- Barbara Cramer, 75, has worked at McDonald's since 1970.
- WPTV reported that she works part-time and considers herself "semi-retired," but doesn't plan to fully retire anytime soon.
A 75-year-old recently celebrated working at McDonald's for 53 years.
Barbara Cramer, who has worked at the fast-food giant since 1970, told WPTV that she'd applied for a job at a school board at the same time but started working for the burger giant instead because it got back to her first.
"So I came here, and I winded up, you know, working my way up," she said. She's spent most of her time at McDonald's working at its restaurant in Fort Pierce, Florida, WPTV reported.
Cramer's first husband worked at the same restaurant with her, while her second husband worked at another McDonald's in the state, WPTV reported.
WPTV reported that Cramer worked part-time and considered herself "semi-retired." She has no plans to fully retire anytime soon and has never considered working elsewhere, the outlet reported.
"I just love it here," she said through tears.
The restaurant recently held a celebration to mark Cramer's tenure at the restaurant. The celebration meant "everything" to her, she said.
McDonald's is known to have some older workers in roles such as greeting customers and wiping down tables. One restaurant in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, had a 100-year-old greeter who starred in its TikTok videos. A 90-year-old worker at a McDonald's in Japan told local news outlets that she planned on working until she was at least 100, saying that it kept her healthy.
The median age of workers in the US was 42.3 years in 2022, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But this varied a lot by industry — for people working at restaurants and other food services, this was just 29.5. People aged 65 and older make up just 3.1% of workers at restaurants and food-service places, per the BLS data.
McDonald's UK said in 2018 that the average age of its hourly-paid workers was 20.