Longtime Tucker Chick-fil-A Greeter Calls it a Career at 90
Ruth Sutley was the typical American worker. She spent 25 years balancing work, life and family before deciding the time was right to call it a career. The longtime dental hygienist enjoyed retirement, involving herself in hobbies and church work, but before long she felt an itch. And that’s where she became the atypical American worker.
The 75-year-old fielded a phone call from her nephew, at the time the operator of the Chick-fil-A at Tucker Station.
“He asked me if I knew of anyone who would like to be a hostess,” Sutley recalls. “I told him I’d think about it. Well, I thought about it a very short time and came back to him.”
At an age when many people are slowing down, Ruth Sutley decided to jump back into the workforce.
She was a natural hostess, spending her shifts refilling drinks and cleaning up spills, but most importantly brightening the day of her customers. Her nephew took to calling her ‘Miss Ruth’, a nickname that quickly caught on with co-workers and customers.
“Our customers love Miss Ruth,” says Brad Spratte, who now operates the Chick-fil-A at Tucker Station. “There’s something about coming to a place where you see the same person and they’re there to serve you and they get to know you…they get to know your story and you get to know their story.”
After 15 years of making those connections, Miss Ruth sat her bosses down late last year and delivered some difficult news: it was time for her to retire again. Spratte and his wife Deone knew how many lives Miss Ruth had touched inside that Chick-fil-A and couldn’t let the opportunity pass without giving her a proper send-off. So, on January 16 the Sprattes hosted a party to celebrate Miss Ruth’s retirement and her 90th birthday. Longtime customers packed the restaurant to share memories, give some hugs and let Miss Ruth know how much they would miss her.
“There’s been so much love and outpouring for Miss Ruth and for what she has done,” Spratte said. “She’s meant a lot to a lot of people. She’s an inspiration to us all.”
Her contributions weren’t just appreciated here in Tucker, but at Chick-fil-A’s corporate headquarters, as well. CEO Dan Cathy wrote a letter to Miss Ruth that was framed and presented to her as a going away present. In the letter, Cathy wrote “... thank you for being an example of the purpose and the mission of our brand both inside and outside the restaurant….Your willingness and eagerness to work at Chick-fil-A up until your 90th birthday is both inspiring and encouraging.”
While Miss Ruth admits she’ll miss her customers at Chick-fil-A, she leaves the job determined to make the most of her retirement.
“There are so many things I haven’t had time to do,” she explains. “I like to paint…I like woodworking in my workshop.”
As for that younger generation that’s just reaching retirement age? She has some advice for them.
“Just keep going. Don’t stop. You sit down, you die.”
Don’t expect to see Miss Ruth do much sitting anytime soon.
