Cat Burglar
They didn’t keep petty cash in the office, so when he first started seeing dollar bills appearing on the floor, he assumed a colleague had just dropped them.
But when he found the office cat sat atop a huge pile of cash, he launched a full investigation. Where was all that money coming from?
Welcome Aboard!
Stuart McDaniel felt there was something missing in the offices of GuRuStu. The Tulsa, Oklahoma marketing firm was going strong and the culture was great, but the company needed a mascot.
Stuart found himself adopting Sir Whines-A-Lot from the local animal shelter. But he had no idea then what a productive member of the team he would become.
Seemed Normal
The cat was very well-behaved and served as the perfect office companion. He kept himself to himself most of the time, as cats have a tendency to do, which made it tricky to keep tabs on him and work out what he was up to when no one was looking.
GuRuStu was a family business and they were a very close-knit team. It never even crossed Stuart’s mind that he would need to be on the lookout for a thief.
Fat Cat
One day, Stuart was heading out to lunch when he spotted the cat sat by the door with a few dollar bills secured under his paw. He went to pick them up, but the cat was very protective of the money.
Eventually, he wrangled the cash out of the kitty’s clutches and set it on the table, assuming the owner would soon reclaim it. Sir Whines-A-Lot glared at Stuart.
Returned Interest
When Stuart came back, the cash hadn’t been claimed. He went over to stroke the cat, who had since moved onto the couch, when he realized he was lying on yet more money.
“Is anyone missing a few bucks?” he asked the office, holding up the dollar bills. Stuart’s father spoke up, and it seemed the problem was far bigger than he imagined.
Game Afoot
“I’ve been finding the cat with cash in its mouth for weeks!” Mr McDaniel said. But no one in the team claimed to be missing any money and there was no cash kept in the office, so where was he getting it all from? Stuart was baffled. Was he somehow finding a way outside?
The team agreed to all keep an eye on Sir Whines-A-Lot to find out what was going on. But that was easier said than done.
Close Eye
Sir Whines-A-Lot lived in the office, so they couldn’t watch him 24/7. And during work hours, they all had stuff to do. In fact, that was why they chose to adopt a cat over a dog. They’re usually pretty low maintenance.
But if they didn’t find out where the money was coming from soon, they might find themselves in hot water when whoever he was taking it from found out. There was only one thing for it.
Night Watch
In order to monitor the cash-hungry kitty at all times, Stuart decided to spend the night at the office. He stayed up late and let the cat move around as he normally would.
But when he woke up the next morning, there was no money and no clues as to where the cash was coming from. Then, someone he didn’t recognize approached the front door.
Daylight Robbery
A woman on her way to work had knelt down to greet the office cat, but when she saw Stuart was already in the office, she quickly moved on.
“Could it be?” thought Stuart. He waited for the rest of the office to arrive before announcing his theory on the mysterious money so he could test it out in front of everyone.
Funny Money
When he noticed that Sir Whines-A-Lot had caught the eye of the morning foot traffic, he figured they were probably trying to play with him.
Stuart went outside and slipped a dollar bill through the door - and the cat went crazy for it. “I’m guessing the first people didn’t intend to lose their dollar,” Stuart said. “They probably put it in to mess with him, and he snatched it. He does it so fast, you don’t even realize what’s happened.” But with a huge pile of cash forming, Stuart had to work out what to do with it all.
Robin Hood
In the end, the team decided to hand the money the cat had stolen over to the Tulsa Day Center for the Homeless.
And once word got out about what had been happening, more people started coming to the door to slip bills in front of the cat. Soon they had hundreds of dollars to give to the charity. The cat became so famous, they had to change his name.
Local Celeb
CASHnip Kitty is now so well-known he has his own thriving Facebook page with thousands of followers, as well as a dedicated website. He receives regular fan mail and cash gifts, clawing in $30 to $40 a week for good causes.
"It's crazy how many people this has made it to, from just a local level to national news," Stuart said. "Now, there's 500,000 views of his video in Taiwan!" Got a kitty lying around the house you could put to work bringing in a second income?