In 2015, workers at Photo Fast Studio in Dubai began noticing a ginger stray cat hanging out by their door.
The cat seemed hungry, and so the workers began feeding him scraps. Once the cat saw that the workers were friendly, he decided to make the photo print shop his new home. He followed the workers in one day, and thankfully, they were happy to have him! They named their shop’s new mascot Tom.
“One day he started following us into the shop,” Adem, an employee at Photo Fast Studio, told The Dodo. “Then he stopped leaving. Now, he lives here.”
Tom’s job description at the shop is pretty simple—all he has to do is eat, sleep, play with the customers, and look cute. Tom is great at all four of these tasks, especially the last one. He’s so good at looking cute, the staff decided to make him a model!
The workers started taking photos of Tom, and eventually, they began placing the photos in their frames.
When asked why they decided to make Tom into a model, Adem had a simple answer:
“We like Tom.”
Word quickly spread throughout the local community about Photo Fast Studio’s cat mascot. Soon, people began coming to the shop just to see Tom, including Twitter user Pahtch.
“I’m a regular [customer] of the film shop now because of him,” Pahtch said. “It really helps that this print shop has a mascot that makes you keep going back. Customers can’t help but play with him.”
Pahtch shared photos of Tom on her Twitter page. The tweet quickly went viral, receiving more than 80,000 likes and retweets. Soon, Tom went from a local celebrity to an international celebrity!
Thanks to Pahtch’s tweet, Twitter users who lived in Dubai went to visit Tom. People around the world also asked if the photo print shop could mail them one of the photos of Tom in its frame. Pahtch and the workers at Photo Fast Studio were all amazed at the love Tom was getting from around the world!
Tom isn’t letting his newfound celebrity status go to his head, though. The cat still loves nothing more than sleeping, eating, and hanging out with the customers and workers at the shop. Still, we wouldn’t be surprised if he raises his modeling fee after this—he may ask for two cans of tuna from now on instead of one!
Tom is an adorable cat who has found a great place to call home. We’re so glad this cat is getting the love and admiration he deserves!
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