h a l f b a k e r yThere goes my teleportation concept.
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Office cats
Introduce cats to the workfloor. To have them walk around, sit on your lap, etc. | |
My home is not "warm" without a cat. My cat died last week and my house feels cold.
Suddenly I realised that at "work" (in my case an office building) it is also cold. Business is always assoiciated with targets, workload, meetings, etc. In other words: its soooo serious. Social events can happen
as long as "work" does not suffer. [So much for all the prejudice]
What about having cats roaming the offices, sit on your lap, etc? It is known that cats can reduce stress. So why not put the cats were the stress is? The cats will get lots of attention - the people will get a moment of softness and warmth. And when the cat decides to visit your desk you will surely feel honoured - giving you the perfect excuse to break away from those stressful thoughts & staring at the monitor.
Health insurance should sponsor this.
In addition to this there is a special feline daycare garden. Where all the cats that normally are restricted to appartments can wonder around in a big garden. So bring your own cat! At lunch time spend some time on the terrace in that garden - be careful: don't let the cats steal your lunch.
(?) well known fact that pets are good for you
http://www.pat-prodog.org.uk/
so sorry about your cat - spekkie [po, Jan 29 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]
(?) employee lists cats in the office
http://www.otivo.com/contact/people.html
this company has put their cat in the list of employees [spekkie, Jan 29 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]
Find the cat and win ...prizes
http://www.whitedogpress.com/cats.htm
Office cats as part of a campaign [spekkie, Jan 30 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]
Replica Cat
http://www.presents...cid=12590618&-Find=
A replica of a cat - doesnt need feeding or grooming - just lurv [belindafish, Mar 18 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]
[magrak]'s link
http://www.bitboost.com/pawsense/
as a link. [angel, Apr 25 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]
(??) Tiddles
http://www.fortunec...ams/383/fatcats.htm
Photos of enormously fat cats. [horripilation, Oct 04 2004]
Cat computers
http://www.halfbake...dea/Cat_20Computers
Idea from Runforrestrun [spekkie, Oct 04 2004]
two cats mad
http://www.halfbake...ea/Two_20Cats_20Mad
index proposed by st3f to indicate how excentric you are [spekkie, Oct 04 2004]
(?) Henry, the Spaniel Classroom Assistant
http://www.ananova....m_840424.html?menu=
altogether now, say "Aahaaaah" [jonthegeologist, Oct 04 2004]
(?) Office Griswald
http://angel.nomuta...officegriswald.html
[angel, Oct 04 2004]
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This is a wonderful, beautiful and sweet idea. Fishbone for the office cat for making me take antihistamine every working day. My condolences to you on your loss. |
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Good idea, but you'd probably have someone allergic to cats (or terrified of them) in the office. Their protest would get the cat out of there in a hurry. Sorry about yours, though. |
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St3f beat me to the anno. See what I mean? Some people are allergic. |
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I'm pretty sure this is baked. But I for one would love to have my cat Velcro in the office with me.
