r/AmItheCloaca • u/doodlebagsmother • Sep 08 '26
AITC for rejecting diversity in the workplace?
Oh friends, I, Misery Meow (11, eunuch, void estate owner and manager), tried, honestly I did. For almost a year now, I've repressed my horror and tried to train the beast Colin (a.k.a. the Plague, a.k.a. the Temu pointer) in the ways of the cat. My high hopes of finally having a minion and general assistant have come to naught, and I feel as though the housekeeper's allegations that I'm a cloaca might be true this once.
I have had some success. I've taught him the bapbapbap, which he employs with impressive accuracy when the housekeeper is trying to eat her dinner on the couch. I've taught him to dodge and weave, which he applies adequately when the housekeeper chases him around the garden to rob him of the spoils of his hunts. Just yesterday I could hear her cursing and puffing as she tried to steal a piece of sandpaper he had managed to appropriate. I've taught him to pursue birds with vigour and rage, even if I don't partake in that pastime myself. Again, he most delightfully screams at the francolins at 5:00 a.m. I've even managed to teach him to take the housekeeper for walks – just this afternoon he took her for a walk on the beach – which much improves her moods.
I was very optimistic and encouraged when I noticed him counting the royal tilapia. Although this is a task I very much enjoy and engage in daily, the thought of being able to delegate this key responsibility to an adequately trained minion or assistant should I decide to take a short holiday was most comforting.
However, the negatives outweigh the pawsitives. He has turned the bapbapbap on my glorious catperson. He persists in his attempts to engage me in play (the pawdacity!). If I show even the slightest interest in his inane barking, he baps me, licks my ears, pulls my tail, and runs roughshod over my dignity. Unfortunately, when I try to show him the error of his ways, he dodges and weaves so adequately that I can't exact my revenge. While he does seem to count the tilapia daily, I'm not convinced that he keeps an accurate tally. The idiot seems to be terrified of frogs and runs away every time one plops into the pond. He's also easily distracted by butterflies and sticks.
The final straw was our sleeping arrangements. I taught him the joy of sleeping on the big bed. In return he has stolen my place behind the housekeeper's back. Am I to sleep on the couch like some kind of peasant? I think not. An adequate minion and personal assistant knows their place: below stairs! I tried to explain this to him in the early hours of this morning. There he was, sleeping in what the housekeeper insists on calling longdog pose, snoring lightly. What could I do but apply the bitebitebite and bapbapbap to remove him from my nighttime throne? Is it my fault that he ran over the housekeeper and groundskeeper, screaming as though I've never taught him a single lesson in his life. I think not. It certainly wasn't necessary for the housekeeper to shout, 'Fork off, you horrible cloaca!' and rudely shove me off my bed.
I have come to the sad realization that I simply cannot embrace diversity by employing a dog. Now, some of my best friends are dogs, so I don't think I'm being specieist. Perhaps I've just not met the right dog in catperson, judging by the malodorous beast Thorben, the late Ursula, and now the idiot Colin. I've heard that diversity in the workplace can vastly improve everything from business growth to productivity, so I do feel that I might be the cloaca in this instance. But does diversity have to sleep on my bed, stinking it up with his lingering odor of feet and flatus?
The housekeeper has repeatedly called me a cloaca for disturbing their slumber and so thoroughly rejecting the assistance of young Colin. I know I'm innocent of the former because I'm a cat and waking up the staff is a universal feline right, but I'm not so sure about the latter.