History Main / ElderEmployee

* In ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', Mr. Grainger was a 40-year veteran employee and was much older than most of his co-workers. Many of his jokes are about how he should have retired years ago, and his tendency to fall asleep on the job. After the actor playing him died, the writers tried to replace the character with another similar character, but none of the replacements lasted more than one season.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* France awards medals (the ''medaille d'honneur du travail'') to workers who stayed more than a certain time in a place, with the rank depending from the length (typically from 20 to 40 years).
* Australian botanist David Goodall was still working at 104 in 2018, when he opted to go to Switzerland for assisted suicide.
* 102-year-old Indiana surveyor Bob Vollmer just retired in 2020.
* In real life, as people age, if they lose their job or have to re-enter the workforce they experience a great deal of difficulty finding a job despite all their experience, because of their age. The government can prohibit age discrimination all they want, nevertheless, it will occur. This is why you see older people working as cashiers or stocking shelves. In talking to some of then, you'll quickly find out many of them have multiple advanced degrees, considerable military experience, etc.
* The oldest DJ in Poland is one DJ Wika, who is 82, a former teacher and social worker, and can rock a party like someone quarter her age.
[[/folder]]

At every job, there is an employee who is considerably older than those they work with. Depending on the work, they may either qualify as a CoolOldGuy or CoolOldLady, an [[GrumpyOldMan elder with a less approachable personality]] (usually due to being a JadedProfessional) or a [[TakeAThirdOption balance between the two.]] The employee could be seen as being just as efficient as their younger coworkers if not more, or might be portrayed as your typical ScatterbrainedSenior.

%%Image selected per crowner in the Image Suggestion thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php?crowner_id=heequ34b
%%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700
%%Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/{{Superstore}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/myrtle_superstore.png]]]]

[[AC: Advertising]]

* A Super Bowl 2018 commercial for E-Trade had a group of elderly people going to work in generally unsuitable jobs (such as a lifeguard, a firefighter and a ''[=DJ=]'') due to not having enough money to retire.

[[AC: Films -- Live-Action]]

* In ''Film/GoodBurger'', [[TheCameo Abe Vigoda]] works at the titular restaurant despite being at least 40 or 50 years older than any other employee there.

[[AC: Literature]]

* ''Literature/{{Germinal}}'': veteran miner Vincent Maheu, who, at 58, has worked since nearly half a century in the Montsou mine.


[[AC: Live-Action Television]]

* ''Series/MamasFamily'' episode "Have It Mama's Way" has Thelma and Bubba both getting jobs at a fast food restaurant. While the latter is good at his job due to be quick and courteous with customers, the former is, well, [[ScrewPolitenessImASenior Mama.]]
* ''Series/ColdCase'' episode "The Dealer" goes into the sexist world of car dealers to try and solve the 1981 murder of a young mother. In addition to interviewing the former coworkers, detectives soon learn that it's also a pretty racist and ''ageist'' environment and one of few people who still worked at the dealership in question, a middle-aged man, killed the woman out of jealousy and the heat of the moment.
* In ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', Mr. Grainger was a 40-year veteran employee and was much older than most of his co-workers. Many of his jokes are about how he should have retired years ago, and his tendency to fall asleep on the job. After the actor playing him died, the writers tried to replace the character with another similar character, but none of the replacements lasted more than one season.
* Creed from ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' is much older than the rest of his co-workers, and occasionally shows signs of going senile. Though, somewhat of a subversion since he never actually applied for a job and just walked into the building one day, pretended to be working, and continued to do so for years.
* ''Series/{{Superstore}}'': The octogenarian Myrtle is the superstore's longest-serving employee. Her old age is mainly used for humor, as she is a ScatterbrainedSenior RacistGrandma who still has to restock shelves and push carts like everyone else. Despite this, the store managers are reluctant to fire her in Season 3 because she's been working for the store for so long.

[[AC: Video Games]]

* In ''VideoGame/NoDelivery'', one of the [=NPCs=] you can meet is an old lady in a wheelchair who spends her time in the employee lounge. She's referred to as "Senior Staff". can remember specific events much better than other characters, and [[spoiler:ends up as one of the player's summons, where her attacks revolve around using a shot gun.]]

[[AC: Visual Novels]]

[[AC: Western Animation]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/DanVs.'' episode the Gigundo mart Dan encounters A greeter so old he fought in "[[UsefulNotes/SpanishAmericanWar SanJuanHill]]".

