LOUISVILLE, Ky. — When you think about health and longevity, a fast-food chain may not be what comes to mind. However, one Kentucky woman says McDonald’s keeps her going at 90-years-old.
Maxine Anderson has been working at the McDonald’s restaurant on Dixie Highway in the Valley Station neighborhood of Louisville for 35 years.
She works down the road from where she was born and raised. She says working at 90-years-old is her secret recipe for staying quick, spry and full of purpose.
“I wouldn’t be happy sitting at home,” Anderson said. “So, this is really better for me, you know it? Doing the walking around every day, I think it keeps you younger.”
Anderson does plenty of walking around in her job. She works in the lobby, serving customers and keeping the restaurant tidy, which is a job she says she’s always preferred over working in the kitchen.
Anderson loves the interaction with people she gets in the lobby. Her bosses say she’s befriended hundreds of customers over the years and helps bring in a lot of business.
“She just makes life so much fun, and you look forward to meeting her and talking with her every day,” said customer Neva Thompson, who regularly visits with her husband. “I hope that I have that much energy whenever I get her age. I’m getting close to it!”
Anderson works five days a week by choice. During her workdays, her husband of 70 years takes care of responsibilities at home like grocery shopping and cooking.
She laughs that when her husband retired from his career of 30 years, she picked up her job at McDonald’s. Now, she’s worked at the fast-food restaurant longer than he worked at the job he retired from decades ago.
For Anderson’s 90th birthday in the fall, the restaurant threw her a surprise birthday party.
“They had my name on the billboard and everything,” Anderson recalled. “I’m really not that special, really!”
Her bosses disagree, however. They say Anderson will have a job at the restaurant as long as she wants.
“We’ll be retiring together,” her boss, Matt Dodd, joked with her.
To that, Anderson responded, “He’s going to get me a little electric cart,” joking that she won’t quit even if she gets to the point of not being able to walk. “So I can still come to work. No days off for you!”
A walking spokeswoman for the place, she also gives her advice for living a long, healthy life with a grin on her face.
“Come to McDonald’s and work. It’s fun. Best job I ever had — it is the best job!” she smiled.
Anderson isn’t only well-loved at McDonald’s. She also feeds hundreds of people experiencing homelessness with her church every week. Every day after work, she takes her store’s breakfast leftovers that would have been thrown out to a wooded area near her house and feeds the animals that live there.