By Yul

August 5 is “Work Like a Dog Day.” I’m a cat, and I’m steamed.

Humans can be foolish, but to declare a holiday with greeting cards to celebrate working long, tedious hours at pointless tasks for little or no reward is going too far – way too far.

I couldn’t find the origins of this travesty, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Spencer Johnson’s fingerprints are on it somewhere.

In 1998, Johnson wrote what cats consider the most hilarious and ridiculous book of all time – Who Moved My Cheese?

It’s a flimsy fable about two mouse-size humans named Hem and Haw. It became a best-seller because managers love imagining themselves as the dark, invisible forces that hold the power of life or death over scared, hungry mice whose survival depends on finding cheesy handouts in a confusing maze.

We’ve never met anyone who read that book without being ordered to do so by their boss.

Since there isn’t enough cheese in the world to get anyone excited about celebrating “Work Like a Mouse Day,” I think Johnson settled for the next best thing – dogs – because working like a dog is so cliché, it’s an easy sell.

He may even be working on an equally inane sequel, Who Moved My Beggin’ Strips®?

What we really need is “Work Like a Cat Day.” It’s the only one that makes sense. Cats work smarter, not harder. We get the job done with time for catnaps to spare. And we do it while looking poised, graceful, and fabulous.

A sensible blogger named Layla at Be Gifty recommends Karen’s book, How to Work Like a Cat, as the purrfect antidote for “Work Like a Dog Day.”

I couldn’t agree more. That’s why Fred, Adele, and I inspired her to write it.

By Fred

Killing time waiting for the polls to close in New Hampshire, my attention turned to a new cat toy. Well, it’s shaped like a cat toy. It’s Xerox’s breathtaking new logo.

Old logo

New logo

Xerox is sick of being known as a copier company, so someone said, “Hey, I know how we can change public perception. Let’s put our name in lowercase letters with a cat toy beside it!”

When we see the new logo, we’re supposed to think, “No more copiers. Xerox is software, color printers, and high tech from now on, baby!”

Who are they kidding? Instead of trying to bury their roots, Xerox should be flattered their name is on the train to a sunny retirement home in Genericville with linoleum and nylon. “Let me go xerox a copy of this” is firmly entrenched in American office-speak.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (and who would know better than a copier company?), AT&T must be elated. They were the ones to make cat toys and lowercase fonts trendy in corporate logos.

But even AT&T seems aware that it’s a silly, impractical idea because they still write AT&T in caps in the text of their ads.

I wonder if Xerox realizes their new hip and original logo looks like the work of copycats?