Sorry to hear about the loss of your cat, I know how much that can hurt. |
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Hmpf. I had contemplated posting an idea for office pets (mascots). I figured it was baked. |
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We have a campus cat which sleeps in the in-tray of the post-grad office. In the in-tray! Never fails to cheer me up - I don't even have to visit her, it's just nice knowing she's there. Regarding the allergy thing: I believe there are new and highly effective treatments for that which require you to rub some sort of cream into the cat's fur. Sounds iffy to me, but maybe worth thinking about. |
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see link. velcro; what a lovely name for a cat |
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[st3f, TeaTotal] There are also smokers working in non-smoking offices. Perhaps we should offer a antihistamine dispenser (for free), or reserve special places for people that are not allergic, a.k.a. the cat-floor. |
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I'm extremely allergic to cats, so I was going to fishbone this idea. Then it occurred to me that, if I could get a job in an office full of cats, and a doctor's order restricting me to a drowsiness-inducing allergy medication, I could sleep at my desk all day. No worries about being fired, either, as it would be a "medical condition", and I could claim protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act. |
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The most famous feline fattie was 32 lb (14.5 kg) "Tiddles" who lived in the ladies’ lavatory at Paddington Station, London, England for 13 years. Tiddles was adopted in 1970 as a stray 6 week old kitten by lavatory attendant June Watson. He lived dined on chicken livers, lambs’ tongues, kidneys, rabbit or steak brought in by his admirers and had his own personal fridge. Tiddles continued to grow in girth and received fan-mail from around the world as well as appearing in news reports. His weight was due to overeating, but vets' attempts to put him on a diet failed (largely thwarted by titbits from admirers). Tiddles easily became ‘London Fat Cat Champion’ in 1982 at 30 lb (13.6 kg). He was put to sleep in 1983 after vets found fluid round his lungs. Tiddles had essentially eaten himself to death - killed by kindness - and photos show a grotesquely overweight and sad-looking cat, immobilised by his own girth. |
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I cannot take the credit for this! but I remember the cat. |
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Perhaps you are territorial UnaBubba? |
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Project Manager: "So as Brian has explained, these targets are fully within our capabilities, and should result in a much improved Q3 revenue. Right, I'll end the meeting there,unless anyone has any other business?"
Tiddles: "miao"
Project Manager: "Right, OK. Could someone add to the minutes under any other business a ....well...a sort of damp, dead shrew I think?" |
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spekkie - "the cat floor". I love it. |
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At work we were bored and imagined "bring your cat to work day". (I dunno how I'd get all 4 cats to work - only have 3 carriers!) Cats would get territorial - especially over lap preference, food & window seats. Probably at least one would get scared and take off as soon as a door opened - calling it quits as office cat. Some would eat the lovely plants we have growing, eat the snack food we forgot to put away and of course hairballs would soon follow. I love my cats dearly but they wouldn't survive in my office...too spoiled at home.
Gave it a croissant anyway because I'm four cats mad. |
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My former employer had two cats that wandered around the office: Lance and Merlin. They were out in the country, so the cats probably helped prevent any mouse problems. |
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There's a (1) Studio Cat at every Movie Studio I've ever been to. Little 'cathouse' and everything. |
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Years ago I worked for a small company housed in the ground floor of a residential area. Our offices had doors to the shared garden of all the other apartments. Every morning I took my two cats in the carrier on my bicycle to work. They roamed the offices, preferred to sleep on the paper stack next to the copier. Most of the time they would be wondering around the garden. I remember many occasions when I wanted to leave the office but had to wait for my cats to return from their expeditions in the garden. Yelling for their names didn’t help (obviously). My cats liked this so much they begged to be put in the carrier. The weekends were a disappointment for them. They never dropped the hairballs, they were “housetrained”, so any business was deposited in the garden, or the office cat litterbox. The only disadvantage I sometimes experienced was explaining to our clients why there was cat hair on the paper reports. |
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Going with the cat floor idea, I'd like the cat equivalent of the heady atmosphere you get in a smoking room. I was thinking just a tiny room packed with cats at first, but how about a *stream* of cats? A box you just lie down in with a herd of cats continuously running through it (on a circular track, maybe kept in motion by a big mouse on an electric rail). Or maybe just a hole in the bottom of the box you stick your head through, for a non-stop furry massage. |
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Another thought: back in the days pre vending machine, offices and factories had ladies (and they usually were ladies) walking round with trolleys stacked with tea and buns for the workers. How about a cat trolley, stacked with lovely warm, sleeping felines for stressed staff to put on their laps and stroke? You'd point to the one you want (they'd vary in size and fluffiness) and the trolley person would apply it - undisturbed - to your lap with a cat spatula, like a baker fishing out a hot loaf from an oven. |
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There would have to be a special room somewhere where the cats are rendered drowsy enough for this to work - tropical temperatures, mood music etc |
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[Saveloy] Perfect idea! The race called Maince Coon seems to have those specs. Should work out fine! |
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And at the bottom of the trolley you can choose any toy for the cat. |
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At this stage I'd like to introduce a large angry dog into this idea. |
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So, if it is true that it is the cats tongue - and not the hair - that causes allergic reaction it seems like a fairly simple idea to fix. |
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If hairless cats are just too ugly to have in the office then... |
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I really like [Saveloy]'s idea, as perfected by [spekkie]. |
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Phlegman Soiled, MD PA
Psychiatric Medicine
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To our patients:
We have a simian mascot.
