buy what you need and try not to forget anything. Then, between the cereal and the canned tomatoes, you notice a pair of fluffy ears rising above the shelf. Forget the list. There is a cat in the store, and you need to meet him. Meeting the feline manager has suddenly become your priority. 

Supermarket cats and bodega cats know that location is everything. Why sleep in an ordinary bed when you can curl up beside the bread display? Why sit on the floor when a stack of paper towels offers an elevated view of the entire aisle? They have a remarkable ability to look completely natural in places nobody expects to find them. They are like longtime employees napping confidently on the products. 

No shopping cart goes unnoticed. The feline supervisor examines its contents and decides if the customer has made acceptable choices. Tuna receives immediate approval. Lettuce receives a curious sniff. And a cart without treats is sent back for corrections. Customers compare prices and search for different product brands, but the cat is conducting a much more important inspection. 

Their presence changes the atmosphere of the whole store. Perhaps these cats don't technically work here, but they greet customers and keep them entertained without requesting a paycheck. All they want is different beds to take a nap in the middle of their shifts. We must understand them. Being a feline manager is not that easy. They really need to rest after their thorough inspections. 

But not every supermarket feline follows the same management style. Some greet shoppers at the entrance and collect head scratches like loyalty points. Others prefer to observe from behind the counter with the serious expression of someone reviewing quarterly sales. Others just wait for customers at the counter. Just pay for your stuff and go home, hooman. 

So grab a shopping cart and follow the whiskers. These supermarket cats are patrolling grocery shelves, proving every store is better when its most memorable longtime employee has four paws. 

There is shy, and then there is living in someone else's house every other week for four years while behaving as if the homeowners were part of the furniture. 

A 45-year-old stepmother is tired of feeling invisible in her own home. Her stepson's girlfriend began staying over because the family didn't want him to drive her home at night, which was a thoughtful offer to keep both of them safe. But then, one sleepover became two, then three, and it finally became a part-time residency for her, week on and week off. The girlfriend stays for the entire week when the stepson is at his father's house. 

The problem is that despite living there, she enters the house without greeting anyone, heads directly upstairs, and stays hidden in his boyfriend's room. If she enters the kitchen, she avoids eye contact and only speaks when someone speaks to her first. She might have social struggles, but that doesn't mean she can't say "hello" and "thank you". 

Her boyfriend always has an explanation ready to justify her behavior. She is shy. She feels self-conscious. Her own home is crowded, so she needs somewhere peaceful to study. Those explanations might have worked during the first few visits, but four years later, they sound more like excuses.

The final straw came when the girlfriend complained about being asked to wash her own car. Well, it's her car, and she decides how dirty it gets, but the fact that she complained about one minor request while enjoying the family's hospitality made the stepmom reach her limit. She's not demanding heartfelt conversations at family dinners. She demands a simple greeting and an occasional "thank you". For this stepmom, to be acknowledged would be enough.  

"To everyone who's received unfortunate news about their best friends, don't give up."

Taking your cat to the vet is always an… interesting experience. Everyone hates it, basically. Your cat hates every second of it. You have a hard time beause your cat is stressed. And the vets have a hard time because apparently, subduing a 10-year-old chonky cat long enough to do the tests that they need is a mission that requires one vet, one nurse, one secretary, and another, more experienced vet. Actually, that might just be my cat. Either way, the whole experience is a struggle. And although not always, usually, we take our cats to the vet for reasons that are not fun, which, of course, only makes things worse. 

We hope that every vet visit will be short, that the vets will tell us our cats are totally fine and that we took our cats to the vet for silly reasons. But that is unfortunately not always the case, as is with today's story that was originally shared on r/CatDistributionSystem. Sometimes, you get bad news at the vet's that you wish with every fiber in you that you didn't get. Shushu, a 2-year-old cat, had a bad episode happen to him, something not exactly clear, but the vet said that it was a heart attack and that it was so strong, Shushu only had a few months and there was no point in operating on him because the damage done was so bad. To that, we can only repeat what Shushu's owner's said: "Never underestimate one's will to live". Because after being told that Shushu only had two months left to live, Shushu decided that it wasn't her time yet, and two years after this diagnosis, she's still living her best life, healthy and happy. 

A backyard discovery sparks a property line dispute.

After clearing part of their Rhode Island property, this homeowner uncovered evidence that a neighbor had been trimming vegetation and cutting down trees for years to improve the view. The neighbors claimed the previous owner had allowed it, but no such agreement existed after the property changed hands. Even after being told to stop, their reaction left the homeowner uneasy enough to install trail cameras and consider hiring an attorney and ordering a land survey.

