AT&T Hates Our Cat
Nobody should hate our cat—he’s adorable! An object lesson in the failures of capitalism brought home by a lost pet and corporate negligence.
AT&T Hates Our Cat
by C.A. Matthews
We returned home from the cat shelter around 1 PM with our new foster cat Elsie, a twelve-year-old tabby with a sweet disposition who we hoped would be a friend to our four-year-old cat, Bowtie. Since Bowtie had been cooped up for a while, and it is his normal schedule to take a romp in our garden in the afternoon, we let him out so we could concentrate on settling Elsie into her new home. We have a long lot with trees and many raspberry bushes on a slight incline away from our house, so we were unaware that anything was amiss with our back fence line when we let him out.
Little did we know that while we were out picking up Elsie contract workers for AT&T had bent over our wire fence, dug a deep trench, cut away limbs from the trees behind us, and opened an exit for a curious and frightened cat to dart through when he heard the loud noises of their equipment shoving fiber optic cable underground. We had received no warning from AT&T that they would be doing such work in our area. Nothing—no paper hanger on the door, no post card in the mail, no phone call. We had no idea that their workers could casually knock over our fence and leave it that way, causing our beloved pet to escape.
We didn’t realize something was off until we called out to Bowtie from the back door a few minutes later. He didn’t come running as usual, so my husband ventured out and discovered the fence down and workers digging nearby. Bowtie is terrified of strangers—he will immediately run and hide under the bed whenever there’s a knock at the door. But seeing strangers outside? Who knows what he might do in his panic. My husband asked the workers if they’d seen Bowtie, but they said they hadn’t.
The foreman gave us a card with the name of the company they were laying fiber optic cable for, yet another company contracted by AT&T. I called “Blue Jay Communications” to find out why we hadn’t received any advanced notice of their activities. An extremely rude individual answered and said they could do whatever they wanted, and I could go “f*ck off” before hanging up on me.
Flustered and scared to death for the safety of Bowtie, I called the police to find out why these workers were allowed knock our fence over in the first place and was told that “it had nothing to do with them.” I was instructed to call the city’s “customer service agency” Engage Toledo and ask them.
I’ve called Engage Toledo before and found it to be a complete waste of time. You tell the “customer service representative” your problem, and they’ll give you a “service request ID number” and that’s that. You never hear from Engage Toledo again. Ever.
This time I asked if I could speak to the directly to the mayor’s office. Heck, if anyone should know what the laws are for allowing workers onto private property without the owners’ permission, someone in the mayor’s office should know, right? Wrong! (Two weeks later and there’s been no reply to my query.) Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, running for a third time this fall, definitely won’t be getting my vote. I’m sure he’s not losing any sleep over it like I would over my lost cat.
My husband tracked down Bowtie about an hour and half later, scared and confused. All’s well that ends well, right?
If you believe that, let’s do a thought experiment together. Substitute the word “child” or “Alzheimer’s patient” or “mentally challenged person” for “cat” in the sentence, “You damaged our fence and allowed our cat to escape.”
Now consider the ramifications of damaging a fence that allows a human being who doesn’t understand how they could become lost and/or hurt if they exited through an opening in the fence with a deep trench dug behind it. If that child or adult broke their leg or their neck tripping over the fallen fence and landing in the trench, who would be responsible for their injury or death then? Is it still no big deal when a human being’s life and safety is threatened rather than a pet’s?
I believe this incident sends a message: Those of us who live in normal, working class neighborhoods have zero rights compared to huge corporations. Our local officials can’t be bothered to stand up for us if our property is damaged and our pets or family members become lost or hurt, either.
AT&T can increase its profits by laying fiber optic cable through areas like ours for a service we’ll most likely never be able to afford, without a care or worry about upsetting the likes of us. Our neighborhood is simply in their way to reaching more prosperous neighborhoods that can afford it. We poor folk can “F*ck off!” to quote the gentleman on the phone who spoke to me.
On an online neighborhood forum I learned that we could file a complaint with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. I found their web form and did so a day later, my blood pressure still sky high from all the stress. I was contacted by PUCO in a timely manner, and they said they’d look into it. Little did I realize that meant I would receive a call nine days later from a “customer service manager” from AT&T who demonstrated all the humanity of an unfeeling robot.
After a very frustrating conversation, where I attempted to convey that I wanted an explanation of who had given the workers permission to destroy our fence and a written apology for letting our cat escape, I was hung up on again. Maybe I should have asked for a million dollars in damages for the fence and the possible stroke I suffered worrying over Bowtie being lost? Surely AT&T’s representative wouldn’t have hung up on me if I threatened them with a big lawsuit, right?
