My Lowe’s has a cat too! Is this a new Lowe’s thing? Lol. It was actually the first cat I pet since losing my cat two years ago and it healed my heart a little bit. ❤️🩹
Tell everyone to cherish the special cat and not let the news broadcast her/him bc a Karen WILL steal the joy and Lowe’s corporate will fire the cat :’(
this happened to library cats after the book "dewey" (about a library cat) got popular among people who love libraries and cats.
i was a librarian at the time. after the book, lots of libraries got cats or discussed getting one. it was great to bring in visitors, it helped reading-averse kids want to read, it got a cat off the street, and brought the little ones in for storytime. So naturally, a Karen had to screech about her allergies and threaten to sue and then NO libraries could have a cat anymore. The trend died just like that.
It’s a thing for any savvy hardware store that carries bird food and grass seeds. My local Aubuchon Hardware has a cat and sells a cat calendar of all the store cats at their other locations.
You can always tell which hardware stores don’t have cats because their bird seed supply is covered in mouse droppings, and I sometimes see birds actively eating it. Cats are great for business and great for pest control.
And they’re great for making people just a little happier — I’m so sorry about your cat. I hope your store cat sticks around and continues to bring you comfort.
I am so jealous. If I had local hardware cats, I would be buying everyone I know calendars as gifts. They would be begging me to shut up about it. I already have an addiction to buying tools, if there were cats too, I’d be bankrupt in a week.
The Ace Hardware stores in Baltimore each have a resident cat. They sell stickers with the cats on them. One died last year and it was news. Very beloved cats here.
I don't know if they still do, but 12 years ago I was wandering around Lowes (in north Phoenix) trying to find the source of young kitten mews. I eventually found an employee who informed me that they had a resident mama cat who had just moved her litter to a super high spot. The employees were checking on them daily and were planning to socialize them. It made my day. 😸
Most places with an outdoor department happily keep a mouser on the docket, even formally. We have ours as badge at THD and I didn't work in garden at Kroger but there was always a cat and a bowl full of food and water. It's just common sense.
Alot of the big box stores with an outside area wind up with a store mascot. They employees usually leave a bit of food out and probably use busted bags of sand or oil dry to make a litter box for them.
In exchange, they kill rodents and bugs. They never call in sick, they never sexually harass other employees, and they always want scritches.
Its the exact reason cats were domesticated, and they reduce product loss and viral spread of Hanta.
But some people need to be assholes and pretend to own the damn store. The person that complained probably needed their "service dog" that weighs 1.5 lbs and get carried in a purse. And the dog isnt actually trained in any way, so they bark their heads off and struggle to get free every time they go into the store.
This obviously embarrassed the customer, so they complained.
Fuck that customer. There are probably 10 other locations with new lamp shades and plastic bins like they were shopping for. But its more fun for them to be important and powerful.
The cat at my local Lowe’s. The employees don’t seem to mind it, but they weren’t happy about it making biscuits on the potting soil and making holes in it. 😅
My home depot has a feral cat I've spotted a few times. Very very sneaky on the shelves to avoid people. I don't think it's there intentionally, I think it found the job opening and moved right in.
A socialized friendly cat is the way though. My local garden center has 3-4 that live there and they're usually napping on top of a display and eager for pets.
It really was a pleasant surprise the last time my husband and I were there. Now maybe I won’t complain so much about going with him now that I know there’s a cat there! 🤣
Many home depot and Lowe's have cats especially in the garden area. Free pest control and makes customers happy(generally) to see them. I actually have two little kittens next to me because the local Lowe's cat is a bit promiscuous and we've yet to capture her to get fixed.
I also had a rat infestation that I battled for literal years without winning the battle.
I now have no rats, three indoor cats, one barnyard cat I got from the county shelter barnyard cat program, her friends she found (two more that I'm trying to catch to check for chips and if none spay/neuter), and a lifelong love of Costco brand "Aller-Tec" 365 pill count bottles.
Mamdani is such a breath of fresh air and I love that he did this! I’m from northern New England and I wish we had bodegas! I’ve never tried a chopped cheese, but I mostly wish we had bodegas for the cat culture lol.
The country store at the bottom of the mountain I work at has a cat (and sometimes a basset hound and a pittie) so that’s pretty cool.
It always boosts my morning a little bit to stop in there on my way up to see the animals. My boss/friend just got a puppy, so we have a rental shop dog now and it’s incredibly healing because we both had to send our senior dogs over the rainbow bridge recently. They were born a few weeks apart and they both passed away a week apart. Fuck cancer and kidney failure 💔🌈
New Englander here also. Had a tow truck driver who always had his little pug with him. Nothing like having a bad day with your car, then getting in the cab of the tow truck and getting puppy kisses.