Watch what you say to the doctor,
there will be a gorilla in the room.
If you have a pacemaker, be aware
the ape favors a ten-ish spot of tea. |
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This IS a cracking idea!
(sorry about your loss spekkie..)
This could lead to whole offices of workers being "Three Cats Mad" ..or maybe even more... if we were pooling cat resources. |
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We have an office dog at our agency [but shhhh, it's a secret]. I have to say I think it's a bit odd to have a pooch jogging around the 16th floor of a stuffy office tower downtown. Especially when he barks. I think he's trained to stand up against the back wall with his paws crossed going up the elevator each a.m. so as not to look conspicuous.
I like the cat idea MUCH better. It's brilliant really. Someone once brought a kitten in. We might has well have all gone home, since no one got any work done. Everyone was so fascinated by everything the furry little cuteball did. |
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My previous place of employment featured two office dogs... big ones. |
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Lame idea. I'm highly allergic to cats. Does this mean I should look for another job when the cats roll in? Who looks after the critters? Does management create another department like IT called CT (cat technology)? |
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Before my teenage years when I wasn't allergic to cats, we always had one in the house. Loved 'em. But alas...
I give you a neutral. |
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[blissmiss] The pain in my tone has all to do with the duality of being in an office. The purpose is to earn money and at the same time (but of much less priority) enjoy yourself. So you are physically in the office, but your mind wanders about all those other fun things to do.
What I most like about cats is, that they do not force upon you so strongly. In a office this would work out greatly: a surreptitious warm leg rub. |
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But cats also have characters - so the very bold cat wouldn't work that well...however... I wouldn't mind. |
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No. But strikethrough cats are quite common. |
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*To boldly purr where no cat has purred before* Perhaps there should be a central office in each city for beaming down the cats to the offices. So if you are in need of a furry and warm diversion you sneek to the "cat"-room and beam down an office cat. |
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Office dog just came through looking for treats. Am nicer to clients when animals are in office. |
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Rex cats, which have wavy hair and do not shed, are much less allergenic for most people without being completely freaky-looking like the hairless variety. See http://www.devonrex.com/planet.cfm. They are very inquisitive, so you have to watch them in an office situation or they will reformat your hard drive with a mysterious combination of pawstrokes. There is a piece of software that recognizes "cat-like typing" and ignores it -- you'd have to install that along with the cat. See http://www.bitboost.com/pawsense/. |
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I like the idea but my cats always climb on my desk, stand in front of my monitor, get hairs in my tea and stand on my keyboard! |
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Productivity levels would plummet and stress levels would rocket! |
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Cats CAN be trained. At home we provide a much more attractive table and still we learn the cats not to jump on the table. Besides we offer an attractive alternative: our lap with a convenient cat-shaped emptiness. |
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That'd be GREAT! However, you'd have to get one of those special non-allergy cats. I am allergic to cats and rabbits. A dog would be a better choice for me. I think that if you have to work in an office, you should make it a comfortable office. |
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I would be willing to offer the services of Teddy, one of my tabbys, for this service.
He talent doesn't just lie in the stress-relief department. He actually enjoys being spun around in swivel office chairs. I kid you not. The faster you spin him, the more he purrs.