But then again, AT&T has my street address and probably feels pretty confident I can’t afford to take any legal action against them and that I have zero connections with powerful people who could do so on my behalf. It’s not like the mayor’s office even bothered to respond to my query. Why should AT&T treat working class people with compassion? Why would they give a damn about our lost cat? Where’s the profit for them in that?
Well, I may not have a legal dream team, but I do have a weekly blog and regular readers. Maybe working class folks aren’t entirely without means of protecting themselves from heartless corporations?
Corporations depend on us being silent while taking their abuse, but that doesn’t mean we have to put up with their horrendous behavior. If any of this story resonates with you, feel free to like, share, re-post, quote, and share this piece with others on social media. Put #ATTHatesOurCat as a hashtag and let’s see if it trends. I’m open to being a guest on any blog or podcast if it forces AT&T into publicly apologizing for how they treated us and our cat with contempt. They should learn that working class people have human rights and should be treated with respect. Even our cats deserve respect!*
More and more Americans are voicing their indignation over the shabby treatment corporations inflict upon the public and their outright ignoring of our rights. We are entitled to have our questions answered and to be treated with common courtesy no matter where we live. After all, cable companies like AT&T are called “public utilities.”
So, why does the public have very little say over what these public utilities can do to us, our pets, or our property? In many parts of the US, cable companies are monopolies and can charge whatever they can get away with. Why can’t we have a choice? Why can’t we have “municipal broadband/internet” instead?
It’s not impossible. Municipal broadband/internet actually already exists in the US. Chattanooga, Tennessee, and 800+ other cities in the US have some form of municipal internet system that is cheaper for its citizens. (Podcaster/comedian Ron Placone is a huge advocate for municipal internet—as well as cats—so be sure to check out his web comic Lucy and Ron.) We wouldn’t be inventing anything new by making fiber optic cable internet publicly owned.
While we’re at it, why not make all public utilities, such as your local electric or natural gas utility, owned by the public instead of for-profit corporations? After all, these are necessary utilities that keep us warm in winter and cool in summer. Why should we, the public, be gouged for simply trying to stay alive and healthy?
Why should we give for-profit corporations government-like powers? Why should they have the ability to trespass on your property, knock over your fence, and dig deep trenches without your permission? If they cause property damage and emotional distress, why should they get away with such actions without a penalty?
If you answered, “They can do all the shitty stuff they want to us because that’s how capitalism works,” then give yourself a pat on the back. You understand the severity of the problem. It’s time for us to get to work on the solution.
How would owned-and-operated by the public utilities work for our benefit? First off, we would all have a voice in how day-to-day operations were run. We could vote on the rules of how they operate and who is in charge and what their responsibilities to the public are. For instance, we could create a rule that says, “No workers are allowed to do any work on private property without first obtaining the expressed permission of the owner(s).”
As a public, non-profit organization, our bills would probably be much less than what corporations charge. All fees would go directly to providing the service and paying the workers who run and fix things. For-profit corporations give out hundred-million dollar+ salaries, benefits and perks to their CEOs. In a publicly run utility, none of our fees would go to maintain a CEO’s luxurious lifestyle. That would become a thing of the past.
As a publicly-owned utility, if we decided we didn’t like how things were going, we could vote on dissolving it and creating a new one that works better for us. We the People are the ones in control—not billionaire CEOs.
So, how do we set up a public utility, such as one for internet, that is truly for the people and by the people? I’m no expert, but I’d ask the folks in Chattanooga and elsewhere how they did it and tweak things to fit our local community.
A publicly-owned utility is true democracy in action. Capitalists, like the ones who run AT&T, don’t care for democracy one bit.
At the end of the day, capitalists know they can’t keep plundering the Earth’s natural resources and terrorizing the public without fear of reprisals. The guillotines are even now being built. We the People demand justice and accountability, not “customer service representatives” spouting monotonous rhetoric with all the empathy of a soulless AI program. (Maybe I was actually talking to an AI program at AT&T? It would explain a lot.)
In other words, “Let the billionaires’ (and their sycophants’) heads roll!”
I won’t shed a tear for them or the politicians who take plenty of lobbyist cash from the likes of AT&T. I certainly won’t cry for the sycophants in Congress on AIPAC’s payroll who prosper from the military-industrial complex as they fund a live-streamed genocide in Gaza and bomb Iran without provocation. This includes our Congresswoman, Marcy Kaptur, as she recently supported the atrocious actions of ICE in Los Angeles and elsewhere and has voted against sponsoring a motion for a ceasefire in Gaza numerous times.
Our cats are worth a trillion times more than any of these malignant narcissists without a conscience. Take that, capitalists of AIPAC and AT&T!