Problems regarding trees and neighbors will never stop happening, let me tell you. This story in particular is one of the craziest that I've read. This homeowner realized his neighbor wanted to improve his view by cutting trees and plants that belong to his property, without asking and without any sort of permission or paperwork that justifies this action. 

Now, things got a bit more hectic when he politely asked him to stop, because he wants to grow the garden. Although everyone was kind of nice about it, there's something that keeps the homeowner paranoid and not relaxed. He doesn't trust these people, and he's considering hiring an attorney if things get out of hand. For instance, having his land surveyed is a good starting point since knowing the limits of your property is the best argument.

I really hope he can get this situation figured out. If he's planning to live there with his wife forever, then I'm sure he will want a good relationship with his neighbor. And I always say that keeping a respectful and cordial bond with the people who live next is fundamental if everyone wants to live in peace. We wouldn't want a crazy old man neighbor causing us any sort of problem or trouble just to get revenge.  

Midweek meowtivation is absolutely pawsitively essential for peace of mind, so go on and get your meowgic on with cat memes. 

The weekend is almost here, finally we can all relax, take a deep breath, and get on our phones for a good ol' fashioned meme scroll. The world works in mysterious ways, and everything is always in a cycle. What we liked as a kid or teenager may be the only thing that can comfort us these days, and maybe that thing is scrolling cat memes. A soft whisper of the weekend already has us purring and praying for those two days of restful bliss when we feel like we are drowning in life.

Some people count down the workweek by watching the clock. Others treat themselves to fancy coffees or daydream about future vacations. But here at I Can Has Cheezburger, we get through it by pspspsps-ing at every cat like it's a sacred ritual. That's a better life philosophy than most corporate wellness programs, or gluten free diets. These cat memes aren't just memes, they're coping mechanisms. They're tiny portals of comfort, reminders that softness is power, and proof that a little silliness can carry you from one exhausting week to the next. So pspspsps your way through, friend. The weekend is coming, the cats are waiting, and the fluff will set you free.

Meowgic is everywhere. It isn't just a flick of a wand in Harry Potter; it's the very fabric of our world that makes up the air around us, and our own human bodies. Energy is felt and not seen, that's what makes it so meowgical. When Wednesday hits, we may not feel at our top meowtivation to seize the day with the same energy as we had in the start of the week. With the help of some cat memes, we can mitigate the midweek meltdowns and actually get to a point of content. So go ahead and get scrolling! 

Customer's rage deposits

I used to work at a coffee shop, and I found this attitude truly intriguing. Many times I reflected on the times I had pulled it off myself. It goes something like this: something irritates you as a customer, like the fact that the store is out of the specific muffins you like, and you take it out on the employee who's selling them. The psychological operation is very simple, really, but it's surprising how often this happens to fully functioning adults in relation to very silly demands like a special kind of milk or a yogurt flavour.

Being a cat magnet is a not something someone can control…with great power comes great responsibility. 

This family is a self-proclaimed cat magnet. The cat distribution system chooses them more and more. In Reddit's r/CatDistributionSystem, a family already swimming in cats finds just more cats. They first found a kitten in a park, who they named Juniper. Their neighbor just had a cat give birth in his yard, and that's when they found the box of five kittens dumped next to a free pile. They can't keep the kittens because they already have three, and it's not cheap to have pets. They agree to keep the kittens overnight, but can't take them long term. They're in Portland, Oregon, so they make a post in the hope that someone will respond to their post and adopt one or all of the kittens. If you know anyone in that area or want a kitten yourself, all the information is below. 

How did he even pass the interviews? Is he some kind of nepo-baby?

Hiring a bad employee can happen, but realizing that the trainee who needs to start working in a couple of days can not comprehend simple instructions, retain information you already explain 3 times, or even think for himself is concerning. The corporate world has the standard procedure of going through several interviews with a candidate before they even offer them the job. Some even make them take tests to make sure they will be functioning employees. With all the barriers someone has to go through, you would never think that someone that incompetent would ever reach the job position. But that happened in the story below. 

With all the new trends in the recruiting stage, you would think that it would result in better employees, as only the most capable people would be the ones landing jobs. But that is not actually correct. The problem lies in recruiters. They focus so much on having the perfect resume, the perfect recommendations, and the perfect interview that they forget to even check if the person showing as "the best candidate" actually is. Is it really that important if the resume is a neutral color or not? Is that more important than experience? Than talent? Is that really a good way to discern between capable and incapable candidates? I don't think so. 

