Seeing that dreaded yellow ticket on your car can ruin a day. Why you? Of all the times that meter maid had to walk by, it had to be the day you were doing laundry and didn’t have a quarter to spare for your meter. You might have a passing thought about the person that gave you the ticket as you pluck it off your windshield. That person you think up most likely would not be Sherri Cressman.
When someone first meets Sherri, the first thing they might notice is her personality.
She’s loud, she’s funny, she isn’t afraid to speak her mind. And she does it all with a central Pennsylvanian twang that just can’t be imitated. She’s not someone you would automatically associate with yellow envelopes and windshield wipers.
When she was 27, she was working at a restaurant and was paging through the classifieds. Seeing a position in her local sheriff’s agency, she took a $5 bet to send in her application and then another later on about landing an interview (that bet was set at $10). When she got the job a few weeks later, she had won $15 and a new career.
That kind of start in a career is something you could understand after meeting Sherri, though. When she decides to do something, she gives all of her effort to it. And if that means proving a teenager that she can get a job at the sheriff’s department, then you bet she’ll get the job and the money.
Since then, Sherri has had a bit of a varied history in law enforcement. She’s worked at two different sheriff’s departments in two different counties and then as security detail with Juanita College. She currently works with the State College Parking Department - her favorite of her different law enforcement jobs.
Sherri Cressman, 27, shows off her “typical cop” sunglasses that she bought as a joke when she started working at her first law enforcement job with the sheriff’s department. “Everyone in the department makes fun of ‘em, but I just wear them all the time.” Photo by Anneli Jennings.It’s not her favorite job because she likes giving out tickets in the infamous yellow envelope. It’s because she gets to manage herself to an extent. She can decide to stay in and do paperwork on a rainy day or head out on the streets for a bit of a walk and give some tickets while enjoying a beautiful spring day.
And another perk? People don’t seem to hate her for it.
“Most people get that it’s just a job. Everyone needs to live, you know?” Cressman said.
But would she continue with it forever?
That’s up in the air. Her dream has always been to have a career in history, driving around in a vintage VW bus as she goes from one historic site to another. Until then, though, she enjoys the stories she’s been getting out of this job. From frat members asking her to have some drinks with them to college students asking her to take a selfie with them and their very first parking ticket, she’s made some history of her own.
Video: April Fools
Sherri enjoys telling the story of the April fool’s joke she played on her boss.