diff --git a/bin/cget.sh b/bin/cget.sh
index 414021c..13e0942 100755
--- a/bin/cget.sh
+++ b/bin/cget.sh
@@ -150,7 +150,6 @@ if [ -z "$CACHE_DIR" ]; then
 	exit 2
 fi
 if [ ! -d "$CACHE_DIR" ]; then
-	# think carefully about this...
 	/bin/mkdir "$CACHE_DIR"
 	exit_code=$?
 	if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then
@@ -203,6 +202,7 @@ else
 	TMP_DIR="${tmp_dir%%/}/${script_name%%.*}"
 	$verbose_mode && printf "$script_name creating temp dir: %s\n" "$TMP_DIR"
 fi
+# create a subdirectory
 if [ ! -d "$TMP_DIR" ]; then
 	/bin/mkdir "$TMP_DIR"
 	exit_code=$?
@@ -234,5 +234,12 @@ if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then
 fi
 $verbose_mode && printf "$script_name successfully obtained resource: %s\n" "$tmp_file"
 
+# output the resource
 /bin/cat "$tmp_file"
+exit_code=$?
+if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then
+	echo "ERROR: ${script_name} unable to cat output with status code: $exit_code" >&2
+	exit 3
+fi
+
 exit 0