Cheridel Spreads Sunshine Amid Sorrow
How does one elevator girl go from bouncing between four floors to hitting the ceiling of celebrity status? Many say 27-year-old elevator operator Cheridel Alejandrino did it in such a short time – and at no distance at all, at least horizontally – through a viral video on YouTube.
But even before the video turned viral, Cheridel’s “star status” among mall goers at SM Olongapo already went through the roof.
Some say it’s because of her funny accent when Cheridel points customers to which floor they wish to go to find a specific shop or restaurant. She’s “English-speaking” that’s for sure. But there’s something to her twang that draws a smile on one’s face. Responses like chuckle or downright laughter is also welcome to this Laguna native.
The electricity of her presence in that little up-and-down conveyor box is an experience in itself that one has a choice but to enjoy the quick ride.
When asked if it was natural for her to talk that way that she does, she admits that’s how she is around her friends and neighbors.
As for her photographic memory of the mall’s “geography,” Cheridel says it takes initiative to memorize where each and every stall, store or booth is
located. She says it’s the only conversation she’ll ever have with a customer who will stay with her for a fraction of a minute so she’d rather make it worth their time.
A simple idea but makes for an efficient system that does not create traffic on the elevator.
With more than a hundred thousand views on Youtube.com and thousands of shares in the social networking site Facebook.com, Cheridel’s video has made her a real celebrity in Olongapo City.
Users who viewed the video would usually comment on her bubbly personality and her demeanor in making a boring “8-hour ++” job a delight for patrons.
Cheridel inspired many people to make every day into a great day by making people smile. But her life is not all sunshine and rainbows.
A native of Siniloan, Laguna, Cheridel came to Olongapo City during a time when her husband was working here. The couple left Olongapo after her father-in-law got sick. Cheridel gave birth to their child when they were still in Laguna.
When they came back, her husband’s work was closed, prompting her family to again leave Olongapo.
The two, she recanted, got separated as her husband returned to his native province in Pangasinan while Cheridel went back to Laguna.
The two got back together again and returned to Olongapo to pursue employment and ensure a bright future for their baby.
One of her aspirations is to get a permanent job, vowing that she gives her 100% in every job she takes. But she is thankful for the job she has now, and is grateful working it is for the country’s richest man – according to Forbes.com – shopping mall magnate, Henry Sy.
“Malaki pong karangalan sa akin ang mabigyan po ng isang pagkakataon na makapagtrabaho dito sa SM, kaya po lahat po na maibibigay ko na the best ko na mag entertain ng lahat ng customer ay ginagawa ko po,” says Cheridel.
She adds that her highest educational attainment is as a high school graduate, but if ever she was given the chance to learn while earning, she will do so to uplift her family’s life.
Afterall, what stopped her before from pursuing a college education was the high cost of tuition and having to care of her baby.
Cheridel is thankful for the attention she is getting but still prefers to be down-to-earth. She says that if it wasn’t for the uploader of the video Dave Pronto, she wouldn’t be getting this much celebrity status for “just doing my job.”