[[AC: Real Life]]

At every job, there is an employee who is considerably older than those they work with. To qualify as this trope, it can't be a field where people are often older thsn average.[[note]]Supreme Court Justices are often in their 70s, so a judge in her 70s wouldn't count[[/note]] Depending on the work, they may either qualify as a CoolOldGuy or CoolOldLady, an [[GrumpyOldMan elder with a less approachable personality]] (usually due to being a JadedProfessional) or a [[TakeAThirdOption balance between the two.]] The employee could be seen as being just as efficient as their younger coworkers if not more, or might be portrayed as your typical ScatterbrainedSenior.

They don't need to a senior citizen; a 30-year-old delivering newspapers by bike [[note]]Typically a job done by a schoolchild[[/note]] would count.

Keep in mind that their age must be lampshaded or otherwise relevant to the plot to be considered an example. If a person just so happens to be the oldest employee with a company [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight but it's seldom commented on]], then it's not an example of this trope.

At every job, there is an employee who is considerably older than those they work with. Depending on the work, they may either qualify as a CoolOldGuy or CoolOldLady, an [[GrumpyOldMan elder with a less approachable personality]] (usually due to being a JadedProfessional) or a [[TakeAThirdOption balance between the two.]] The employee could be seen as being just as efficient as their younger coworkers if not more, or might be portrayed as your typical ScatterbrainedSenior.

[[AC: Film]]

* ''It's a Living'' follows the five waitresses at a posh California restaurant, and their senior supervisor, Nancy Beebe. When the girls whine that Nancy's cracking the whip too hard, a contest is held to see who can generate the most tips that evening. Nancy wins handily, even bringing water to an exhausted Dot. The girls are better at dishing gossip and drama than serving entrees.

Also depending on the environment, it could be PlayedForLaughs to try and prove a point to their younger whippersnapper relatives or friends who think they're incapable of doing the job, [[IWarnedYou and usually are]], or PlayedForDrama due to the senior losing their pension or if they ''do'' still have a pension, but due to [[RealLifeWritesThePlot the 2008 Great Recession]], it's not enough to live on and they have no choice but to go back to work.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode, "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", the subplot has Grampa Simpson going to work at Krusty Burger to try and reclaim his dignity and to feel young. Given it's [[ScatterbrainedSenior the Simpsons patriarch]], he does terribly to the point of being unsure if they sold ''french fries.''

* ''Series/ColdCase'' episode "The Dealer" goes into the sexist world of car dealers to try and solve the 1981 murder of a young mother. In addition to interviewing the former coworkers, detectives soon learn that it's also a pretty racist and ''ageist'' environment and one of few people who still worked at the dealership in question, an middle-aged man, killed the woman out of jealousy and the heat of the moment.

* Creed from ''Series/TheOffice'' is much older than the rest of his co-workers, and occasionally shows signs of going senile. Though, somewhat of a subversion since he never actually applied for a job and just walked into the building one day, pretended to be working, and continued to do so for years.

** An earlier episode had Nancy, before her promotion when she was still a waitress, end up getting fired by the women's sexist and ageist corporate manager and her working at a seedy diner to make ends meet. When it was pointed out that discriminating against her due to age is illegal and the women manage to get audio evidence of the guy's behavior and views, he soon hires her back while he gets reported to ''his'' bosses.

At every job, there is an employee who is considerably older than those they work with. Depending on the work, they may either qualify as a CoolOldGuy or CoolOldLady, an [[GrumpyOldMan elder with a less approachable personality]] or a [[TakeAThirdOption balance between the two.]] The employee could be seen as being just as efficient as their younger coworkers if not more, or might be portrayed as your typical ScatterbrainedSenior.

* Australian botanist David Goodall was still working at 104 on 2018, when he opted to go to Switzerland for assisted suicide.
* 102-year-old Indiana surveyor Bob Vollmer just retired on 2020.

At every job, there is an employee who is considerably older than those they work with. Depending on the work, they may either qualify as a CoolOldGuy or CoolOldLady, an [[GrumpyOldMan elder with a less approachable personality]] or a [[TakeAThirdOption balance between the two.]] The employee could be seen as being just as efficient ''if not moreso'' than their younger coworkers or be portrayed as your typical ScatterbrainedSenior.

Indexes: {{Elders}}, INeedAnIndexByMonday, ComedyTropes
-----
-----