Meet the Cat That's Been Living Inside of Home Depot for the Past 6+ Years
A Home Depot in Chandler, Arizona welcomed a cat as a part of their work crew approximately seven years ago.
Including the cat wasn’t a part of the original plan. It seems that the cat chose them. One perk that the cat likely saw was that the store had a mouse infestation.
“One day she showed up, and within a matter of weeks, the problem was solved,” Michael Borgogena told KPNX. “The manager at the time wasn’t a big fan of cats, but he liked her because she took care of the infestation in the store. She’s just been around ever since.”
The cat doesn’t have a formal name, but some employees have taken the liberty of giving her a nickname. Some of her nicknames include Miss Kitty, Tom, Mama, or simply Cat.
“Me? I call her Mama,” said the current store manager, Carol Warren.
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The presence of the company cat is enjoyed by both store employees and customers.
“She’s a part of a family. If she has not been seen for a few hours, I bet more than 10 associates will come and ask like, ‘Hey, did you see Cat, do you see the cat? Where is she?'” said Vishal Patel. “So, everyone loves her.”
“This is her store; we just work here,” Warren said.
Miss Kitty apparently likes to help out with the morning routine at Home Depot.
“So, when the manager comes in, in the morning, we have a routine where we walk the store for security,” Warren said. “We have a path that we have to walk and she will usually get in front of them at the starting point at the main entrance. They will walk around the entire store and she’s right in front of them the whole time.”
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Once Miss Kitty is satisfied that all is well and the mice are indeed away, she’ll saunter over to the Customer Service desk in expectation of receiving her wages for said task — breakfast.
“She brings a lot of joy to the customers and our employees,” Warren said. “They come in and they look for her. A lot of the children come in and you see them looking around and we’re like, ‘you’re looking for the cat?’ And they say yes. But a lot of pictures, a lot of excitement. Everyone just loves the cat.”
More and more studies are being done about pets in the workplace. There are some companies that are using pets in the work place as a perk, which can help them to recruit and retain employees, especially younger employees, according to Business.com.
