07/07/2026
A museum in Serpukhov, Russia hired a stray cat as a doorman because a joke got out of hand. It started as an April Fool's gag.
A ginger stray had been hanging around the Serpukhov Museum of History and Art, and the staff had grown fond of him. They named him Maray, after the merchant who once owned the building. For the holiday, they wrote a fake press release: a job application, submitted by the cat.
The application laid it on thick. Maray, it claimed, was a direct relative of the building's original owner, the natural choice to greet visitors. It was meant to be obvious. It was meant to be funny.
Russian journalists called the museum for more details.
Not to laugh. To follow up. They wanted his duties, his start date. The staff, faced with admitting the bit or committing to it, committed.
So Maray got the job. He sat near the entrance and allowed himself to be admired. His salary was paid in fish and cutlets. He was extremely good at the part of the job that involved being a cat in a museum, which was the entire job.
None of it was true. The application was a joke, the noble lineage was invented, and the cat could not read the press release written in his name.
He kept the job anyway.