Perfect for anger-management. You can't help but laugh out loud at a cat being subjected to 5 Gs and loving it... |
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//Can you get italic cats?//
<i>=^..^=</i> |
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<eyes red, inflamed>sneeze, hack, itch... throw that cat a fishbone .. sneeze, hack </eyes red, inflamed> |
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I'm very for it. I used to think about it for the place where I work, but I never pushed for it because I knew there would be at least one cat-allergy person to spoil things. |
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But I've seen cats in plenty of book shops. How do they manage to keep cats? Don't they have sneezy employees or customers complaining about their allergies? |
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It's an enzyme in the cats' saliva, I understand. That you're allergic to, I mean. |
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Also, my office has a service that waters the plants. Maybe they could do the cats, too. Everyone wins--they make a little more money, and we get cats. |
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I have 3 in my office and lab. They do tend to corrupt email occasionally, and have been known to leave cat hair in the microscope, but all in all make tend to increase productivity rather than decrease it |
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Maybe they could be lucky - like a ship's cat. |
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Or unlucky, like the cat that was aboard HMS Danae ( I think) - upon which my father saw service. Their ship's cat became very unpopular during a 6 month voyage because it repeatedly pee-ed on the seamen's bunks. Matters became so bad that something had to be done. So the cat was put to trial... a representative was appointed to act as attorney on behalf of the cat, a prosecutor to act on behalf of the plaintiff crewmembers, a judge to preside and a jury of 12 men and true to decide the fate of the hapless moggy. |
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It was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to be 'hung until dead'. |
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I'm guessing that could take a while with a cat. I mean, you can pick them up by the scruff quite happily. |
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jinbish : when was that ? i could maybe believe it
300 years ago ... |
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Where would the cat go at night? Would you need office cat flaps? Could I sue if I trip over one? What about fleas? Questions, questions... |
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A little while ago, I posted an idea for an office parrot. Even though it got a few + votes, it got deleted. Just wondered why that was. |
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<random cat story> My brother once owned a cat. He lived 4 flights up. One day the cat was sitting on the window sill, as was her wont, when a Starling flew by... I'm sure she landed on all fours, anyway... |
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My brother was really upset, so a few of his friends decided to buy him a kitten. It was a beautiful little thing. One day though, it developed a cough, with no furballs, so my bro took the little puss to the vet. He didn't have a proper carrier, though, so put a blanket in a cardboard box, sat kitty on it, put the lid on and off they went. |
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When they got to the vet's, my brother put the box on the table and said, "It's my kitten - he has a cough." To which the vet replied, "I'm sorry, sir, but all that's in this box is a blanket and a chewed hole in the corner..." |
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True story. He never kept a cat again. </random cat story> |
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We used to have a Rhodesian Ridgeback in our office named after a famous russian hockey player. He often used to visit my desk and just stare at me. I was never sure if he was thinking about commiting suicide or just contemplating eating me. Still I agree it does add a little fun to the day. He had to go in the end because of the voice of the allergic minority.
How about Office Iguana's though ? They're kind of FriendlyScary, and histamine friendly. |
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An office cat would end up being trapped by some middle aged single woman who would use it as a replacement for not having any children.... |
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It bet it would end up with a stupid name like puffles, patchy or mr wiskers..... |
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I love the idea, but I won't hold my breath. Too many people either don't like them, are allergic to them, or don't know how to care for them. Aside from the many embarrasing trip and falls you'll get from the sometimes over-enthuastic cat leg rub, others will be feeding them too much, dropping them upside down to see if they really do land on their feet, and any other impossible situation you could imagine. |
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Sorry, no buns. The only reason cats should be kept indoors is to stop them from killing all the wildlife. |
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Any use may also lead to abuse. This doesn't add much to the discussion. |
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[Sysadm] Thinking ahead I would add the classification for business, similar to the "two cats mad" index as proposed by st3f. See link. So a business could earn the title of being "twenty cats mad". |
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as an aside, I saw a news report yesterday (UK) which promoted the idea of having a puppy in the classroom. Apparently, all the children were much better behaved. Of course, it could just be that they appeared that way by comparison. [link added] |
