Loraine Maurer is celebrating her 44 years behind the McDonald's counter. She has quite a number of followers in Evansville, Indiana, where customers would come in to see her at work. To help her celebrate, the fast food chain hosted a party at the company franchise, inviting her family, friends, and her church, the Good Shepherd Catholic Church Parish.
Loyal customers
A restaurant owner, Katie Kenworthy, who has managed Maurer’s workplace for almost two years now, told ABC News that Maurer had lots of very loyal customers who come especially to their restaurant to see her.
She had started her work at the McDonald’s in 1973 after her husband left his job. He was placed on disability and passed away in 1980 due to a heart attack. Now well into her retirement days, Maurer only works on Fridays and Saturdays.
Maurer told Today that her customers are not just customers to her. “They are my family,” she said. She knows all of them, although not all of their last names, and when she sees them coming in the store she usually could remember what they would want in their coffee. The owners of the N. Green River Road where she works, Chip and Katie Kenworthy, noticed that Maurer was not slowing down. The restaurant owners threw a party to celebrate her achievement—more than four decades at the job.
A working woman's party
Maurer has four children who have all retired, six grandkids, and seven great grandkids. She admitted that these relationships she had with her customers were the help that got her through a tough period in her life. Although she would often contemplate on retiring, she said that she was just not able to.
“I would miss it too much,” said the 94-year-old, who is not the only elderly working at the McDonald’s restaurant chains in America.
Elderly fast food workers have long been making the news for their contribution in keeping the Fast Food Chain in shape. There seems to be an unannounced competition in setting the record as "oldest worker" in the world.
Loraine Maurer is certainly not the oldest employee currently working at McDonald's, but her dedication is a source of inspiration. She drives herself to work, and when the weather is bad, she would have her coworkers pick her up.
