An Ohio bus driver who delivered a viral tongue-lashing aimed at her students inadvertently raised nearly $60,000 towards her retirement in the process.
Jackie Miller admitted that her profane rant, during which she threatened to “start kicking some f–kin’ serious ass” because she was “done with the s–t” that students were doing, was the result of a “challenging” day.
“I’m sorry for the way this went down. Truly,” the driver said of the rant. She claims was triggered by a student spraying perfume and sparking “a horrible asthma attack” for her.
“I do apologize for my actions on that day. But I won’t take it back,” she said of the tirade, which preceded her resignation. “This is a plight of all bus drivers. … [Passengers treat us] with such lack of respect.”
But where did the pile of cash from? An online fundraiser raised the lion’s share of the money. But a local T-shirt vendor in the area called Mistakes on the Lakes decided to whip up a prototype with one of Miller’s best lines on the front: “My foot’s gonna be so far up your ass it’s going to dangle from your nose.”
For every single $25 shirt the company sells, it it will donate $5 to Miller, herself, the company promised.
The Ohio bus driver Jackie Miller is now looking for a new job, but in a slightly different way
“We all kind of just felt for her in that moment,” Mistakes on the Lakes store owner Jacqui Adkins of her fundraising shirt. “Like, we’ve all had bad days, we’ve all gone through hardships and I think our hearts just kind of bled for her.”
So far, more than 2,500 people have donated to the fundraiser, started to help an “underpaid and under-appreciated” bus driver go on vacation and possibly even retire early. “Kids these days are out of control. And no one [can] reprimand them for fear of losing their job,” the listing reads.
“After so many years of being treated horribly by kids and underpaid, this bus driver was done with it and went Red [Forman] on them,” organizer Jeff Grob said, alluding to the character from That 70s Show.
“We applaud her for tolerating as much as she has and are on her team! #Teambusdriver.”
Despite the sudden windfall, Miller said she hopes to find another job driving buses — but next time for adults, instead.
“There’s just no words to say how grateful that I am for the people who have supported me,” she said. “It restores your faith in humanity. It makes you think that not all people are bad, that there’s really good people in the world.”
