by Eric A Thomas
In October of 1977, an 18-year-old woman from Carrollton interviewed for a job at a local eating establishment. On January 6 she will hang up her apron and hat for the last time and begin her life in retirement.
Annette Steinacher has loyally served for over 44 years at McDonald’s. She made the journey from Carrollton to Jacksonville on a daily basis for 28 years before moving here.
When asked why she worked here all these years her answer was simple: the people. “I like working with the community, the people I work with and the owners,” commented Steinacher. “Through this time, it’s been great serving the various generations.”
During the multiple decades of employment with McDonald’s, she has served under three different owners and in two locations. She will be retiring with the rank of assistant manager. Through the years the best sellers have been the Big Mac and French fries.
“When I first started, there were a lot of things that we made ourselves,” she added. “Special sauce for the Big Macs and peeling potatoes for the French fries. Now everything like that comes pre made.”
Over the years McDonald’s has offered extra items, beyond food, to entice customers to come in. One item was glassware that featured McDonald’s characters. But one of these items stood out to Steinacher and she would classify it as the most popular in her time. The Teenie Baby, part of the Beanie Baby craze, hit the McDonald’s market in 1997 “I can remember people lining up a couple of hours before we opened just to make sure they got the next collectible,” she reminisced. These have definitely become a collectors-item with people selling them all over the world.
Upon retirement, Steinacher will miss everybody from customers to coworkers but is looking forward to having the free time to spend with her family and friends.
