Alan Wizemann
Social Commerce Thought Leader, Internet Technologist, Innovator and Entrepreneur

Ending the jet lagged, at the end of my rope, holding back a rant on annoyances first day in France we managed to get everything work related out of the way and ended up at a great street-side Brasserie for dinner. After enjoying a great meal we realized there was a old, faded painting of a cat over the side of the bar, under the normal sign for toilets / water closets. Scanning down, a very large cat was drinking or eating something at the bar. After observing his actions for about 15 minutes, it became quite apparent that the bar tender was serving him Champagne and the patrons were giving him everything from salmon to duck for dinner.

Asking our career waiter (probably one of the originals from 1923 when the place opened) he explained to us in the partial French that my wife can understand the cats name is Miike. Miike is the real boss of the place, the head chef as he called him. If a customer has a complaint, he has to run it by Miike first.

My first thought of the cat, on the bar, drinking from a small bowl next to customers was – “this would never be allowed in the US”. Honestly, I was a bit upset about that, France, like other European countries has strict health laws just like ours (some of them much more strict then ours) but they allow things we would not – like Miike. Miike the cat was an institution, immortalized on the wall, with his own perch on the bar and respect from the entire staff. It was just one of the subtle differences that I love about Europe when compared to the US.