A new user's post inspired this quick article, thanks 
When I was very little I lived in Harlem NYC. My parents moved us out to the suburbs right before the 1st grade to get away from the trappings of the hood. Most of my family still lives in Harlem. Growing up in the suburbs and constantly going back and forth to visit, it's shocking to notice the extreme differences of both worlds. One thing that will always stick with me is the never-ending stalking of the local Bodega Feline whenever my grandmother asked me to go get her something from the store.
I swear to each and every one of you who are actually taking the time to read this, back in the 90's there wasn't much of a CCTV surveillance system in these Bodegas like we have in stores nowadays. The store cat was the surveillance system.
I remember the dreaded feelings I had like it was yesterday whenever I would walk into that store. As soon as you would enter, there he was at the end of the aisle sitting there staring at you, watching your every move.
And you better believe once you walked over to the next aisle there he was again at the other end watching you.
Everywhere I would walk, this cat would follow me and I was always scared that it would jump out and start attacking me.
Just when I thought I was safe and grabbed whatever I needed, moving quickly thinking I had lost him, there he was propped up on a shelf directly behind me, staring.
Back in the day some of these Bodega owners would use these cats and other weird animals in their stores to watch the customers, being that there weren't many security cameras in those days.
This may be funny to many of you and I'll admit it is, but this is the reason for my fear of cats to this very day.
Maybe one day I will get over it but this experience with cats when I was younger scared the hell out of me.
Funny times...
Peace.