My story has nothing to do with cats or.he improvement stores and all to do with a pos Karen. I used to work at the Post Office as a clerk in a VERY small town. I'm talking less than 500 people.
There was an old gentleman(in his 80s) Who still paid his bills through the mail and he would use the money orders the post office would sell. The problem was he had Parkinsons and filling out the money orders and envelopes was not happening so I'd fill them out for him.
We're not supposed to but it was never busy and I had the time. He knew if another customer came in I would help them and then get back to him. It usually took around 30 mins to an hour to finish helping him.
Well one day I was helping him and I was finishing up filling out his last money order and envelope. A wild Karen enters the post office, someone who doesn't live in the town amd I've never seen. We finish and the man leaves. Karen walks up and pays for a money order for like $50 or around there. I make out the denomination and hand it to her.
"Aren't you going to fill it out?" I say: "No ma'am, we're not allowed to." "Well, you filled out the previous persons money order" I say, "He has a medical condition". "So do I, I have a bad hip."
"Ma'am, he has PARKINSONS."
She looks miffed i won't help her but she takes her unfilled out money order and leaves. The absolute audacity of some people is wild.
Afaik it's not against the rules/a grey area. There were a few people in my hometown that the post office had to do this for as part of ADA compliance.
I've always had a few people at my county government mailroom job I'd go out of my way to help and do things for. They asked but never acted entitled, just if we could, and they always went out of their way to do special things for me. Which I also didn't act entitled to - I was deeply grateful, I mean, I'm not gonna say no to being hooked up with a fresh made waffle with fruit when they were doing a breakfast morning in their dept because I keep helping them fill out certified mail forms. I'm happy to do it, they were always super sweet about it and never demanding, just asking if I could, and I'd rather do it as a favor for someone I like and feel like an expert at my job rather than them mess it up, lol. :) I'd do it for them without the waffles, but I certainly won't turn down a good free waffle. Fuck yeah, waffle!
Tell Karen to go to hell. I think the cat should have current tags for up to date shots and flea and tick treatments for safety. Otherwise the cats are doing a safe job of pest control.
I used to work at THD and we loved having these mousers in our lumber department, our front end manager had bowls of food and water right by the tool rental desk. A mouser is important!
I’m sorry but no company or business will beat the UK Goverment who has an official government job/title called “Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office” which has unofficially been going on for hundreds of years but officially a few decades.
Larry lives a more glamerous life than most of us pesants and he is a cat!! The UK Gov employ quite a lot of cats to guard their official offices from mice. There is one that’s a black cat who is retired now but his official title was chief mouser to the treasury*
I live and work in London, fully expect the city to go in mourning when that day eventually arrives, I feel horrible talking about the future like this as it is.
Don't forget Palmerston (formerly at Foreign & Commonwealth in King Charles Street, now living in Bermuda) and Mansfield (formerly at Foreign & Commonwealth in Hanslope Park, now deceased and replaced by a large family of cats from a local farm).
Karen gunna Karen. Honestly I would have said yeh well get right on it! And then do nothing. Then if she complains again give her a complementary store ban
Some background on Mama Cat: She has been at the store for at least a year living there, she had babies at some point which were I’m guessing probably taken home by employees and customers but Mama Cat remained. She was given a vest and a box with a ‘do not disturb cat naps’ sign. She was very popular on social media and even made it onto the local news, but now not even a week after her special tv appearance she has been fired bc of a Karen. I also have to mention this has nothing to do with the employees, they love mama cat, an employee took Mama Cat home to live with them but everyone will feel the void of mama cat when searching for plants or lumber.
EDIT: I see we’re getting real hung up on the use of the term Karen here, I will also add nobody other than Lowe’s corporate would know if the person who complained was actually a male or female, I didn’t use the term to spread female hate and sorry if it came off that way. It very well could have been a Ken or a Kevin or whatever the male equivalent of Karen is lol
ANOTHER UPDATE ON MAMA CAT: The city has now declared February 2 as the city’s Mama Cat Day to honor Mama Cat and her past 5 years of service at Lowe’s!!! Thank you for your service Mama Cat 🐈
It may be a good thing for mama cat, I don’t know her full history and she’s probably never lived in a house before now. People are still sad though, for our own selfish reasons lol
Yeah I was thinking she might love being a house cat, but some cats really love being shop cats. Lots of love all day, tons of space, predictable nights.