Some candidates present themselves in such a proper way and with their resumes completely up to date with the newest recruiting trend. But that doesn't mean they are the most fit people for the job. By relying on so many unimportant factors, candidates stop being chosen by their actual talent, and instead recruiters only focus on being trendy. That only leaves us with incompetent employees that can't even figure out how to use a coffee machine that has written instructions. With all the steps a candidate has to face only to be considered, it seems incredible that someone like this could get the job. Maybe all these tips to be the perfect candidate aren't as useful as we thought.
 

Meow + You = Together Furever.

Some people write love letters, some people buy flowers, and others send each other cat memes at 2 a.m; because what screams 'romance' more than sending a meme with a text that says: "This is so us." 

Love isn't always about grand gestures or dramatic movie moments. Most of the time, it's about saving the best meme to send to your favorite purrson, knowing exactly which silly cat video will make them laugh, or having an entire conversation made up of nothing but pictures of cats making weird faces. It's about finding someone who understands your sense of humor, your weird little habits, and your need to stop everything you're doing to show them a cute animal. I'd rather have a purrtner surprising me with the tiniest, most significant details than taking me to an expensive random restaurant. 

Cats might not be known for being the most openly affectionate animals on the planet, but that's exactly why they make the perfect relationship mascots. They know that love is about choosing your favorite spot on the couch together, sharing snacks (even when one person definitely stole more than their fair share), and occasionally pretending you don't care before immediately coming back for cuddles. Basically, cats invented the art of being a little dramatic while secretly being the biggest softies.

A truly purrfect couple doesn't need to be the same. Usually, one person is the energetic orange cat causing disaster, while the other is the calm little loaf watching everything unfold with judgmental eyes but a solution in their pocket. One might be the "let's go on an adventure" type, while the other is already wearing pajamas and planning a cozy night in. But those differences are what make them work, right? I mean opposites attract… except with more whiskers and significantly more naps.

So, whether you are the troublemaker or peacemaker, grab a snack, get comfy, and prepare to start a very serious curating meme process for the loaf of your life. Who knows, maybe you'll get an hour of loaf-making massages if the meme is that good. Which it'll be, of course. 

 

When a shared fence turns into another neighborhood battle.

Living next to a difficult neighbor is exhausting, especially when every disagreement seems to become a legal threat. After being blamed for damage to a shared fence, this California homeowner discovered that the neighbor's own contractor attributed the problem to years of rot, not a lightweight plastic table. Despite offering to split the cost and work toward a lasting solution, the homeowner fears the neighbor will move forward alone and sue anyway.

Things are going to get messy for these two families here. One of them believes the fence they shared was damaged by a plastic table, while the other has evidence that it just rotted because it's old. It's one word versus the other. And of course, one of the families is afraid they will tear the fence down and take them to court to make them pay for it. 

I don't understand why this situation has to escalate like this. For instance, if they share the fence, splitting the cost of getting it fixed is a good middle ground. This was proposed by the homeowner, but rejected by the neighbors, who are blaming him for the destruction. By this point, and understanding that the second family is not willing to agree on something, it's going to get complicated.

Having the professional opinion of the contractor was a good strategy, since he's the one who understands these things better than anyone, and confirmed that the fence needs to be replaced because it's old, and there was nothing to do when it was going bad, rather than time and humidity.

I hope they can settle on something so they don't stress about something that's not that complicated, and they both agreed that they need to build a new one. They all want the same thing: to live in peace and to have a good fence separating both properties. So why not sit and have this situation sorted out by talking rather than in court?

What should sellers do about neighbors who are confronting and scaring off possible buyers, especially when they are effectively devaluing the land?

A frustrated North Alabamian landowner is at their wits' end over a neighbor confronting buyers and misrepresenting the property they are sending under the false guise of helping out, showing them old photos of the land when it was flooded before work had been done to remediate the issue. 

Buying property is a major uncertainty.

You can do all the due diligence in the world: inspections, surveys, records, legal documents… But at the end of the day, it's confidence that will close the deal. Confidence that by signing their name on the dotted line, the buyer is not signing themselves up for a major problem, quite literally.

Proper disclosure and honesty will always be key, regardless of legal obligations for disclosure where the sale is taking place. I'll never forget one of the last places I rented, and shortly after moving in, the neighbor came across the street and said, "I just want you to know, the place you've just moved into floods!"

