The glass topples. Your cat watches it fall, then looks at you. You interpret this as insolence. Your cat’s brain has registered none of it as meaningful social behavior.
The actual reason
Cats are tactile hunters. Their paws are sensory instruments — dense with nerve endings, calibrated for detecting movement, texture, and the status of potential prey. Batting at objects is a form of investigation, not theater.
Cats also push objects off surfaces to gauge whether they’re alive. Prey moves unpredictably. Stationary prey is either dead or playing dead, so a cat will test it. That ceramic mug has the same profile as a large beetle.
Why the timing feels deliberate
You’re usually nearby when objects get knocked off surfaces — because you put things on surfaces when you’re home. The correlation isn’t your cat targeting your attention; it’s your cat being more active in spaces where you’ve created stimulus.
That said: cats do learn that certain behaviors produce interesting reactions. If you’ve made dramatic noise after previous knockings, your cat has noticed you’re predictable.
What actually helps
Reduce available targets. If your cat favors the desk, that surface should be clear. Cleared surfaces don’t need guarding.
Provide sanctioned batting objects. Small lightweight balls, crinkle toys, wand toys with dangling elements — objects designed to move interestingly in response to paws. Give the instinct somewhere legitimate to go.
Increase general enrichment. Knocking things off surfaces spikes when cats are bored and understimulated. An extra ten minutes of wand play daily often resolves the behavior without requiring any other intervention.
The behavior is normal, not a complaint about your household management. Routing it correctly takes less effort than you’d expect.