It happens. People get fired from jobs. I got fired from one because I was really, really bad at selling mobile phone plans to people, which is not really something to be super proud of. Recreational cyclist Juli Briskman, however, has something to be proud of. She was fired for repeatedly and very publicly flipping off the wispy-haired concentration of pure dickheadship that is the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump (you might have heard of him).
Briskman was captured in an almost comically perfect image by White House photographer Brendan Smialowski, who was in Trump’s motorcade as it was passing through Stirling, Virginia. Seeing the opportunity, Briskman decided to express herself in the most practical way possible: the humble bird.
Given that she worked for a government contractor and was shown all over the news delivering the finger directly into the beady eyes of the top of the pyramid of American government, it was not at all hugely surprising that she was let go from her job. She wasn’t too upset about it, though, telling the Huffington Post she felt she did good work: “In some ways, I’m doing better than ever, I’m angry about where our country is right now. I am appalled. This was an opportunity for me to say something.”
While she’s taking recompense in the satisfaction of having done something that aligns with her personal values, she’s shortly also going to be able to take recompense in something a bit more tangible: a huge wad of cash.
A GoFundMe titled ‘Thank You Juli Briskman‘ was launched by fans with a not so modest $100,000 USD ($130,780 AUD) goal and is purportedly definitely connected to the actual woman and not just one of those scams people do on GoFundMe – from the campaign’s description:
Juli Briskman is an inspiration to us all. This week we learned that she was fired from her employer for exercising her first amendment rights.
You can show your support by donating here.
I have connected with Juli and she has been officially setup as the beneficiary on this GoFundMe campaign.
All proceeds are being donated directly to Juli. As the campaign beneficiary, she will be able to post updates and comments, so stay tuned!
So far they’ve racked up a hefty $74k, which could probably pay for at least one or two beers. Traditionally when the internet goes a bit overboard with donating money to individuals after things go viral they end up donating to charity but it’s yet to be seen how this will go – you can have yourself a pretty good year off with that amount of money, or even two if you go somewhere cheap.