And guess what happened after a few months of moving there? 

The obvious issues with the property and the ramifications of that aside… Feeling of not having been told that was enough to completely erode any trust I might have had in the property, the leasing agency, and the landlord. And that was just renting. I was not "stuck" in the sense that you legally become when you overpay for a problem.

This story, shared this past week by a frustrated landowner after their neighbor intervened on a sale, revealing sensitive information, sparked discussion on the subject.

Between tiktok and temu it can feel rather overwhelming to find the purrfect toy to treat your cat child to. So we went out and did the leg work for you to find out which cat toys are just gimmicks and which are pure playtime gold.

Of course we got these recommendations from the pawrents in Reddit's r/CatAdvice subreddit who have spent their hard earned cash to get these toys and let their feline fur babies play with them for quite a while before giving us their impressions of them. After all, you cannot judge a cat's interest in an object until a decent amount of time has passed and they are still into using said object. You see, cats can change their likes, dislikes and interests on a whim, all too happy to keep things moving along like the changing styles of fashion. So when you stand to shell out a significant amount of money to make them happy you had better be teaching them something worthwhile.

Thankfully, the pawrents of the cat community came together to tell us about the best things they have bought their cat kids that initially appeared to be a little too hyped up. It just goes to show, in a way that you do not usually get to see, that you can never judge a book, or cat toy, by its cover. 
 

Tipping culture: the good, the bad, the ugly.

When you go out, do you tip? Do you do it according to how much you spend? Did you ever avoid going out because you didn't have enough for a 20% tip? Do you think tipping is a choice or an obligation? Is tipping a direct response to the low salaries servers have? Is tipping the product of a company that pays its employees less than minimum wage? Is it the customer's responsibility to give the server a good salary? Do servers only rely on tips? Should they also be tipping out cooks, buzzers, and hostesses? Is there a right answer?

Tipping culture has become a little insane. Before, it seemed like a gratuity customers gave out to good servers for a job well done. But that has changed. Now it seems horrible to go out and not tip. This has gone so far that now servers even expect a tip of 20 to 40%. The worst part is, servers rely on these tips as if they were their sole income. Truth is, companies and big chain restaurants have been taking advantage of tips to avoid paying servers a proper wage. Some even pay them less than $3 an hour, as they have tips to cover the rest. This has gone so far that now most places even have to tip out the back, meaning that of the percentage that they get, they have to divide it between the line cook, buzzers, hostesses, etcetera. This also means that now tips are not seen as something you get for good service, but an obligation on the client's part, as it represents most of the salary to every employee in the restaurant.

In this Reddit thread, the debate on whether this is acceptable or not gave us different perspectives. Especially when taking into account countries outside of the US, where even though tipping exists, it is not required and is never for more than 10-15%. The main question that all this brought is: Is tipping a gratuity or an obligation? And if so, wouldn't it be easier to just update prices so that restaurants can ensure their employees have a minimum wage salary?
 

It is not often that we hear about a cat and a second family member getting the boot from the family home, but in this story that is precisely what happened. And we have to say that it made for one heck of a rescue tale.

Reddit's r/cats subreddit is about the most generic place to enjoy cat content. Everything from cute cat pics to crazy cat stories can be found there. But the story that we brought you from there today is a totally different style to what you would normally expect to find. For unlike even your standard rescue story, this tale tells of the displacement of not only a cat but also a hooman from a family home. A truly uncommon occurrence especially that they would happen one after the other.

Sadly, the cat was the first one to be given the boot and bolted as far away as her little legs could carry her. This meant that when the cat's hooman sister was also asked to leave, the feline was not present and so began a frantic search on the part of the now homeless young woman. But much to her amazement she fell into some serious good luck, and before long she would find herself reunited with her soul cat living a life far away from the folly of their previous family. 
 

What constitutes a good employee? Is it going above and beyond to make your workplace better, or is it dutifully following orders as fast as possible?

Once you have worked for enough managers in enough workplaces, you realize that doing the job properly is not necessarily what they look for in employees. Sure, they might want you to get the job done, but their standards are usually slightly… askew.

When they present you with an assignment that has a deadline, for example, they might not particularly care that the assignment is completed properly; all they care about is that it is finished by the deadline or before. You can tell them that the job can't be done in time if they want it actually done, but they won't care. 

This leads many employees to one important conclusion: they don't need to overwork themselves to actually do a good job. All they need is to follow the orders as plainly as possible and call it a day. Don't work hard; work smart, and you will find yourself awarded "best employee of the year".