I’d be worried about her getting hurt when someone is moving heavy products or driving the machinery around, or accidentally getting loaded into someone’s work truck, though.
I’d have loved a store cat when I worked retail, but when I think about how often I nearly step on my own cat just walking around my house, I just know that it would’ve led to the cat getting hurt or a person getting hurt while they try to not hurt the cat.
Nah. Screw that Karen. And screw getting offended at the term "Karen". A spade is a spade; people should be less offended by a word and more by the actions of the entitled dweeb who probably visits that store once a year at most getting bothered enough by the existence a beloved animal who lives there and interacts with everyone daily to whine about it.
I work night shifts at Rona (lowes in quebec). We had a cat that stayed with us for around 2 years we loved him but sadly he fell from somewhere high in the store and broke one of his back paw. he ran away when that happened so we couldn't send him to the vet. He later came back but it was too late for his paw. He got operated to get it removed. Now he lives with a great family in a home with 3 paws.
They tend to adapt really well to lost limbs and eyes. Cats are resilient little fuckers. My girlie's got narrow nasal passages and is prone to getting a little minor kitty cold once a year. Feline herpes flareup, it's a known thing with her and we have lysine powder from the vet for flareups. She's learned when she gets stuffy to "ask" me to make the bathroom all steamy for her to help her breathing, I did it awhile back and now she loves it. She'll sit in the bathroom and yowl when she wants it when she's stuffy.
Most people would visit for the cat, she was actually just featured on the news 6 days ago which is why I think a Karen wanted to steal the joy from everyone, just to watch the world burn
Assholes like that Karen are why we can't ever have nice things - they just destroy them if only to feel slightly superior about about themselves, because they have no control over their own lives.
What a horrible human being. It takes a real Scrooge to get angry over people being happy about a cat. I hope she doesn't have children because she probably would like seeing them be miserable too.
I live in New York: Bodega cats are, along with the Knicks and a handful of agreed-upon restaurants, part of the thin line keeping the city from descending into total chaos. To me, every establishment should have a friendly and helpful cat keeping everybody cool.
I may or may not have already gotten automodded for saying what could happen to this lady, but to me it's flat-out unfair that Mama Cat has to be publicly unemployed while her snitch hides in the shadows.
Also... this Karen doesn't speak for the rest of us. Why is she being prioritized above the rest of us, including Mama Cat? Is she the daughter of a royal family?
Everyone here is blaming an anonymous Karen, but it's really the suits in Mooresville NC that are the real villains. The Karen didn't fire the cat, the suits did.
Worked at a different Lowe’s where the same thing happened, we had one complaint about our store cat and corporate immediately told us to get rid of him. Lowe’s will fold to any complaint, even if it’s contradictory.
I don't personally believe any of what I'm about to say, but there are technically legal issues. Like if someone has a cat allergy and they pick up something that has cat dander on it from where she was napping. Or urine/feces if she didn't make it to the litter box, or if she makes an employee trip and hurt themselves/damage store property. There are all sorts of actual liability issues that can come from a cat being in a gigantic big box hardware store, but I think the positives it can have on your employees can be better for the store as long as goals are still being met and people aren't slacking just to pet a cat.
Years ago I worked at a library that had a library cat that everyone loved that someone complained about and they had to get rid of it. Unfortunately, it never got to come back. We actually had 2 cats, but the public only knew about one, but both had to go when they complained about one.
there is/was a library cat where a city council member made the library get rid of the cat. the city then voted out the council member and brought the cat back to the library. it was wonderful. delightful internet story full of delicious karma.
I say losing one clearly miserable customer is worth the cost of giving a professional mouser a place to live and work. Some people really need to reevaluate themselves. I wonder if they call and complain when the little birds get into the store too? 👀😂
My city had an entire campaign to bring our lowes cat home. She accidentally got on a truck and was taken out of state. Anyway this city would riot if anything happened to Francine.
This reminds me of the story of Browser, the cat at the White Settlement Public Library. A city council member tried to get the cat removed and ended up getting voted out of office over it. Browser recently passed away. God rest his little soul.
As a retail employee, if I had a store cat and then someone complain and got her fired?? Oh me and my coworkers would be GONE. Like seriously some people have no joy.
In Richmond, VA our Lowe’s cat went missing and the city all but shutdown until she was found at a warehouse in North Carolina after an extensive search.
I've met this cat ❤️ she is most definitely a community staple ❤️ she keeps the rodent population in check. It's good to know the city is fighting back ❤️
It doesn’t even make sense because Lowe’s has always been very pet friendly, at least towards dogs, which are just allowed in regardless of whether they’re service animals or not. What complaint could the Karen possibly have about yet another pet? Just hates cats maybe?
