How long should a former owner be allowed to stay connected to a property?

After purchasing her new home, a homeowner was excited to take advantage of the lush plum tree in her backyard. The first year they lived there, the previous owner asked if they could have some of the fruit since they've been making jam for the past 20 years. That time, she let them collect what seemed to be just a few plums, although they ended up harvesting the whole tree. The following year, when they asked again, she refused, causing the family to get very mad and upset.

When I read this story, a super familiar feeling came to me since this situation happened to my parents ten years ago. When they bought the house they live in now, there was a very old and very sick tangerine tree at the back of the garden. The previous owner was not a fan of plants, nor that fruit, so he didn't care too much about it. My mom loves plants, so for the first two years of living in that house, she took care of the tree until it was ready to give some fruit.

One day, my parents were at the grocery store and came across the old homeowner, and they told him they were happy to see the first tangerines of the season coming out. He was skeptical at first, but ended up congratulating my parents and left the store. The next day, he showed up at their house and asked if he could have some of the fruit to gift his family members and friends. My parents refused, not only because they didn't want a stranger in their home, but because there were only a few pieces of fruit and they wanted to keep it. Also, he doesn't like tangerines, so it's not like he was going to eat it.

Anyways, of course he got very mad and claimed that he was the original owner of the tree, so the fruit belonged to him. Needless to say, my dad kicked him out, and we never saw him again.

Being the office golden retriever is a full-time unpaid position, and nobody's hiring for it, they're just letting you volunteer indefinitely. 

Going above and beyond for a boss who can't remember your name in front of a patient isn't loyalty, it's basically adopting a cat that still hisses at you every single day for a year and calling it a relationship.

Does financial success mean you deserve less from your parents?

A self-made millionaire was surprised when his father asked whether he'd be okay receiving a smaller inheritance so his sister could get more. While his sister's college education, horses, land, truck, and home were heavily supported by their parents over the years, he built his wealth on his own. Now he's questioning whether financial success should affect how parents divide an inheritance.

Oh… the eternal debate among siblings. Although this could never happen to my sisters or me, I have a lot of friends who deal with inequity with their siblings. For some of my acquaintances, their parents are super fair and give the same amount of things to all of their kids, whereas others decide which kid gets more based on their skills and how well they are doing in life.

Now, I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to help a bit more to the struggling sister here, but I don't think that's fair for the brother. As he explains, during their entire lives, the parents were more supportive of her: paying for those crazy horse riding lessons or even buying her the house where she lives now. So, with this precedent, I don't think it's fair what the parents want to do.

The worst part is that he's the one who's writing the will. Meaning, he's the one who will be completing that task for free, while his sister gets even more money from the parents. The son is being fair when he says that they should be spending their money on them, since they earned it, and not debating what to leave each kid.

And that's what makes this situation so complicated. The son insists he isn't angry at his sister and doesn't even expect to receive an inheritance. Overall, it's less about the money itself and more about what the decision seems to say about how his parents view their two children.

Simon says: "I'm adopted now!"

If Simon says anything, it must be done. These are just the rules; we didn't make them, but we follow them closely. Especially if Simon is a cat - because cats are here for us to serve them and heed their every meow. It's a known thing that we're here to serve our feline overlords, and we do it gladly. That's why when Simon who says is a cat, it's double the reason to do whatever he says. And that was exactly the case of Simon, the cat of u/BeesUnlimited. In one day, he went from being a nameless stray, abandoned and skinny, to Simon the great, adopted and loved. If that's not a classic Simon, we don't know what is.

So Simon said, "Love me, human." And the human loved him, from the very first second they saw him. Then, Simon said, "Go and fetch all you need to raise me right." And the human heard, listened, and went to bring all the cat adoption supplies they needed to make sure everything was right. After that, Simon said, "Take me home with you, forever." And the human took Simon home, forever. The entire family loves Simon, including their five dogs, who were already there. Good job, Simon.

At what point does "trust the process" become "order takeout" instead?

Okay, so we all have been there. In that exact moment… the recipe you were anticipating cooking is not going how it's supposed to. I'm not saying it's our fault… on the contrary. If our cooking skills are not working for the day, then it's because the cooking gods want us to order takeout and go to bed. I'm not lying; that's what I learnt over these past years of failed cooking.

