A university research fellow assumed the worst when she walked into work on a Monday morning.

Bree Blakeman found her office at the Australian National University in Canberra had been trashed, with paintings and maps left strewn across the floor, along with books which had been pulled from the shelves.

A hole had been made in the ceiling as tiles were left scattered on the floor below, hinting at how the perpetrator had gained entry.

Quickly scanning the wreckage, Bree realised the offender was still in room with her.

It’s a situation we all dread – coming face-to-face with an intruder who has now been cornered with nothing to lose.

But it turned out the hardened criminal was a heart-melting Australian brushtail possum who couldn’t possibly look more guilty or sorry if it tried.

“It seemed resigned and of course a bit shy and scared,” Bree told BuzzFeed . “Going by the number of books that had fallen from the shelves I think it must have tried to climb up the shelves to get up through the ceiling again a number of times. So I think it was a bit exhausted too.

“I gave it some water, a piece of carrot, and a few kind words before closing the door and calling the relocation people. It wasn’t uncomfortable for me at all. It was very sweet.”

Bree snapped a picture of the mega-remorseful marsupial and shared it to Twitter, more than 300,000 people liked the post as they related to the regret-ridden animal.

The popular possum quickly became a meme as others shared images of it slouched behind the computer with a sad looking facing, adding captions including ‘when you’ve missed the last bus and you’re waiting for your mum to collect you’.

As thousands demanded updates on the situation, Bree informed fans that a box had been placed in the office with some fresh fruit in the hope it ventured into the cage to be safely removed.

After showing no sign of budging, Bree was resigned to renting out her working space for a little longer, but when she returned for the third day of possum watch she delivered the news everyone was waiting for.

She wrote: “Finally (happy) update: possum catcher checked my office again this morning & the possum wasn’t in the cage but it seems to have found it’s own way out of the room.

“After a bit of rest, some water and carrot it must have climbed back through the hole in the ceiling.”

Others loved the happy ending, a one wrote: “Possumbly the cutest unexpected visitor ever!”

Another replied: “This is just… the best”

If you ever had PE and food tech on the same day at school, you’ll remember the difficulty of trying to fit your school books in the same bag.

Even now can be a struggle as we cart around novels to keep us entertained on the commute, because everyone knows e-readers just aren’t the same.

Now, one man has shared his life-hack to make bulky books a thing of the past – except it’s fair to say not everyone was a fan.

After posting photos of the trick on Twitter, one replied to say they would be informing the police and another simply told Alex Christofi to ‘get in the bin’.

Alex shared images of his ‘modified’ books, with the tweet racking up 6,000 likes and 4,000 replies.

He wrote: “Yesterday my colleague called me a ‘book murderer’ because I cut long books in half to make them more portable. Does anyone else do this? Is it just me?”

The tweets showed three books cut in half down the middle and re-bound with selotape to hold them together.

It didn’t go down particularly well.

One wrote: “I dog-ear pages, underline bits, write notes, drop sauce on them and take them in the bath. But you, madam, need to get in the bin.”

Another replied: “Now I am torn! As an advocate of individual freedom, you should be free to do as you wish.

“However, every fibre of my being, is screaming for you to be imprisoned indefinitely and forced to repair books for life.

A third simply suggested: “Buy a kindle dude.”

But some stuck up for Alex, as one wrote: “Why are people so precious about the books they buy?

“Crack the spine, spill stuff on it, dog ear pages, who cares as long as you’re reading.

“Swear to god people care more about the satisfaction of others seeing books on their shelf than actually having read them.”

A Subway worker has shared the story of a stray dog which visits the store every evening for food – leading to others online saying they ‘would die’ for the woofer nicknamed Subway Sally.

A video showing the staff member wrapping up chicken, bacon and turkey as Sally waits patiently looking through the door was uploaded to TikTok, where it attracted millions of likes.

User Kxnuko said the stray had been visiting the same branch in New Mexico every night for the past year, where the kind staff who gave her the affectionate nickname always provide her with a bundle of food.

He explains that a woman in the flower shop next door grooms Sally to keep her looking so smart and if she’s too late to pick up her sandwich snack, she’ll head across the road to be fed at Taco Bell instead.

Following the popularity of the first clip, Kxnuko made a follow up video as he headed outside with some chicken and turkey, describing the adorable doggo as ‘a little messy’.

Fielding a few of the questions he had received on the video sharing platform, he explains Sally has had four litters of pups since he had been working at the store.

The worker isn’t able to take Sally home as he lives with cats and said he won’t take her to a shelter as the nearest one 20 miles away has a ‘high kill rate’.

In a ‘finale to my three part mini series on Subway Sally’ he goes out to greet Sally to tell her she’s become the talk of TikTok before showing a group of college girls opening their car door hoping the dog would go home with them.

But Sally turns down their offer and is shown again peering through the shop’s glass door, hoping to bag some more tasty treats.

Kxnuko signs off by saying there are ‘a lot of strays’ in his town and Sally unfortunately isn’t special as he describes the area as ‘poor’ where ‘more often than not people can’t afford pet food’.

He told Subway Sally fans not to worry as the store will continue to feed her and says ‘multiple people’ have tried taking her home but she never wants to go, suspecting she has a regular place to sleep and puppies to care for.

The video was shared on Twitter with the caption ‘Not to be dramatic but I would die for Subway Sally’ and many others felt the same.

One replied on TikTok: “Sobbing, absolutely sobbing.”

Another said: “Please make her the mascot of that Subway, take shifts on taking her home and caring for her.”