RITA OHLSEN
tool crib attendant,
Pactiv Corporation
Cal Ripken Jr. has nothing on Rita Ohlsen.
Ripken gained prominence by playing in a record 2,632 consecutive major-league baseball games.
Ohlsen, 77, hasn’t called in sick for her job at the Belvidere, Ill., plant in 60 years, a span of more than 12,000 work days.
"I like my job," says Ohlsen, who worked five years in the machine shop before taking a tool crib job in 1946. "I grew up in Depression days, and I was thrilled to death to have a job when I got one. If you have a job, you get paid for working, not sitting home on your duff."
Ohlsen takes care of all material needs for workers at this manufacturer of packaging products.
"I order everything in the shop except paper, ink and a few little things like that," she says. "And, I pass out the material that keeps the place going."
She also dishes out advice and nuggets of wisdom.
On young workers: "Kids today need a good boot in the butt every once in a while."
On computers: "People rely on computers too much. I think these computers are making them brain-dead."
This article appeared in the December 2001/January 2002 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright, 2002.
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