The funny thing is that every cooking disaster starts with confidence. Nobody walks into the kitchen thinking they're about to create something inedible. We all start by saying things like, "How hard can it be?" or "The video made it look easy." Fast forward an hour, and you're scrolling through delivery apps pretending this was the plan all along.

By now, I've become an expert on one thing, and no, it's not mastering any recipe. Is actually on identifying the cooking fail memes that most relate to this feeling. Yes, maybe I cannot cook a fancy dinner or an exotic dish, but hey… at least I'm happy with the cooking memes that make me feel ten times better than having to cook for hours, only to end up eating in 20 minutes.

And I'm sure I'm not the only one with this struggle. There're so many people out there who can cook perfectly, so why don't we let them do what they do best, and we just stay here and enjoy what they can prepare? Sounds like a plan to me… so, while you wait for your takeout, enjoy these cooking memes.

With a face like that, it's not even worth asking if someone's home; clearly, all the feline brain cells are on hold.

The blep is silly. The blep is glorious. But what exactly is a blep? It's not just any time your cat decides to loll their tongue out. Your cat might have their tongue out to clean themselves, to lick a Churu, or to moisturize their nose. But all of these count as a mlem. Amlem is not like a blep. A mlem is when the cat uses the tongue quickly - out and in. Literally mleming. A blep occurs when the cat brain cells experience an error in the middle of a mlem, or just in general, and the tongue kind of just… stays out there.

The error of the blep can happen at any time, in any place. Is your cat standing on the counter? Error - blep. He'll be there for a while. Does your cat play with his favorite toy? Error - blep. Toy? What toy? Only staring into space. Is it 4 AM and your cat is having a serious case of the zoomies, parkouring on the walls and jumping on furniture? Error - blep. And probably right when he lands on your chest, waking you up, and now staring at you with a blank stare and a very apparent tongue lolling there. Bleps don't care about the time and place your cat is at - it just comes very suddenly.

But the thing is - it's not just a sudden error message that stops what your cat is doing. It also looks extremely silly, and honestly, very endearing. When the blep happens in never fails to put a smile on people's faces. It's legit one of the funniest expressions of a cat, arguably the funniest. So if it happens to your cat, it might mean their brain just halts for a second there, but it also provides you with a very amusing moment - and that's always great to have. Laughing is healthy - so technically speaking, blepping cats are healing us. 

Cats can enter the blep mode as quickly as they exit it. It's sudden, quick, and tends to disappear just when you finish laughing and thinking of bringing your phone to take a picture of the situation. But, alas, most bleps will have already been gone by then. That's why we're lucky to live in this day and age where it's easy and comfortable to share things online - hence, we can enjoy the lucky cat pawrents who caught their cat in the act. The act of blepping, that is.

A food reviewer walks into a small business in Arizona to order their signature soft cookie and ice cream and write an honest review. 

SergSayEat orders 2 full sundae bowls and pays $17 for each, but when he sits down to eat and film his review, he realizes the portions are a lot smaller than advertised. He isn't sure whether this was the actual portion size or if they got his order wrong, but he proceeds with his review. He also notes that they forgot to add a certain chocolate drizzle he requested, and even reveals that there was a hair on his ice cream.

Overall, his experience wasn't so positive.

His honest review, however, didn't get many views on his TikTok account. It was only after the business owner himself saw the video and decided to respond that things started to get a lot messier and a lot more popular online…

He spent months convincing me to adopt him, and I'd say it worked.

Some cats show up once and disappear. Mr. T had a different plan. If Reddit's r/CatDistributionSystem subreddit has taught me anything, it's that the cats who keep coming back usually have something in mind. For the last four or five months, he'd wander over to my house, say hello, then head off again. He started out as this tiny little kitten, and before I knew it, seeing him had become part of my routine.

The whole time, I kept wondering if he belonged to someone. I asked everyone at the nearby apartment complex, knocked on doors around my block and the neighboring streets, and even posted on Nextdoor. The only lead came from someone who thought a family might have moved away and left him behind. Nobody else recognized him, and no one came forward looking for him.

I finally took him to the vet to see if he had a microchip. Nothing. They estimated he's around six months old, and he isn't neutered yet. I also had him tested for FIV, FeLV, and heartworm, and thankfully everything came back negative. He got his first round of vaccines, and he's already booked to get neutered and microchipped later this week.

After months of showing up at my door, I guess Mr. T got tired of waiting for me to figure it out. He's home now.

