Just before Christmas, a friend of a mine who lived in the tiny hamlet of Newburgh shared a story on Facebook about a cat named Steve.

For the past two years, Steve made a daily trek to visit the staff at the Newburgh Post Office. The staff adopted him as their mascot, and soon he became a fixture in the building, greeting customers and overseeing the daily handling of the mail.

Canada Post got wind of the story, fired Steve without cause and banned him from the building saying cats were not allowed at Canada Post.

Poor Steve didn’t know this, and every day, he reported to work, sitting outside the building crying and meowing to be allowed inside.

The employees and customers in Newburgh took a stand saying this was a stupid rule, and created a petition on change.org demanding Canada Post that Steve be reinstated and allowed back in the building.

As of this morning, the petition had 9,563 signatures in a hamlet of 500 people. The latest update from February 2 says Canada Post is standing firm and not allowing Steve in the building.

If there’s one mantra I’ve tried to live by and teach my kids, it’s “no stupid rules”. Here were some of the comments on the petition from people in the community:

“I live in Sydenham, Ontario and we have an LCBO cat! Chloe is an excellent customer service representative and I think every small town business should have one. It makes the business more community orientated and friendly.”

“I know steve, great cat, loving, caring, he deserves to be allowed entrance anytime he wants. He’s our mascot of the post office and we’re proud to have him!”

“Let the cat back in Canada Post. Fire the person who made the foolish decision.”

This week’s #HappyAct is to sign the petition to help Steve the cat, and don’t let stupid rules get in the way of what’s good and right in this world.