A Burger King employee who's worked there for 50 years says she loves her job so much she even comes to work when she's sick or in pain

• A Burger King employee says she enjoys her job so much she even comes in when she's sick or in pain.
• Wanda Byrd has worked at the Burger King in Medicine Park, Oklahoma for 50 years.

A Burger King employee who's worked there for more than 50 years says she still comes to work when she's sick or in pain because she enjoys her job so much.

Wanda Byrd, who works at the Medicine Park restaurant in southwest Oklahoma, told local station KSWO it was her first-ever job and she'd never worked elsewhere. She doesn't plan to retire anytime soon, she said.

Byrd's age is not known to Business Insider.

"I just love people and they all treat me really nice," she told the station. "That's why I get up every morning and come to work, knowing that they are here and they know my name and everything."

Byrd even arrives an hour before her shifts start to help with setting up, KSWO reported.

In comments on a local Facebook page, people praised Byrd as "one of the nicest people you will ever meet" and called her a "sweetheart."

"Most of the time they're understaffed (meaning she's having to work extra hard) but she is always there with a smile & a good word," one Facebook user wrote.

Byrd told KSWO that in 2005, the burger chain gave her a Jeep to reward her for her speedy service.

She avoids taking time off, she said.

"If you love your job, you are going to be there no matter what and you know that's the way I am," Byrd told KSWO. "I do come to work sometimes sick or you know as far as hurting, because you know at my age you are going to hurt, so I do come to work anyway. I just get up anyway and come on to work no matter what."

As of January 2022, 31% of workers in the US aged 25 and older had worked for their current employer for at least 10 years, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among workers aged 55 and older, this proportion grows to more than half.

But on average, workers are much less likely to have a long tenure at jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector, like roles at hotels and restaurants, than in other sectors, the data shows. The sector has a high proportion of part-time workers, many of whom balance their jobs with school or college.

Fast-food workers who've stayed at their jobs for a long time – in some cases decades – say that they enjoy working with other staff and customers and that they appreciate the benefits.

One Burger King worker who's been at the chain for nearly 30 years said the healthcare insurance he gets covered his four daughters through high school and college.