{"slug":"business-cat","name":"Business Cat","url":"/templates/business-cat.jpg","w":500,"h":500,"top":"CORPORATE SETUP","bottom":"CAT BEHAVIOR PUNCHLINE","description":"Business Cat meme generator. A black cat in a shirt and tie runs the office exactly how you'd expect a cat to run it. Meetings will involve knocking things off the table.","keywords":"business cat meme, cat in tie meme, corporate cat meme, office cat meme, cat boss meme, professional cat meme","year":2011,"origin":"A photo of a black cat wearing a white collared shirt and a yellow-blue striped necktie surfaced on Reddit around 2011 and immediately became the internet's favorite middle manager. The format takes standard corporate situations and replaces the human response with cat behavior: knocking things off desks, sleeping 16 hours a day, staring at birds during meetings. What makes Business Cat work is that cat behavior and corporate behavior are eerily similar: both involve territorial disputes, passive aggression, and sitting in boxes. For feline rejection of the entire premise, see Grumpy Cat (permanent disapproval). Scumbag Steve handles office villainy from the human side.","format":"classic","howToMake":["Business Cat is suited up and ready for the 9 AM meeting. Add your corporate cat wisdom","Top text sets up a normal office scenario: a meeting, a deadline, a performance review. Bottom text delivers the punchline by replacing the expected human response with something a cat would actually do","The funniest captions lean into specific cat behaviors: knocking objects off surfaces, sitting in the box the product came in, grooming during presentations, staring at a wall for 45 minutes","White Impact with heavy black outlines reads clean against the multicolor geometric background. Keep the font bold to match the cat's serious boardroom energy","Your feline executive is ready. Download the PNG and share it with your coworkers, or Copy it into the team Slack"],"exampleCaptions":["WE NEED TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX","BUT ALSO I WANT TO SIT IN THE BOX"],"exampleAltText":"Business Cat meme about thinking outside the box but also wanting to sit in the box","exampleRefreshDate":"2026-03-09","seo":{"aliases":["Corporate Cat","Cat In A Tie","Office Cat Meme","Boss Cat Meme","Professional Cat","Cat Boss Meme"],"description":"A black cat wearing a white dress shirt and a yellow-and-blue striped necktie stares directly at the camera with round yellow eyes. The expression is unreadable in the way that all cats and all middle managers are unreadable. Behind it, a geometric mosaic of orange, green, teal, purple, pink, and brown suggests a PowerPoint slide designed by someone who just discovered color theory. The cat looks prepared to either deliver quarterly earnings or knock your coffee off the conference table. Possibly both, in that order.","definition":"A black cat in a shirt and necktie delivers corporate directives that inevitably end in typical cat behavior. Top text describes an office scenario; bottom text replaces the professional response with what a cat would actually do. The joke is that the gap between cat behavior and corporate behavior is smaller than anyone wants to admit.","useCases":[{"category":"Meetings & Management","examples":["I've called this meeting / to sit on the conference table and stare at everyone","Let's table this discussion / by knocking everything off the table first","I'll need that report by end of day / I'm going to sleep on it. Literally","This meeting could have been an email / but I wanted to be in the room where the warm laptop is","I have an open-door policy / so I can stand in the doorway and not commit either way"]},{"category":"Productivity & Deadlines","examples":["The deadline is Friday / I'll work on it between 3am and 4am at full speed, then nap","We need to increase output / I just pushed everything off my desk. That counts","I've been working on this all day / meaning I sat on the keyboard and produced 47 pages of gibberish","Efficiency review says I sleep 16 hours / those are power naps and they're strategic","Finished the presentation / then immediately destroyed it by sitting on the laptop"]},{"category":"Office Politics & Territory","examples":["I see you're using my chair / I'll sit on the exact spot you were about to sit","New employee orientation: / this desk is mine, that shelf is mine, the box the printer came in is mine","About that corner office / I already claimed it by rubbing my face on the door frame","HR says I can't hiss at the interns / so I'll just stare at them until they leave on their own","Someone moved my stapler / I knocked their entire pencil cup off the desk in retaliation"]},{"category":"Client Relations","examples":["Client wants to shake hands / I'm going to extend my paw and then retract it immediately","The client presentation is in 10 minutes / I'm going to bring them a dead mouse as a gift","Great news: we landed the account / I celebrated by throwing up on the contract","The client is on a video call / time to walk across the keyboard and end the meeting"]},{"category":"Lunch & Break Room","examples":["The break room fish is missing / and I have no further comment on the matter","Don't touch my lunch in the fridge / I will know. I always know","Lunch meeting at noon / I'll eat half of mine and then walk away from the rest","Someone brought donuts / I'm going to sniff each one and then take a nap on the box","Happy hour tonight? / I'll show up, sit in the corner, and leave without talking to anyone"]},{"category":"Technology & Equipment","examples":["IT says stop sitting on the server / but it's the warmest spot in the building","My keyboard isn't working / because I'm lying on it and that's not going to change","The printer is jammed again / because I put my paw in it","Just updated the spreadsheet / by walking across the number pad for 20 minutes","I need a new laptop / I knocked the old one off the desk"]}]}}