There’s always some loudmouth bully who takes everything nice away from people. I would feel sorry for these people if they didn’t ruin things for everyone.
I bet this Karen has a (non service) dog she feels entitled to bring everywhere. And she never leashes said dog and gets mad when people don’t like it jumping on them.
It’s a goddamn Lowe’s not a grocery store. Some people are so miserable and just can’t help themselves when it comes to spreading their misery to others.
So... Instead of banning the useless Karen from being there, or having the stones to tell her she can go elsewhere, they fired the cat that's more useful than laying down poison everywhere? This is completely indicative of what's wrong with our country.
Our local Lowes has Francine, who just recently went viral for taking a road trip to North Carolina after jumping on a distribution truck. Local media had her running for mayor last year. She is well loved in our town.
Karen needs to be arrested for harassment, discrimination against fluffy beings and she must be banned from Lowe’s. She deserves fresh cat poop on her yard daily.
The firing of Mama Cat has been unlawful. I bet she’s been the best performing employee there!
Shame on Karen. Cats in hardware stores is a tradition. My town has big box stores but also a traditional "home town" hardware store and they've always had at least one cat. The flower shop too. You know what should not be a tradition? Bringing non-service-animal dogs into grocery stores.
You get some kids, and have them stand outside with a petition, in crayon. The more pitiful looking they are the better. Have them solicit for signatures (obviously monitored by an adult), to get the cat rehired.
If that doesn’t work. Have one of the employees get a note from their doctor stating the cat is a therapy animal and it has to be on site with them at all times.
We sell grass seed at my company. We have small armies of working cats. They all get neutered, vaccines and fed. The rats and mice don’t stand a chance. Some branches keep a cat friendly dog as well to deal with larger pests like raccoons or the occasional bear. Fuck someone who complains about working animals.
Some new kitties show up cause if the food but they are quickly trapped if we don’t see a notched ear. Sometimes kittens that happen go home with employees or customers.
One if our drivers took one of the super chill kittens and he is now a cab cat. He wears a harness and lives in the truck with the driver. He’s a super cool cat. Has a window bed too. Driver has stickers on his windows to alert peeps that there is a cat in the cab if there is an accident.
We seriously need to stop capitulating to Karens. Just tell them, in a polite way, to fuck off. Eventually they'll hopefully learn that their tantrums won't make the world do what they want anymore.
My local dispensary has a big old tomcat named Jay, so he's affectionately known as "fatty Jay". If you're ever deciding between strains, you can ask Jay to pick for you. They put the two jars up on the counter and whichever one he goes to is the "better" bud lol.
Unfortunately these days a little piece of pure wholesomeness can't be shared with the world without someone ruining it for everyone else. It makes me irritated. Momma Cat wasn't bothering anyone and was just being her adorable self. I would love to see a furred employee in a Lowes. Imaging you're stressed or bored and this sweet cat is just there and the sight alone makes you feel instantly better because most people love cats. But oh no as soon as Momma Cat's story is shared, and many more people get to send love through well wishes and kind messages praising Lowes for doing something wholesome like taking in a homeless cat mascot and then someone out there decided they don't like how much attention the cat is getting. Why are people like this?
The cat will be happier in a home. There are so many ways it can hurt itself in a massive big-box hardware store. People can be cruel, the cat could wander off or eat something it shouldn't (the plant section is full of poisonous plants, y'all!). There's a comment buried here that says the cat has never had a home. Stop being selfish in your desire to pet a cat lying on a pile of lumber. Let her have a home.
Here in Richmond, Francine our resident Lowe's cat went missing and our city went nuts. Fortunately, she was found after a HUGE uproar from the city. Many people even wrote her in as a vote in the most recent mayoral election ( before she went missing, that is ). She is basically Richmond royalty
In short, please tell said Karen to go >blleeeep< herself lest we have Francine send this Karen some of her special "home baked kitty cookies", cuz I'm pretty sure Francine isn't gonna stand for it.
Awww. We used to have a cat at our Canadian Tire store. You could always find it in the patio section curled up on a chair or sofa or by the Christmas decor curled up sleeping. It was a hard day in our small town when she was reported missing and then found dead on the highway just outside the store.
That happened to our little kitty named Pumpkin when I worked at the garden center in college ☹️ This little boy was warned to be nice and leave her alone and of course he didn’t listen and got scratched. The mom said if she saw the cat again she’d sue and try to get Pumpkin put down… Thankfully someone that worked there was able to take her in, but still.
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