Conference misery::feline_v1

       Well, if you mean in your office area with other people around,
    I'm afraid the policy on animals is not favorable unless it is a
    seeing-eye dog or other necessary animal.
       In TWO, I had found an abandoned cat back in '83. He stayed here
    while I placed ads in the papers etc., but no one ever claimed him.
    So he kept coming to the lobby door every single day, never missed
    a day in 3 years and we kept him in the security office until everyone
    had left. Then he'd walk around the plant with us folks in security
    and do "tours" of the building. He was great! Playing hide and seek
    and all that, but you guessed it, somebody from on high checked
    out policy on the animals and determined that he could not stay.
       Apparently animals are considered "unsanitary", cause allergic
    responses, and may be unacceptable to the general population.
    Therefore, he was told to leave. He has been at my place, but this
    place hasn't been the same. The mice sure know he's gone! I giggle
    every time I hear someone has seen a mouse. 
       So, I understand your wanting a cat around, that would truly
    be great, but the policies concerning animals are not favorableon
    DEC property. And there was a lot of checking into it when our Kitty
    friend was here, because we really did not want him to leave. But
    there's no fighting city hall, I guess I can see the point. Sometimes
    there'd be cat hair on the lobby chairs, and it was funny to see
    someone in a white suit get up and have a black, hairy backside!
    However, the person in the white suit complained as they did not
    think it was funny. So you have to consider those things too. And
    how about litter boxes, smelly food dishes, spilt milk. All the
    things us cat lovers think are normal I guess just don't fit into
    the business world. Hair balls, accidents, etc. just are not fitting
    of a professional image, or so I hear! However, there's a lot of
    things humans do that are non too fitting, either.
       But if you want to sneak a kitty in, I'll never tell!!!!
    
                                  Denise
    
    

    Surely you know about Pepper the Cat!?  Unfortunately
    Pepper has passed on to kitty heaven but her caretaker(s)
    have talked about her in this file.  There was a little
    picure of her in DTW, along with a little 'blurb'.  It
    shows a sleeping cat with a little Digital badge on her
    collar.  The text follows:
    ===================================
    Digital's lowest-paid
    employee is a feline
    
    Digital's lowest-paid and youngest employee,
    Pepper A. Feline, a four-and-a-half year old 
    female cat, is in charge of rodent control
    for Low End Regulatory Engineering at the
    Boylston Barn Federal Communications Commission
    Test Site, which is headquartered at the Mill.
    Her badge number is 00001 1/2, and she puts in
    seven days a week without vacations or holidays,
    so there is a liberal policy toward her cat naps.
    At times she is borrowed by the Headmaster's
    House Conference Center, also in Boylston, to do
    the same job in their basement.
    ================================================
    
    So if you're considering maintaining an outdoor
    cat this might be possible.   Perhaps you could
    elaborate more on why you're asking.
    
    Donna
    

>       Apparently animals are considered "unsanitary", cause allergic
>    responses, and may be unacceptable to the general population.

    
    Gee, that is exactly how I feel about cigarrettes. How come the
    "policy" isn't applied the same way?
    
    Deb

      
    
              re: .3
    
                       My sentiments exactly, it sure is a "double
    standard". Wish they would apply the same rules to smoking,
    cats are a lot cleaner, for sure!

    Let's hear it for "designated cat areas"! Discreet signs on the
    wall could state, "You are now entering a feline area; persons with
    allergies should take appropriate precautions." Just think of a
    row of cubicles containing humming Microvaxes, each with a happy
    cat curled up on top (getting fur in the vents, but what the heck)!
    
    Then again, maybe we should leave the cat-on-lap programming for
    when we're working at home...
    
    -b

    I'd love to have a little kitty (or 20) roaming around Spit Brook!
    But, I can also understand the problems some folks have with allergies.
    I had smuggled Chauncey in here one day and someone several cubicles
    over had a pretty bad reaction, even though she didn't go near him.
    In fact, she didn't even know that he was in the area, but instead
    was wondering what could have set off her allergy.  I felt terrible...
    
    Maybe if there were designated kitty areas.....but, honestly, would
    any of us get much work done????
    
    Mary

    What if you brought a cat in on the weekend while you did your work?
    Would that be against Digital policy? 
    
    

    RE: 9
    
    Karen,
    
    My sentiments exactly.  I would spend 95% of my time trying to find
    DejaVu and then the other 5% trying to find her something to play
    with.
    
    Sandi  (Lightning's & DejaVu's Mom)