I'd like to think he knew exactly what he was doing the whole time. One visit turned into another, then another, until he stopped being the cat that came around and became my cat. Sometimes the Cat Distribution System doesn't rush things. It just keeps knocking until someone finally answers.

There are two kinds of people: cat owners and people who can still get up whenever they want.

A cat choosing your lap feels like winning the lottery. Out of every chair, blanket, windowsill, and cardboard box in the house, they decided you were the best place to spend the next hour. It's a pretty great compliment... until you realize your phone is across the room and your water bottle might as well be on another planet.

The Lap Rule is simple: once the cat gets comfortable, nobody moves. It doesn't matter if your foot falls asleep or you're suddenly starving. If a cat is peacefully snoozing, you're committed to the assignment. Breaking the rule usually earns a confused look that says, "Seriously? I was sleeping."

Some cats have a whole routine before settling in. They circle a few times, make biscuits like they're fluffing a pillow, spin around one last time, and finally curl into the tiniest little ball. Others have a much more direct approach. They see an empty lap and launch themselves onto it before anyone has a chance to object.

The real experts wait until the timing is absolutely terrible. Right before dinner is ready. Right as the doorbell rings. The second someone remembers they forgot to switch the laundry. It's almost impressive how often they pick the worst possible moment to become the sweetest little cuddle bugs on the planet.

Every cat owner has spent way too long sitting in an uncomfortable position because getting up simply wasn't an option anymore. Sure, the chores will still be waiting, but so will the dishes, the emails, and everything else. A cat deciding your lap is the safest, coziest place in the house doesn't happen on command. That's the kind of moment worth sitting still for, even if your legs completely lose feeling by the end of it.

What a weird way of saying 'I like you'

When friendships consist of trios, it's only natural that sometimes two of the people involved team up and the other gets left out. I'm not saying it's ok; I'm saying it happens. I have many long-term friendship trios that have evolved in many ways through the years, sometimes leaving me out, sometimes leaving somebody else out, and sometimes being the three of us against the world. Maybe this girl only has to cut contact with this person, but on a side note, I'm trying to interpret fights between people who really care about each other as temporary; let's find out if that's the case.

Do you miss your beloved cat when you travel? Why not just bring them along with you?

TikToker @haitangtravel is showing off the beautiful doors that traveling with his pet cat has opened for him. The cat's name is Haitang and he travels everywhere with his human. His human, a young Chinese man, is exploring beautiful places all over the world. Some might look at him and think he is a solo traveler, but you would be wrong. His cat Haitang actually goes everywhere with him. He perches on his shoulder and walks around every town with his human and eats at every restaurant with him. He has a harness, and his human keeps a backpack that has all of Haitang's needs and is a place for him to retreat to if he needs. 

They have been to places like Turkey, Norway, France, and many other breathtaking destinations that every travel enthusiast has dreamt of. One video has Haitang and his human in Uzbekistan, a well-known cat-friendly city. Though there is a thick language barrier between Chinese/English and Uzbek/Russian (and, of course, cat meows), humanity still finds a way to connect. The most wholesome interactions blossom throughout the video, all because everybody loves cats. 

Need a little extra serotonin with a side of whiskers today?

There's something magical about a cozy cat. Not just any cat, a cat that's reached peak coziness. The kind that's curled into a perfect cinnamon roll on a fuzzy blanket, paws tucked safely underneath, completely unbothered by the outside world. You look at them for five seconds, and suddenly your shoulders drop about three inches. That's purr therapy!

Cats have somehow mastered the art of relaxing in a way humans can only dream of. They don't simply take a nap; they commit to it. They'll find the one warm patch of sunlight that's been creeping across the living room floor all afternoon and act like they personally reserved it. By the time the sunbeam moves, so do they. It's a full-time job, and they take it very seriously. And what would our cats do without their dear cozy blankets? Oh, the blankets. Soft, warm, wrapped like a burrito, fresh out of the oven. 

A cat can have an entire house to explore, complete with climbing trees, fancy beds, and expensive toys, but the second you pull a soft blanket out of the dryer, they appear out of nowhere. It's as if they have a built-in Cozy Radar™ that activates whenever something reaches maximum fluffiness. And don't even get me started on biscuits. Watching a kitty knead a blanket with those tiny paws is enough to melt even the grumpiest human. It's impossible not to smile. Sure, your favorite hoodie now has approximately seven million little claw holes in it, but that's just the price you pay for handcrafted biscuits made with love. 

