We have previously discussed the potential benefits, not to mention the pitfalls, of pets in the workplace. There are many good reasons why you should take your pet to work and a fair few reasons why you should not! Animals certainly add a new dimension to the workplace, especially in Tewkesbury where the local council has gone one step further than the norm and actually employed a cat!
Boosting Morale?
Tewkesbury Town Council has employed Missy the cat as a Morale Officer! The aim is to cheer up the workforce. But those familiar with feline ways may already be sensing trouble ahead! As one of the few species thought to have domesticated itself, cats have a well-deserved reputation for self-serving behaviour.
You could argue that it is impossible to employ a cat or, indeed, to keep a feline as a pet. It is more likely to be the case that a cat employs or adopts you and then skilfully fools you into thinking that you have some level of control over them. You do not! Cats have life sorted and have organised themselves so that they have shelter, warmth and food on tap without having to do anything of note to get it. This modus operandi is incompatible with work.
Furry Impediment
They also have a huge repertoire of behaviours which are calculated to stall any of your attempts to do any work yourself. In addition to yowling for food and attention to distract you, a cat will certainly sit on your keyboard or notebook from time to time or all of the time! This is basically a ploy to divert you away from anything unimportant like earning a living so that you can devote yourself entirely to their needs. Cats know exactly which forms of behaviour are impossible to ignore.
Cats and Dogs
Dogs have long been employed in a variety of roles from sniffing out drugs to guarding property. They can detect illness and are enthusiastic in doing so, they guide the blind, hear for the deaf and assist people with a variety of disabilities to lead more independent lives. Their talents can be harnessed whereas a feline's skills tend only to get used when it suits the cat. Cats can be useful for clearing vermin, but only because they want to, not because they are trying to help.
Time Wasting
But what of the aforementioned Missy? How is she performing in her new role? Badly as it turns out! The Mayor, Karen Brennan, feels that the cat may have to work from home in the future because, wait for the shocking revelation, she is too distracting. Workers are spending too much time playing with Missy and not enough time working. Who would have thought it? Only anyone who has ever shared their life with a cat perhaps!
Missy's career looks like being a rather short one. One should never stereotype potential employees unless they are cats, of course. Cats and work are incompatible.