I got my cat almost 6 years ago. When I got her she was very skittish around others she didn’t know but was inquisitive.

I live in an apartment building and my apartment is 12-15 feet from the garbage disposal chute for my floor. Every night around 11:30 pm, I go and throw out the trash for the day while leaving the door to my apartment open as I’m gone for 20-30 seconds only.

For the first 8-9 months my cat wouldn’t come near the front door as she’d heard some work being done in a few apartments opposite to me. However, she then started coming close to the front door and on one particular day she poked her head out of my front door to see a brand new world. At that precise moment, some shithead from above my floor threw a piece of furniture down the garbage chute resulting in a jarring noise that terrified my cat so badly that she scurried off and hid under by bed for the rest of the night. She then stayed away from the front door for a week.

Eventually her inquisitive nature got the better of her and she wanted to have another go at this new world. She proceeded to poke her head out of the front door and visually inspect the corridor. She did this every night for a couple of weeks and I would leave her to watch the corridor from my door.

She eventually got the courage to cross the rubicon to the corridor a few days later but would scurry back if she heard any noise out of the ordinary. Over the next 3 months she started to get bolder and started to mark every door frame to every apartment and the elevators with her scent. If she see’s someone she would crouch down and dash to my apartment as if her tail was on fire – https://imgur.io/a/P0TeGnW

She then started to wait for me around 11:30 by the front door to let her out so she could roll on the floor - https://imgur.io/a/GbYQqIV .This went on for about 2-3 months until the building superintendent saw my cat outside and yelled at me saying that my cat shouldn’t be in the corridor. I then kept my cat away from the corridor for a month and had to see her sad face whenever I prevented her from exploring.

The security guards who patrol every floor of my building each night don’t care about my cat but my super does. Unfortunately for my super, he got fired as a great number of tenants complained about him bullying them. By this time my cat would spend 10 min or so every night patrolling the corridor.

Well, that was then and this is my daily routine now considering that I work from home–

5:30-6:00 – Woken up by the cat who wants breakfast and a stroll in the corridor.

8:00- 8:15 – She wants to sit by the door and watch kids head off to school. As soon as they get in the elevator, she runs to it to try and figure out where they went. The video here shows her in one of these except that the person who went into the elevator is an adult. https://imgur.io/a/iXBvixw

10:15 – After my new super comes to every floor to make sure nothing is left on the garbage disposal unit’s floor as part of his daily task, my cat need to patrol the corridor once again.

3:45-4:00 – She wants to sit outside my door and watch the kids come home from school.

5:30 – She wants to watch the adults come home from work.

9:00-Dinner over, she needs to patrol the corridor once more.

11:30-12:00 – This is the main event where she wants to be let out for 20-30 min every night to mark her scent on every door.

If I’m awake at 1:30 am – she wants out again.

Whenever she wants out, she usually sits by the door and yowls until I come and if I don’t let her out, she swipes at me. If I have the door to my room closed, she sits outside it and yowls or sticks her paw under it until I come and take her out. Video evidence of said shenanigans and her marking the doors with her scent https://imgur.io/a/s8T6pKw

All in, I spend 90-120 min with her in the corridor. My neighbours all know my cat and don’t mind but I have an exam to study for and can’t afford this.

Oh, She has gotten locked outside 3 times for upto 30 min a time by accident over the past 2 years and as soon as she comes in she wants out within 2-3 hours.

Ps. Whenever I return home from the shops or the gym, this is what I can expect. https://imgur.io/a/t5ApU0K

EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.

TLDR- used to leave the front door open while I went to throw the trash every day and now my cat thinks that the corridor to my apartment is part of my house and wants to go out on demand. FML