Every cozy cat also has a signature pose. Some become tiny shrimp. Others stretch out as if they've just signed a lease on your entire couch. Then there are the fearless belly-up sleepers; the ones who trust their humans enough to expose the floofiest part of themselves while they snooze away without a care in the world. That's a compliment of the highest order.

So if today feels a little too busy, too loud, or simply too people-y, allow these cozy kitties to remind you that sometimes the best plan is the simplest one: find a soft place to land, take a well-earned catnap, and let yourself exist for a while.

How much is too much for family?

If your partner's family expected you to cover every meal, open your home for months at a time, and never question the arrangement, would you go along with it? After years of footing the bill, one wife decided it was finally time to set some boundaries, but her husband thinks she's the one being unreasonable.

Can an event really keep your money after canceling on you?

You buy tickets, make plans, and get ready for a three-day food and music festival, only to find out the entire event is canceled just 36 hours before it begins. But instead of offering refunds, this organizer is pointing to a tiny clause in the terms and saying a future ticket should be enough. Would you accept that, or would you fight to get your money back?

Some cats choose their person, but some people choose their cats - and it's a purrfect match.

I didn't choose my own cat, per se. Obviously, I adopted her; she's my soul cat, and I'm her person. And even if I was the one to come to the foster who saved her and the wee age of 1 month from abandonment in the streets, and eventually took her home with me - I didn't so much choose her for who she was as a cat. She was a sickly and abandoned kitten, and I was searching to adopt a cat - and this all happened at the same time.

That's not the case of u/ThrowRAexhaustod, who actively chose the most unbothered kitten in the shelter. She chose this floofy orange boy because of his aloof-yet-loving demeanor on purpose. She knew what she was searching for - a hiking buddy, a fellow adventurer, a quest goer. A cat who won't need too much convincing to go explore the great outdoors. And she found the right match for her.

You know, I wish I'd also have an adventuring cat like that. I love hiking, I love taking walks, but my cat is a bit skittish. She is more-or-less leash trained (if you want to learn how to leash-train your cat, go to this cat leash walking guide), but she's far from being "trained" to venture far and explore. She's a leash-walker to the building next door, to the parking garage, and to the stone fence of our building. She never reached the park across the road. I take my hikes without her and make a point to bring her a leaf to play with (she loves them).

But there's something special about choosing your own feline fella for adventure-taking. It's like stating you didn't even need the help of the Cat Distribution System, and went and did all that by yourself. And even did it in an "adopt, don't shop" way. This woman really does deserve praise for her plan, execution, and wholesome adventures she takes her cat on. What a delight to witness. I'm low-key jealous, but mostly happy to see it working out for both of them.

You need the sillies; cats have those.

Hey there, fellow crazy cat people, we hope your day is as filled with cats as our days here. Having a day full of cats is the baseline of happiness for every cat person out there, and we're not different from the rest of you. We also benefit from being surrounded by cat vibes, cat energy, and literal cats. As cat people, we know that cats are the source of joy every person needs. People who are indifferent to cats, or worse, hate cats, have no idea what happiness they're missing. Besides, they're wrong. Everyone should adore cats, and that's a fact.

The best way to experience this is to literally surround yourself with cats. Crazy cat ladies are experts when it comes to this, but it's not an art reserved for them alone. You can lie down outside on the pavement and pspsps, the rest will work itself out. You'll be surrounded by sweet stray cats in no time. Or you can be as crazy as we are and just adopt a bunch of office cats. This way you'll have both your cats at home and the ones at work. They nap on keyboards, knock down pens, and barricade the boss's office. Great little guys.

But if you can't surround yourself with an actual cat colony, it's time to go digital. The internet is filled to the brim with cat content, because cats rule the internet just as much as they rule our homes. All you have to do is make sure you have an internet connection (which you have, if you read these very lines), a device to look at online cat content with (which, again, you must have if you're already here), and just enjoy the digital reign of cats. It's full of feline funnies and wholesome whimsy, and we're all here for it.

A wedding drama that takes place before the wedding. Having a job that consists of dealing with people can be super stressful.

This long Reddit story is about a photographer who gets hired for a destination wedding only to later discover that the couple didn't exactly plan the accommodations for her and ended up creating a huge misunderstanding and a hostile environment for the photographer. This got me thinking about those jobs that aren't really in customer service or part of the servicing industry, but nonetheless, they do require the employee to deal with people all the time. We always have stories about entitled people in restaurants, hotels, bars, and even theme parks. But I never consider how many stories like this a photographer may have, and many other workers who aren't exactly expected because of their line of work. 