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Lovely idea..in fact you could have cat people offices, dog people offices.. |
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//What I most like about cats is, that they do not force upon you so strongly.// |
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You've not met my cat. She will sit on top of the monitor and "accidentally" drape a paw or tail in front of the screen. |
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//The only reason cats should be kept indoors is to stop them from killing all the wildlife.// |
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Or to keep them from being killed. Dogs and cars are not kind to outside cats. |
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My cats have an unnatural desire to be between me and whatever I am doing. I see cat related typos as they walk across the keyboard, and I'm not relishing picking the bastards up and dropping them on the floor constantly just so I can see my monitor. I really don't want to see catbutt all day at work. |
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Schools could have pet scorpions
wandering the classrooms - "Now
stay *very* still and quiet,
children..." - or at least, they could
*say* they had pet scorpions. |
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My doctor has a small black poodle roaming the reception area. Everyone loves it. |
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I went for an interview where part of the process was to see if you got on with the office dog. The papermill I worked at had 3 factory cats and an office cat. |
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I love the idea of a cat at work, but as I am a novelist and one of the three cats I own, insists on coming into the study and walking on the keypad, therefore rendering the 'brilliant' bit of dialogue I have been working on useless - or worse - makes it look like the person is swearing, it's not quite such a great idea! Actually I keep a hamster in the study. She always pops up to say 'Hello' and collect a nut or similar and then goes back to bed, thus not distracting me. Works great! |
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don't write your cat off so hastily - she might actually come up with just that *right* word you are looking for. |
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po. Thanks for the advice. It would probably work if I was writing SciFi or horror books! (This particular cat, Millie, is a terrorist in a fur coat), but next time I get stuck for a word I'll try your suggestion and ask her to help! |
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I may need to reinforce my "In" tray (linky). |
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I used to talk over videoconference to a company in the US that always had a big black Labrador wondering around in the background. The nice thing was that it was a real sterile corporate open-plan sort of place. The dog looked twice as dog-like against the stark background. |
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cats are my natural enemy. this idea would make work a battlefield. [+] |
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Sorry to anno this so late in the game; [po], I had a cat named Velcro! I loved her fiercely, and she was a devoted second mum to my kids when they were still small. |
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In a world where so much has become impersonal and eschews any appearance of approachability or perhaps, dare I say it, "unprofessionalism," this is a welcome idea. Fish tanks, the odd Basset hound (maybe a golden retriever in the corporate daycare center), whatever it takes. [+] |
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The thing with cats, though, if you let them into an office, they'd sit on your lap, but they'd spend the next 15 minutes kneading at your legs to get a nice little soft spot going, and by the time they're settled, you'd need to get up for some reason or another. |
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Is Air-con good for cats? I'd imagine that they would dry out...... |
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Not me personally, though I did assist Velcro to deliver her second kit, which was breech. I had to grasp that slippery little tail and pull gently. |
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Velcro and her kin have all passed on and I'm now making do with a castoff Maine Coon monster named Simon, who weighs all of 18 pounds. He's not fat, merely enormous, the largest cat I've ever owned by a large margin. |
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BTW, I've never known AC to cause any cat harm due to dehydration or suchlike. In fact, Simon used to spend some time atop the vents trying to cool off in summer months (now the wife just shaves him right as the weather warms - funniest thing you ever saw). |
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I'd love a cat at work but since I work in a lab I can't help but feel it might be A Bad Idea. Cats are uniquely sensitive to delicate manoevres and yet curiously unbothered about the fact that the delicate manoevre is being carried out with concentrated nitric acid or whatever. |
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I would also hate to imagine the carnage should a cat with a cat-flap opening collar decide to take up residence on the magnetic stirrer-hotplate. |
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We've actually discussed this idea at my office, as four of the five of us have cats. However, you run into the problems of who cleans the box, who feeds it, what do you do with it on weekends, and let's also remember the cat hair on my black suit not so impressive to the Bank of America guy. |
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However, I love going to places where they have cats. If I didn't have to dress up and meet with clients, I would definately want to have cats in the office. |
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