Manga creator thinks he has the perfect plan, but his cat foils his scheme in less than a day.

Ask just about anyone who works from home, and they’ll tell you the best thing about it is how comfortable it is. Whether it’s having a fridge stocked full of your favorite drinks and snacks, a private bathroom, or simply being able to work an entire shift in sweatpants, there’s nothing quite like the relaxed atmosphere of a home office.

On the flip side, though, the trickiest part of working from home is having to draw boundaries so that your home/social life doesn’t keep you from fulfilling your professional responsibilities. It’s tough enough having to explain to friends and family that you really do have work to do and can’t drop everything to chat, and that conversation becomes even more awkwardly inefficient when it’s your pet cats you’re trying to convey the message of “Hard at work – do not disturb” to.

For example, here we see the home office of manga creator Hiroyuki Ugawa (@ugawa on Twitter). Or, more accurately, we would see his home office, if there weren’t two cats who’ve decided that the space that he thinks is his desk is actually their relaxation space. Obviously, since the author and artist of Shrine of the Morning Mist works at home he can’t rely on a security guard or receptionist to turn away the feline intruders when he needs them to stay out of the way, so he decided to do the next best thing by installing a one-way pet door on the door to his office. That way he could still bring the cats in when he wanted their company, and they could leave the room, but they couldn’t get into the office unless he opened the full-size, for-people door for them.

Or, at least, that was the plan.

▼ “The pet door I installed in my house is supposed to be this great one-way model, but it got hacked on the first day. They got in just fine, trashed my office to their hearts’ content, and then easily left.”

As shown in the video, the pet door is equipped with magnets that keep its swinging door in place. In the designer’s mind, the magnets are supposed to make it so they can push the door open, but not pull it. But Ugawa’s cat in the video has no problem hooking a paw around the door, pulling it up, and passing through the opening before it falls back down.

Online reactions included admiration at the cat’s intelligence and resignation that this is a battle that Ugawa has no way of winning.

“Master-level hacker cat.”
“You sure it isn’t a burglar?”
“Cat: ‘Thanks! The pet door makes it a lot easier to get into your office.’”
“’Amateur…meow.’”
“Your cat is really smart…I don’t know if that’s something to be happy or sad about.”
“This shows how much smarter cats are than we humans.”

So it looks like Ugawa is stuck with his feline officemates having unlimited in-out privileges for the time being. Then again, considering what they get up to in other parts of his house, maybe it’s best that he keep an eye on them while he’s working.

Source: Twitter/@ugawa via Hamster Sokuho