I'm not sure it's universal however here in Australia most households have a designated remote control boss; The person who secures the remote controls on their side of the couch and wields them like some sort of modern-day magical wand adjusting such things as volume and channel on the television. I say designated although mostly it's a self-designated responsibility and certainly a responsibility that is taken seriously.
In my household I have the tremendous responsibility of volume adjustments, muting commercials and channel-surfing and usually, like most remote-control bosses, I like the remotes to be in close proximity to me in the advent of the requirement of a rapid-deployment of the mute button, or a channel change. Having said that, I have a subordinate here; One who I can rely upon to ensure remote-control-security integrity in the advent of me being unable to do so. You can see her in the picture.
That's Cleo, one of my cats, and she loves guarding the remote controls, and other things. She's good at it too! If I put the remote control on the ottoman (I usually call it a foot-poof thingy but for the purpose of this blog I asked my wife for the correct name for the piece of furniture that goes in front of the lounge for the purpose of putting ones' feet on.) Anyway, if I put the remotes there within minutes Cleo determines they they now need a security-detachment and she moves herself there, lays on the remote and keeps them secure. We often come home and find her there doing the same thing which is what happened yesterday when I took the photo above.
Cleo's protective instinct also extends to other items like my Macbook Air, any paperwork or magazines and one's feet and legs...Come to think of it, anything placed on that ottoman-foot-poof-thingy gets the Cleo treatment. She is currently sitting on a bunch of papers right now that I brought home from our trip to the Burra mines yesterday. You can see she is still watching over the remotes as well; Talk about multi-tasking! It makes things a little awkward at times, especially when she's sitting on my computer as I am loathe to move her when I need it, but it always makes me smile when I look at her and the intensity she displays, the dedication to her self-appointed security-assignment that she shows. She's the best little cat.
So, my remote-control-boss responsibilities are shared with Cleo. We don't argue over it, rather, we work synergistically to maintain the security-integrity of the remotes and operational integrity of the mission at hand. She gets her way around here all the time because she is the boss of everything. One thing I probably need to admit to you though...I actually don't call my remote controls remote controls. I actually call them blingers. Yeah, I know right? It started one day long ago when I was being an idiot and wielding the remote like a magic wand calling out "bling" every time I pressed a button making changes on the TV each time...Like magic. Lol. I know, sometimes I wonder how I get through life like an adult! 😂