An Ohio construction crew turned up expecting machinery, mud and the usual argument about whose turn it was to make the coffee.
Instead, one of the excavators started meowing.
The tiny passenger was eventually freed from inside the machine, named Sue and handed a miniature hard hat. It is the kind of career progression normally available only to people whose dad owns the company, except Sue had already completed the difficult part by surviving the commute.
THE MACHINE STARTED MEOWING
On 14 July, Chase Guello, an operating supervisor with River Reach Construction, was checking an excavator at a job site near Leavittsburg, Ohio, when he heard cries coming from inside it.
The crew traced the sound to a tiny orange-and-white kitten trapped behind the machine's lower protection. The excavator was kept stationary while Guello removed its heavy skid plate and carefully created a route out.
Video filmed during the rescue shows the kitten finally dropping free and landing beneath the machine, where the workers were waiting.
This was less a dramatic entrance than an extremely small employee arriving through the maintenance department.
A RESCUE THAT REQUIRED ACTUAL TOOLS
Reports put the removed skid plate at roughly 100lb, meaning Sue's rescue involved more equipment and practical competence than most internet videos, which generally require only a ring light and somebody willing to point at captions.
After searching the area, the crew found no sign of the kitten's mother or siblings. Sue was therefore placed temporarily with an experienced foster carer connected to an Akron animal rescue while she grew strong enough to move into a permanent home.
Later updates said she had received a clean bill of health from a vet.
FROM STOWAWAY TO STAFF MEMBER
The kitten was named Sue, shortened from the make of excavator in which she was discovered.
River Reach said its shop mechanic, Jared, would adopt her. The plan was for Sue to travel between his home and work until she was old enough to become the company's resident shop cat.
Then came the uniform.
After the rescue footage spread online, the machinery manufacturer sent Sue a custom-sized safety vest and tiny hard hat. Both were largely ceremonial, because putting a kitten in charge of site safety would still represent a considerable improvement on letting the internet make decisions.
THE INTERNET HAS ISSUED A SITE PASS
The original rescue post had attracted hundreds of thousands of views by late August, while later clips and coverage of Sue's transformation into a tiny construction employee pushed the wider story into the millions.
One recent report put the total above 11 million views.
That makes Sue one of the week's strongest viral-video stories and, more importantly, one of the few social-media personalities whose rise to fame began with somebody doing something genuinely kind.
For once, the algorithm found a worker, a trapped animal and a happy ending — and resisted adding a podcast.
WATCH THE VIDEO
Watch ABC7 News Bay Area's video of Sue's rescue and promotion to the construction crew.
The original rescue post from River Reach Construction is also available on Instagram.