This story not only showcases that entitled people are in every kind of job and can make your life incredibly stressful, but also really easy. But it also proves that photographers need to be prepared for everything. Most freelance jobs have some parts of the job always be in a verbal contract. They can't always have everything written in a contract. But I do think that they should always have one nonetheless. Even if not everything got written up, you need some kind of proof that shows that you were hired for a destination wedding, that you charge x amount for your services, and that you will do this, this, and that. Just trusting the customer, even if you know them, is a huge mistake that can get you in trouble.

I have to admit that the photographer really tried to have all the information in writing, but the couple wasn't cooperating. But the truth is, she should have provided a contract the second they hired her. If she had that, she would have been able to know everything that this job entailed, as well as how the accommodation for the trip would work and how much she would be paid for it. For someone who has been a photographer for almost 10 years, she should have known better than to trust the customers just because she knew them. 
 

When a cat chooses its human, the human has no choice but to oblige. That is the law of the world. 

As we have said many times before, cats adopt their humans. You may think that when you go into a shelter, wanting to adopt, that it will be your choice which feline goes home with you, but little do you know that the cats in there are actually assessing you and deciding whether you are worthy or not. And cats make all kinds of unexpected choices. Cats choose people who hate cats and have never wanted cats, and then turn them into the greatest cat lovers. Cats choose people who are allergic to cats and essentially force them either to deal with the sneezing or to undergo medical procedures to deal with it. Once a cat chooses you, you have zero choice in the matter. That is just how things are and how they have always been. 

You can try to fight it, and the people who posted their story on r/aww really did try. They had good reasons not to take a cat in, and it wasn't like the cat was in desperate need of a home. The family feeds the whole colony, making sure that they are healthy and have warm beds. They just never planned on taking one into their home. But like we said, it wasn't their choice at all. Once this ginger chose them, their fate was sealed. And maybe it took him a while to convince them, but that didn't matter. He was not going to give up until he was home safe and spoiled by his new family for the rest of his life. It was written in the stars. It just took these humans a little while to finally read the message. 

You would think that finding the owners of a lost cat would be a good thing…

One of every cat owner's worst nightmares is their cat running away. I will never forget the time it happened with my cat. She was gone for 24 hours after falling out of the first-floor window before coming back to me. And those 24 hours were the worst 24 hours of my life. I thought the worst. I bawled my eyes out. I thought she was gone for good. And then she came back to me, and I will never forget carrying her dirty and hungry little self back home. Reuniting with my cat was the greatest feeling. I couldn't even describe the relief, the gratitude, the pure joy that I felt. A nightmare was suddenly over. And I always imagined that every cat owner who lost their cat in a similar way would feel the same way. But apparently not. 

We have said it before, but it deserves repeating: some people do not deserve cats. If you feel anything other than dread and terror when your cat disappears, then you might be one of them. When I found today's story on r/cats, I was simply shocked reading it. If I had been in this rescuer's position, finally finding the owners of this lost cat, I would have been overjoyed too. Awaiting the reunion, wanting to see that relief and gratitude and joy on the faces of the cat owners - that's all I would have been doing. And then to get there, to tell them that I found their cat, and to hear that not only did they not care that their cat was lost but that they were trying to get rid of it… Hearing that would have crushed my faith in humanity entirely. Oh, and I would have done the same thing they did. I would have adopted the cat. 

Wedding via Ig

We all know it: through Instagram, we find out about too much. When I say too much, I mean too much. I'm not saying it's 'a lot'; I'm saying it's more than we should know. We shouldn't know the exact day that our ex-partners fell in love with their new boyfriends; we shouldn't find out about every party we weren't invited to. Sometimes, truly, ignorance is bliss. With this type of information bombarding us, we're left to process and assume large quantities of data that might be hard to swallow, data that we wouldn't even know of hadn't we signed up to that insane platform. Of course, in this case, I think that sooner or later this Redditor would've found out that the person she considered her best friend wasn't her best friend at all, or that she didn't invite her to her wedding; but hearing about it is not the same as actually watching it in real time, seeing the faces, the smiling, the dancing. Not to get too crazy here, but I think precisely that is what keeps us hooked, the idea that somehow, by knowing, we participate.