50 Years and Never Missed a Day of Work

"I have enjoyed my time coming into work every day"

Could you show up to work everyday for five decades?

That's the work record for Chicago native Joe Taylor, who's been punching the clock at bearing manufacturer Peer Bearing every single day since 1959 -- back when the company was known as Archer Bearing, and had only five employees.

Now Peer Bearing has 1,300 employees, and recently honored Taylor as its longest-tenured employee.

Taylor's made it to work every day despite the company moving from Chicago to Wheeling to Waukegan, the latter of which is two-hour schlep from his South Side pad.

"Number one, I like working with people.  I work well with people.  I like the company that I work with.  I like the owners.  So everything fits well for me here.  I have no problems, and the communication is great, in the respect of me to them and them to me," he said.

Taylor said he's had vacation time and used available sick leave if he needed it, but never took time off that wasn't excused.

"To take off just to take off is not a part of what I wanted to do," he said.

Taylor now serves as the company's quality control manager.

"Joe started here when this was a very small company when my uncle and father worked here," said Glenn Spungen, vice president of sales and operations. "He is like a member of our family."

Taylor says he plans to work for as long as he can.

"You have to like what you do," he advised.

Taylor's record puts him in the company of other hardworking employees' across the nation, like Mandas "Sammy" Mulrain (who's worked for 30 years without missing a day at the Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort in Hilton Head, SC), and Angelo Cammarata, who's been pouring suds behind his bar in Pittsburgh since 1942.

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