Dale Haley and Ricky Watkins have been at their jobs longer than some of their co-workers have been alive. 

Both men, now in their 60s, have worked at the same Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Franklin, Kentucky for 50 years.

Haley, the store's manager, celebrated his 50th work anniversary on May 11, while Watkins, the store's meat manager, will hit the same milestone on Sept. 6.

Many of the employees they work with are in their 20s, 30s and 40s, but some are as young as 16 — the same age Haley and Watkins were when they started at the store. 

Their first job was bagging groceries at the front of the store and organizing the stockroom in the evenings after school and on weekends. In the 1960s, that job paid between $1 and $2 an hour, Haley says, depending on your weekly schedule.

Haley didn't meet Watkins until he started at the store in September 1964, but the two quickly became "fast friends," he says, and would often play pool together after their shifts as teenagers.

Those after-school jobs quickly evolved into fulfilling, lifelong careers for the Kentuckians.

Haley and Watkins each started working at the store full time as associates after graduating high school. As Watkins recalls, many of his classmates and friends pursued careers in manufacturing and farming, neither of which appealed to him. "Plus, they paid less," the 65-year-old adds. 

Haley came to the same conclusion. "I didn't know I was going to make a career out of it when I started at the store, but I just kept getting promoted," the 66-year-old says. "When I turned 20, I got a nice raise and became the assistant manager … I had more reasons to stay than to leave."

Watkins was promoted to meat manager in 1986 and has held the same job ever since.

He works Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 4:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., while Haley works Monday through Thursday and on Saturdays from 6:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. 

The average salary for a store manager at Piggly Wiggly ranges from $34,000 to $109,000 per year while the pay for a meat manager ranges from $42,000 to $76,000, according to Indeed.

"There's something different to learn every day, whether a machine is breaking down or there's a new product we're putting on shelves," says Haley. "The job keeps me on my toes." 

But his favorite job of managing the store is the people: helping the customers and shooting the breeze with his co-workers. 

"We're just like family here," says Haley. "Coming to work just feels like coming to another home."

The staff has seen each other through birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and other milestones, he adds, but his favorite memories at work are the spontaneous cookouts he and his co-workers have at the grill that's permanently parked in the store's lot. Watkins says those are his favorite afternoons, too. 

Neither man plans on retiring any time soon. "I'd go down to part-time, but I wouldn't retire completely," says Watkins. "I couldn't stand just staying at home and doing nothing."

The Piggly Wiggly veterans are in good company — older Americans are working longer. Last year, the average retirement age was 62, up from 59 in the early 2000s, Gallup reports. Many Americans are working into their 70s and 80s — or longer — because of longer life spans, changing attitudes about retirement and insufficient savings. Others simply say they enjoy what they do, and never contemplated giving it up.

The secret to a long, happy career is simple, says Haley: Keep your nose clean. 

"Don't get caught stealing or shoplifting, don't show up to work late and do your best to do a good job," he adds. "If you can do that, you'll probably have a job for a long time, and you might learn to love it."

A lot can change in nearly half a century — scanners replaced ink stampers, people use their phones to pay at checkout — but Watkins says his 50 years at the store have flown by "in the blink of an eye" — and he enjoys working at Piggly Wiggly as much as he did on his first day. 

Haley echoes the same sentiment: "Time flies when you're having fun."

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