Librarian & Cat Facing Tough Times

Hello, friends. I am a 45-year-old librarian by trade who has been hiding out in the corporate world, secretly using the Five Laws of Library Science to make corporations a better place. For a while it worked. But on Friday, February 21, 2025, I was unfairly terminated "with cause" (I'll get to that in a minute) and given no severance. The immediate need is help with rent and the first month of COBRA. The rent costs $2,595. I don't know how much COBRA will be, but I suspect it will be over $600. I have about $1,700 in my bank account right now. So why am I asking for $5,000? My cat Merlin requires a hernia surgery which is estimated to cost upwards of $1,200. So I'm in a bit of a bind, to put it mildly. $5,000 would just about cover two months of rent while I search for another job.

Merlin is a fluffy black cat. He looks adult-sized, but he is a mere 17 months old. (He was small for, like, the first 3 weeks I had him, and then, like one of those sponge toys, he exploded to adult size.) When he was found as a kitten, he had a slash in his belly that required immediate surgery--it was a hernia surgery, more serious, because his organs were exposed. But the surgery didn't heal properly. What felt like a cyst to me turned out to be another hernia. The ultrasound showed that it hasn't broken yet, i.e., his organs are still protected but are still in danger of being displaced. So he really needs the surgery. I have enough to cover it, but then I will have very little left for gas or food.

Regarding the employment injustice: the termination with cause was a joke, a cruel one. I was told that I had mismanaged stakeholders. This was a ludicrous accusation. At the beginning of that week, on Monday, February 17, 2025, the company I worked for flew me down to Charlotte, NC, from Philadelphia, PA, to deliver an in-person workshop for a group of stakeholders. After the workshop, I was congratulated and thanked by many in attendance (approximately 65-70 people). The accolade that meant the most to me, though, came from the president of the company who is literally my number one stakeholder. All of these congratulations were relayed to my manager, who told me via chat that it was good to hear. On top of this, I had several individuals and two groups in other divisions of the company (also stakeholders) reach out and schedule training sessions with me. It was a busy week.

But at the end of that incredibly successful week? Blindsided in my one-on-one with my manager. "You have been terminated with cause," he said. When I asked which stakeholders were my downfall, he gave me one name. It was a person in power (NOT the company president) with whom I had clashed a few times in the past, someone whose way of working and of managing I had challenged.

I have filed an EEOC complaint, but this will take time. I have consulted an attorney, but I was told it would be a difficult case to pursue.

This is the third time I have lost a job in a period of 6 years. I have had to file bankruptcy once; I am trying so hard to not have to do so a second time. I know my story is not unique; there are currently 200,000 federal employees facing wrongful termination too. But if you can give any amount to help me and my silly cat, I will be most appreciative and grateful. There will never be enough words to say how thankful I am for your generosity of spirit.