A New York cleaning lady got the shock of her life when the people she worked for pulled together to provide her with a two-year lease on a penthouse apartment.
The COVID-19 pandemic that began last year shut down many businesses and left many across the country without jobs and evicted from their homes. But these times of struggle and hardship served as an opportunity for some to give back.
A heartwarming video recently shared to Reddit showed how a small community in a New York apartment building gave back to the cleaning lady who lost her job amid the pandemic. The video began with footage of the cleaning lady in an elevator accompanied by another man, who according to Yahoo! News was in charge of the contract documents.
Named Rosa, the middle aged woman was armed with her work uniform and a bucket of cleaning supplies. With the help of chits or post-it notes, the storyteller provides a background, sharing that the cleaning lady who lost her job amid the pandemic has been forced to live with her sister.
Rosa has served customers in the New York apartment building for 20 years, God Updates reported. Because of her dedicated service, her customers "decided to give back to the woman who gives so much to everyone."
Captions added to the video revealed that "Rosa is family to the tenants of this NYC luxury high-rise" and that despite being furloughed, the cleaning lady who lost her job amid the pandemic "still came to work every single day with a giant smile on her face."
The man who accompanied Rosa showed her around the apartment, which he called "the biggest apartment in the building," noting that it just finished a complete remodel with new hardwood floors. The 2,500 square-foot apartment features four bedrooms, three bathrooms, two outdoor spaces, and a full chef's kitchen. The cleaning lady who lost her job amid the pandemic even noted, "I hope the ones who live here love to cook."
It was at that moment that Rosa was told by the man that the apartment would be hers for four years. He told her that he heard about her "contributions to the people in the building." He said, "A lot of people in this building are a big fan of you. They love you very much. You're kind of a celebrity here in the building! You're very well loved here."
The man then proceeded to show Rosa a contract for a two-year lease on the unit that her customers had already paid for so she can move in. With tears in her eyes, the cleaning lady who lost her job amid the pandemic cried, "Oh my God! This is unreal!"
The other man who seemed to represent the tenants in the building joked, "Now you have to hire a cleaning person. This is a lot to clean but we just wanted to say thank you."
Rosa replied, "This is too much, I can't believe this!" to which they replied, "You deserve it." Commenters on the original Reddit thread shared that a two-year lease would truly help the cleaning lady who lost her job amid the pandemic, as it would save her on rental fees, which she could later put towards getting a home of her own.
