A Shout-Out to Casa de Togo Tech Support

From, Mia Cope

Sometimes I give Daddy a hard time. Fortunately, he doesn’t take my teasing in a bad way because he seems to be very aware of his limitations. And he makes up for it by taking walks with me and combing my fur almost every day.

Still, he’s not particularly gifted in helpful things — like technical support. He is willing to try and he will even watch YouTube videos to see how to do things. That doesn’t always do the trick, although it does seem to inform him of his practical boundaries. As Momma says so kindly, he has a good heart. Or maybe it’s “Bless his heart.”

After Daddy went to bed the other night, I was playing games on his phone when an ominous warning came up about an impending power failure for an important safety device — the nifty AirTag I wear that lets Momma and Daddy know where I am if I’m not where they think I should be. They bought a pretty reflective collar that has a special, rugged housing for my AirTag. I only let Daddy take off my collar when he combs my hair and scritches and scratches my neck like I like. But as soon as the combing is over, I sit down right in front of Daddy until he puts my collar back on. It’s what we call a safety priority around here.

I accidentally deleted the warning when I was putting Daddy’s phone on the charger. That was a problem. I seem to remember a conversation where Daddy explained in very clear terms that I was not to use his phone anymore. I’m not sure what harm was done since, for the incident in question, he received notice of the credit card charge and was able to cancel my Amazon order before it shipped.

I have two choices. Say nothing and risk my personal safety by letting my AirTag battery die. Or, confess, face the music, and hope that Daddy can figure out how to change the battery. Or knows someone.

I borrowed his phone one more time and looked up some morality things on the interweb. It seems that honesty is the best policy. I didn’t find that on social media so there are pretty good odds that it’s an accurate statement.

With a little bit of nervousness, I approached Daddy and told him the whole story. Actually, to be totally honest, I told him half of the story. No need to go into my second unauthorized use of his phone since it was what led me to a policy of honesty. I also saw on the interweb that my reasoning on withholding information in such a situation was a Utilitarian approach. I’m not sure exactly what that is but I may have committed to a lifetime of going to church on Sunday. Or was it Saturday?

Knowing I should go with honesty, I extended my paw of friendship and gave him my most soulful look and told him about the lost warning.

And it worked! Daddy didn’t even act mad. He went to check to see if we had the right battery. We didn’t. But knowing what was at stake, he immediately made a trip to the store to get one. When he returned, he pulled out his special little collection of tiny screwdrivers and went to work.

I stood right next to him to give him moral support. Also, since I didn’t have my collar on, I wanted to make sure that I didn’t get lost in this vulnerable moment.

This is what it looked like when Daddy had everything unscrewed and pulled apart. I said a little prayer. For it’s at times like this that even Daddy’s best intentions go awry.

Don’t tell me that prayer doesn’t work.¹ Within minutes, Daddy had the AirTag in my collar and I heard the reassuring click as it was fastened securely around my neck. Despite the great potential for failure, Daddy saved the day!

I still worry that someday I might be lost and my collar won’t be working. So, if I ever get lost, I’m letting you know where I’ll be. You can find me at a place like this.

For wherever two cats are gathered together, there I will be also.

1. After all, I am now a practicing Utilitarian.