The person who posted this story on Reddit was hired as a retail worker two months ago, and for those two months, they did everything to do their best. But one complaint after another, this worker realized that doing their best is not what their managers are looking for. They just want the job to appear done as fast as possible.

So, instead of restocking shelves and organizing everything so it would look good, they just shoved products onto shelves and dumped the rest into the warehouse. The worker stopped caring about old products being expired, they ignored shelves that looked like a disaster, and didn't mind the broken items anymore.

And all of a sudden, their manager started praising them for working faster… It is simply all part of the game. All you gotta do is learn how to play it.

Some cats don't need a costume to look distinguished.

All it takes is one tiny patch of fur under the nose, and suddenly you've convinced yourself this cat has a pension, a favorite diner booth, and has been giving unsolicited advice to the neighborhood squirrels for the last decade. Before you even notice the color of its eyes, you've already imagined an entire life story. That's the power of a good feline mustache.

Every mustached cat brings something different to the table. Some are rocking a perfectly trimmed pencil mustache that makes them look ready to crack a case. Others have thick, fluffy facial hair that belongs on the captain of a fishing boat. A few have markings so perfectly centered they look professionally groomed, while others have delightfully lopsided onese that add even more charm. No matter the style, each one deserves a standing ovation... or at least a respectful slow blink.

Of course, appearances can be deceptive. The same cat looking like it should be reading the morning newspaper is probably about to sprint across the house because a dust bunny caught its attention. It might try to leap onto the counter, completely miss, then pretend that was the plan all along. One second it's a sophisticated gentleman worthy of an oil painting, and the next it's chasing its own tail like it's never seen it before. The mustache never loses its composure, even when the cat absolutely does.

That's why these whiskered felines are so amewsing. They manage to look wise and completely clueless at the exact same time. Their built-in facial hair gives every yawn, loaf, side-eye, and dramatic stare a little extra character, making ordinary cat moments feel anything but ordinary. If there's one thing we've learned, it's that a tiny mustache can turn an everyday kitty into a legend without changing a single thing about the cat underneath it.

This tiny orange kitten found his way home by following the most unexpected tour guides imaginable.

A community cat caretaker shared Jupiter's unusual arrival with Reddit's r/catdistributionsystem subreddit after spotting him in the most unexpected place. While sitting on the porch and feeding the neighborhood cats, they watched a line of ducklings run past the house. There was no mother duck in sight. Instead, a tiny orange kitten was following closely behind them, apparently trusting the ducklings to lead the way.

The kitten, later named Jupiter, was only around six or seven weeks old. Beneath all his fluffy fur, he was painfully thin. He hissed when he was first picked up, but that attitude disappeared as soon as food came out. Jupiter quickly realized he was safe and turned into his rescuer's newest best friend.

He is now staying in foster care while he gains enough weight to be neutered and adopted. Jupiter is eager to meet the resident cats, though he has to remain separated until he is fully vetted. Judging by how badly he wants their attention, he may have been alone for quite a while before joining the duckling parade.

Luckily, he did not have to wait long for company. About a week later, some girls in the neighborhood found a black-and-white kitten who was slightly older than Jupiter. She was named Venus and placed in the quarantine area with him.

Jupiter was thrilled. Venus was less impressed.

He immediately became obsessed with his new roommate, while she responded to his excitement with the patience of someone who had not agreed to this arrangement. Both kittens are getting vetted, and Jupiter's main job for now is eating as much as possible.

The ducklings may have disappeared, but they deserve some credit. Their tiny follower ended up with food, shelter, a new friend, and a much better chance at a happy life.

The presence of ghosts

I'm not sure ghosting is an effective tactic, and it's not necessary to go to the extreme opposite and tell the person you dated only once what exact attributes they had that turned you off. To me, the best option is to say something along the lines of: 'I didn't feel the connection, but I had a great time; nice to meet you'. It's kind of rude to avoid communication like that and assume people will interpret your silence correctly, silence is a profoundly ambivalent signifier and people can interpret it as a 'delay in an ongoing communication' which would result in them waiting for you to reach out, or stepping in and contacting you again, or the ghosting could hurt their sensibilities and make them think they did something wrong. Of course, it's not one's responsibility what other people interpret from our silence, but it's always better to overextend ourselves a little, only in the name of 'aftercare'; it doesn't have to be too extensive; it's just a short, quick text that could be written by an AI. C'mon, it can't be easier.