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THE GOLDEN ARCHES. MCDONALD’S HAS BEEN LIKE A SECOND HOME FOR DOT SHARP, BUT TODAY SHE’LL TAKE OFF HER NAME TAG FOR THE FINAL TIME AND CLOSE THAT WINDOW AFTER 45 YEARS OF SERVICE. GOOD MORNING. SINCE 1978, SHE’S BEEN TAKING ORDERS FOR CUSTOMERS AND LOVING IT. BUT ON FRIDAY, 84 YEAR OLD DOT SHARP CLOSED THE REGISTER AT THIS RICHLAND TOWNSHIP MCDONALD’S FOR THE LAST TIME. I’M REALLY SAD ABOUT THAT BECAUSE I WAS. BUT IT’S NOT SO MUCH THE FOOD, IT’S THE PEOPLE. DOT, WHO TURNED 84 LAST MONTH, HAS BEEN WORKING THE DRIVE THRU WINDOW FOR THE LAST NINE YEARS BUT WORE MANY HATS IN HER OVER FOUR DECADES OF WORK AT MCDONALD’S. PRIOR TO THAT, THEY COOKED EVERYTHING IN THE GRILL AND THEN THEY WOULD PUT IT UP ON THE COUNTER AND WE WOULD WRAP EVERYTHING, TAKING US BACK TO 1978, WHEN SHE FIRST STARTED AT HER FIRST MCDONALD’S LOCATION. SHE WAS THERE TO WITNESS THE INVENTION OF SEVERAL ITEMS, INCLUDING HAPPY MEALS IS THIS IS A PEOPLE BUSINESS AND IT’S PEOPLE LIKE HER THAT KEEP YOU IN BUSINESS. AND THE REASON DOT SAYS SHE STUCK AROUND ALL THESE YEARS. THIS IS WHY. BECAUSE IT WAS THE FUN OF BEING WITH THE PEOPLE AND THE THE COMPASSION AND THE CARE THAT EVERYBODY HAD FOR ONE ANOTHER AND THAT PASSION CONTINUING INTO HER OWN FAMILY. I ACTUALLY JUST FOUND MY DAISY DIARY FROM WHEN I WAS LIKE FIVE YEARS OLD AND IT SAID, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? AND I WROTE MY GRANDMOTHER THERE AND HALFWAY THERE. DOT’S GRANDDAUGHTER, DOTTIE SIMS, WORKS AT ANOTHER MCDONALD’S LOCATION AND SAYS HER GRAND MOM WAS THERE FOR HER FIRST ORDER. AND TODAY SHE WAS THERE TO BE HER LAST. MY LAST CUSTOMER. THANK YOU. YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY. RETIRING FROM THE GOLDEN ARCHES, BUT THEY’LL STILL BE PART OF HER GOLDEN YEARS AHEAD. A LOT OF PEOPLE THAT ARE SAD TO SEE ME GO AND THEY’RE. THEY SAID THEY’LL MISS MY SMILING FACE AND I’M GOING TO MI

84-year-old McDonald’s employee retires after more than 4 decades

84-year-old Dot Sharp has been serving food to folks in a Pennsylvania community since 1979. Her granddaughter was her final customer

After over four decades, 84-year-old McDonald’s employee Dot Sharp closed the drive-thru window for the very last time Friday morning. “I’m really sad about that because it’s not so much the food, it’s the people,” said Sharp, who is from Western Pennsylvania. “The people that I work with, they were great, they treated me great all these years, and we have the best customers in the world here.” Sharp began serving McMuffins for breakfast and burgers and fries for lunch when she was in her 30s and, referring to a popular McDonald’s marketing motto, said she’s been “Lovin’ It” ever since. “We started the Happy Meal down (at the first location). Whenever they came out with the Barbie and the Hot Wheel ones, people would come in and order 50 Happy Meals at one time.” Sharp was there to see the invention of Happy Meals in 1979, Chicken McNuggets in 1980, the 1986 McPizza, McFlurries in 1995 and McCafe coffee in 2001. Sharp, who turned 84 last month, served her last order Friday morning to another McDonald’s employee, Dottie Sims, who is also her granddaughter. “I actually just found my Daisy diary from when I was (about) 5 years old. It said, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ in it, I wrote, ‘My grandmother,’ and I’m halfway there,” said Sims, who has been employed at McDonald’s for roughly 20 years. “She was there with me for my first order. I used to go to work with her when I was little, and she would (let me) hand out customers change for them.”“Dot has been an amazing contributor to McDonald’s of Gibsonia,” said McDonald’s owner and operator Meghan Sweeney. “Our customers love her and so have generations of her fellow co-workers. We’re so lucky to have had her on our team!”Sharp was at the first McDonald’s location near Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, before it moved to Richland Township. Both of those towns are located outside of Pittsburgh.Dot remained there when the store was transferred to Meghan’s father, Paul Sweeney, before it eventually was acquired by Meghan. “We truly appreciate all that Dot did for our organization,” said Sweeney. “She brought a sunny disposition to every shift and always made the customer her top priority. I’m hoping Dot enjoys a well-deserved break in her retirement.”

GIBSONIA, Pa. —

After over four decades, 84-year-old McDonald’s employee Dot Sharp closed the drive-thru window for the very last time Friday morning.

“I’m really sad about that because it’s not so much the food, it’s the people,” said Sharp, who is from Western Pennsylvania. “The people that I work with, they were great, they treated me great all these years, and we have the best customers in the world here.”

Sharp began serving McMuffins for breakfast and burgers and fries for lunch when she was in her 30s and, referring to a popular McDonald’s marketing motto, said she’s been “Lovin’ It” ever since.

“We started the Happy Meal down (at the first location). Whenever they came out with the Barbie and the Hot Wheel ones, people would come in and order 50 Happy Meals at one time.”

Sharp was there to see the invention of Happy Meals in 1979, Chicken McNuggets in 1980, the 1986 McPizza, McFlurries in 1995 and McCafe coffee in 2001.

Sharp, who turned 84 last month, served her last order Friday morning to another McDonald’s employee, Dottie Sims, who is also her granddaughter.

“I actually just found my Daisy diary from when I was (about) 5 years old. It said, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ in it, I wrote, ‘My grandmother,’ and I’m halfway there,” said Sims, who has been employed at McDonald’s for roughly 20 years. “She was there with me for my first order. I used to go to work with her when I was little, and she would (let me) hand out customers change for them.”

“Dot has been an amazing contributor to McDonald’s of Gibsonia,” said McDonald’s owner and operator Meghan Sweeney. “Our customers love her and so have generations of her fellow co-workers. We’re so lucky to have had her on our team!”

Sharp was at the first McDonald’s location near Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, before it moved to Richland Township. Both of those towns are located outside of Pittsburgh.

Dot remained there when the store was transferred to Meghan’s father, Paul Sweeney, before it eventually was acquired by Meghan.

“We truly appreciate all that Dot did for our organization,” said Sweeney. “She brought a sunny disposition to every shift and always made the customer her top priority. I’m hoping Dot enjoys a well-deserved break in her retirement.”