*If you’ve been boycotting AT&T—excellent! If you’ve been on the fence (not our broken one) about ending your contract with them, then let our experience help you make up your mind. Really, why stick with a company that hates cats?
Pro-Cat/Pro-Palestine/Anti-War in Iran Links
Ron Placone https://www.ronplacone.com/
Community Networks—Affordable Internet Access for All https://communitynetworks.org/content/community-network-map
Why Are Americans Letting Israel Starve Us to Death in Gaza? https://truthout.org/articles/why-are-americans-letting-israel-starve-us-to-death-in-gaza/
Israel's Blockade Causing 'Man-Made Drought' in Gaza: UNICEF https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-fuel-blockade-drought
“They cooked up their own intelligence” Chris Hedges on Israel’s war on Iran | The Listening Post youtu.be/a8dzL3biesA?si=q-r-eqkKnndBoDzU
How does Israel restrict its media from reporting on the Iran conflict? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/19/how-does-israel-restrict-its-media-from-reporting-on-the-iran-conflict
Iran Fires Missiles at US Base in Qatar https://news.antiwar.com/2025/06/23/iran-fires-missiles-at-us-base-in-qatar/
US Army appoints Palantir, Meta, OpenAI execs as Lt. Colonels https://thegrayzone.substack.com/p/us-army-appoints-palantir-meta-openai
The real reasons for the US-Israeli war on Iran, explained https://www.geopoliticaleconomy.report/p/real-reasons-us-israel-war-iran
“If We Fall, You Fall With Us”: Unmasking the Samson Option as Genocidal Doctrine https://marginaliasubversiva.substack.com/p/if-we-fall-you-fall-with-us
War Deja Vu https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/war-deja-vu
Iran, Israel, and the Nuclear Hypocrisy No One Wants to Talk About https://open.substack.com/pub/mirala/p/the-post-that-got-me-banned-iran
Trump Announces ‘Successful’ Attack On Iranian Nuclear Sites https://news.antiwar.com/2025/06/21/trump-announces-successful-attack-on-iranian-nuclear-sites/
Trump bombs Iran directly, after helping Israel start war. Tehran vows retaliation https://www.geopoliticaleconomy.report/p/trump-bombs-iran-israel-us-troops
Trump official to The Grayzone: CIA's Ratcliffe acts as 'Mossad stenographer' on Iran https://thegrayzone.substack.com/p/trump-official-to-the-grayzone-cias
'WE WOULD LOSE' War with Iran (w/ Col. Lawrence Wilkerson) https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/we-would-lose-war-with-iran-w-col
Veteran speaks TRUTH about war and government youtu.be/OA58cjxCyII?si=B9Ox8U7GJ7IliPVO
56,397 People Now Detained by ICE, Possibly Highest in History https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/55654-people-now-detained-by-ice
Splashing paint on a plane is terrorism and killing 20,000-plus children is self-defence https://www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/splashing-paint-on-a-plane-is-terrorism
IT'S BEGUN: Know Your Rights To Protest In Our 'Land Of The Free' https://mark192.substack.com/p/its-begun-know-your-rights-to-protest
Do Not Attend the No Kings Protests https://islamicmarxismleninism.substack.com/p/do-not-attend-the-no-kings-protests
UPDATE: "Kyle" from the mayor's office finally called us back (2 weeks later) and left a voice mail saying to "call me back at this number or the direct mayor's number." I called back at the number his call came from--"Sorry this number is no longer in service or is disconnected." What a joke! I went to the city's web site and there is no "mayor's number"! HAHAHA! I did a search online and found the phone number for the mayor of Toledo, Spain. Insane, isn't it? Finally, I got the search narrowed and found a web site that was more than a decade old that had a direct mayor's phone number... I called it and found that it actually works. HOWEVER, they don't answer and it sends you in an automated circle back to Engage Toledo, the customer service answering concern that just never gets your message through... I kept trying the "direct" number and finally got an answering machine and left a message for "Kyle" (who thought I was calling about a "fence company"). Keep it tuned here for more merriment and gaffes of our so-called "elected representatives"!
I’m happy that Bowtie is home and safe! I’m a cat person, and I’m so happy that cat was okay!
On the other hand, I am sick and tired of public corporations (like AT&T) constantly treating the public like trash. Whether it’s charging outrageous fees, hiding behind automated systems, offshoring support while slashing jobs at home, or funding politicians who actively work against the public interest—these corporations show time and again that their bottom line matters more than human dignity.
It’s frustrating that we live in a world where we have to fight tooth and nail just to get basic service or accountability from companies that profit off of our dependence to those services.