When you speak to Mrs. Joan Joell and Mr. Robert (Dixie) Symonds they have a lot in common, apart from the fact that they both are celebrating 50 years of employment with their respective employers.

Consistency, loyalty, a solid work ethic and a love of dealing with people are all characteristics that they share. They both also didn?t even realise that this special anniversary had come around. ?I forgot all about it!? says Mrs. Joell with a laugh. ?I was so busy that I just didn?t realise.?

?It just kind of crept up on me,? says Mr. Symonds similarly. ?Time has gone fast; I wasn?t focused on it.?

They began their careers in 1955 as teenagers, Mrs. Joell at the Reefs Hotel and Mr. Symonds at Masters Ltd.

?When I started I was washing pots after all the meals, three times a day for eight months,? recalls Mrs. Joell, who was 17 when she joined the hotel.

?But the maitre d? at the time said I was too pretty to be doing that and eventually persuaded me to work on tables in the dining room. I was scared!

?But years later I ended up being the assistant maitre d? to my good friend Sylvia Bean. We worked together in those positions for 13 years, but it got a bit stressful so I became the dining room captain which I?ve done ever since.?

Balancing her job at the hotel with her growing family may have added to that stress, but she is amazingly matter-of-fact about raising eight children, who now range in age from 49 to 39, while working.

?I got married at 18 and had six girls and two boys; for ten straight summers I was washing diapers between shifts!? she says. ?But you just did what needed to be done.

?I had some help from my mother-in-law and it got easier as they got older. In fact, I had a roster written out for them and used to rotate the chores, so everyone helped out.?

Mrs. Joell now also has 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

She says that helping out was something the team at the much smaller hotel did regardless of their job title which is still ?the way? at the property.

?We had 12 little cabanas with picket fences around them when I started,? she says. ?One of the van drivers lived in Somerset and he would pick up the kitchen staff and take us to work.

?When I started in the dining room Mrs. Bean and I made the aprons for the staff; they?ve gone all out with the uniforms now. When we had hurricanes ? Edna, Emily and Fabian ? we all dipped for water, even some of the guests!

?We really had a lot of fun on the job, and we still do today, it?s a lovely team here. We loved dealing with the guests then and now; in fact, I just really like people.?

For Mr. Symonds, who also got married at 18, and has two sons, a daughter and five grandchildren, working with people and developing relationships with customers has been among the highlights of his work at Masters.

He started at the company aged 15 as an apprentice mechanic in the cycle repair department.

?I have a nice one-on-one relationship with so many customers and that?s the best part of my job,? he says. ?I?ve watched my customers? children grow up from babies, and I really enjoy helping them.

?It?s good that Masters became more customer-oriented over the years. You can?t relate to a customer by sitting behind a desk or counter. I enjoy working with my colleagues and my staff are trained now to deal with individual customers and to go to them, and that?s how it should be.?

His connection with people is very evident as we walk through the store, with shoppers and staffers alike calling out to him or asking questions about merchandise.

It is his commitment to customer service and warm, friendly attitude that makes him a favourite among regular customers ? ranging from housewives, to DIY enthusiasts, to celebrities like tennis champion Patrick Rafter, who apparently would always seek out Dix for help

The five decades he has spent with the company in various departments practically makes him a walking encyclopaedia, but he didn?t expect to be with Masters for so long.

?When I started I just thought it was a job; I wanted to be a mechanic and Masters offered the opportunity,? he says. ?I was still at school and Bermuda Technical School and I used to ride my bike down the railway tracks to get to work.

?But as you go through life you change and what I was doing evolved. I went to England and studied fire protection equipment and came back and sold that for Masters.?

That was in the early 1970s and he counts the Argus Building and Bank of Bermuda HQ on Front Street among the first buildings he and his team fitted out with fire protection equipment.

He apparently travelled all over the Island in a VW van selling fire extinguishers, automotive accessories and batteries.

By the end of that decade he had moved on again, this time to the position of manager of the company?s wholesale department, and he also received training in automotive paint refinishing at the manufacturer DuPont in Flint, Michigan.

?That function was added to my department at the time,? he explains. ?And now I run the paint department.?

Both Mrs. Joell and Mr. Symonds have of course seen many changes in their organisations and Bermuda overall since they began their working lives.

The Reefs is now a 50-room property with several stand-alone cottages and Masters has consolidated operations that previously included everything from five service stations, to an automotive dealership, to a marine outlet and souvenir shops.

?Young Bermudians don?t want to come into this industry like they used to and it?s a shame,? says Mrs. Joell, referencing one of the bigger changes she has noticed over the years.

?I worked with a lot of them in my time, training them here, and some have moved on to other areas, to be lawyers and in business and so on. Sometimes you see them in the newspaper and I say ?Look, another of our students?.?

Mr. Symonds has noticed similar trends in the retail sector: ?Young people use retail as more of a stepping stone now. It?s ideal experience if you want to understand customer relations and how to deal with people. Some staff build on that kind of experience from here to go on to other areas.?

Mrs. Joell also feels that today some of the new guests at the hotel seem to be more stressed than ever before when they arrive: ?But after we give them some TLC they soon start to relax!?

Over the years she has developed lasting friendships with many of the property?s repeat guests.

?I have some very good friends who come back every year and I got so many cards and letters from guests when they announced my anniversary, it was wonderful,? says Mrs. Joell.

?People are the same everywhere ? I think. They love it when we recognise them when they come back and they like seeing us.?

After working for so many years it seems that neither of them are ready to quit and put their feet up completely because they clearly love what they do.

Mr. Symonds has no plans to retire right now: ?I haven?t really thought about it to tell the truth. I?m still in good health and I like what I do, so we?ll see how it goes.

?And I really don?t regret staying here for so long,? he adds. ?The company allowed me to grow and I?ve been able to get the training I wanted and pass on knowledge to others. I?ve enjoyed my time with my fellow employees and the customers; the reward of helping somebody is pretty satisfying.?

He has enjoyed sports for many years, previously playing cricket and football, and currently bowls on the Masters team.

He also is a member of the ?Apex Four?, a gospel and spiritual singing quartet who have been together for over 30 years.

The group has recorded two CD?s and has performed in cities in the US and Canada, as well as in Jamaica and regularly across Bermuda. He plans to continue all these activities along with his work.

As for Mrs. Joell: ?You could say I?m semi-retired now. I was going to retire last year, but after being home for two-and-a-half months I was so bored! I missed the people, so I came back and I work three days a week.?

When she isn?t working she enjoys travelling and she is thinking about doing some voluntary work helping the elderly, even perhaps becoming a ?pink lady? at the hospital, saying with a chuckle: ?I want to stay active ? I?m not ready to get old yet!?