For most, 50 years of work seems like a great way to finish off what is most likely a varied career path. For one great grandmother, 50 years of work is just another day at a job she has loved since the '70s.
Audrey Savage has worked at the hotel chain Rydges in Rotorua for 50 years, starting as a part-time cleaner and working her way through to management.
She has worked as a cleaner, a night auditor, on reservations, on conferencing and now she works in front office management.
“I started here as a part-time cleaner and when I was doing that, it was because I had my children at home so the hours really suited me. That was from 11 at night to 7.30 in the morning. I worked my way up from there," she said.
“I’m really proud of that achievement.
“I’m proud of my stickability, really.”
She says that hotels are not easy to work in, calling the industry “unsociable”.
“That’s because the hours you work, the shift work you do, the weekend work you do, the public holidays, Christmas and New Year,” she said.
But there are some perks - like meeting A-list celebrities and royalty.
“The Queen stayed here, but we couldn’t get close to her.”
She said she managed to shake hands with Prince Harry, but recalls one very special memory.
“I had a great respect for Robert Muldoon, and he stayed at our hotel… I actually managed to shake his hand. I thought that was absolutely fantastic.”
The self-confessed rugby nut says she has no plans to leave the hotel just yet.
“I will keep working and the day I wake up and say ‘I don’t want to go to work anymore, I don’t want to go there anymore’… That’ll be the day where I say 'that’s it'. But until then, I’m happy to carry on working. I love coming in to work.”
Watch the Seven Sharp video above for a special All Black surprise.
SHARE ME