Teary-eyed employees celebrate Syracuse's long tenure at department store. On bended knee, CEO Terry Lundgren presents her with bouquet of roses
When Rose Syracuse started her job at Macy’s, “Gone with the Wind” was in theaters and FDR was in the White House.
Seventy-three years later, Syracuse is retiring as the longest-serving employee in the store’s history.
“This was my first job and I didn’t go anyplace else,” Syracuse, 92, told The News after being feted by teary-eyed coworkers Wednesday. “I was happy here.”
Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren presented Syracuse with a bouquet of roses on bended knee — as if to celebrate his employee’s long marriage to the so-called “World’s Largest Department Store.”
“For us to be able to say that we’ve had anyone work for our company for 73 years is just a milestone that will never again be repeated,” said Wednesday.
She wouldn’t have even retired, but for a broken hip sustained six months ago in a fall.
“It breaks my heart,” she said.
Syracuse was born in Pennsylvania, a coal miner’s daughter.
“My father said, ‘My sons are not going into the coal mine. We’re moving to New York.’ And we’ve been here ever since.”
Her family settled in Brooklyn, and attended the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade every year.
“I watched it every year and every year it was more powerful,” she said.
In 2008, she joined Macy’s execs to cut the ribbon at the start of the march.
She always worked behind the scenes at the flagship store, where she got her job after passing a math and typing test.
“You had to be good in order to be here,” she said proudly. “You had to go through a lot of tests.”
She was married five years later. Her husband, Carmine Syracuse, passed away in 1997.
When she started at the store, credit cards were decades away.
Customers deposited funds into accounts they held with Macy’s, then spent what they’d deposited. Syracuse worked as an authorizer, managing these accounts.
She went on to work for decades in the store’s phone and mail order department, until the Internet made her job obsolete.
“Change is so terrific,” she said. “One day you’re selling needles and thread, and the next thing you know it’s all high-class stuff.”
Managers found a way to put her historical knowledge to use.
For the last three years she worked on archival projects for the department that organizes the parade and other special events.
“The bosses now are nicer,” she said. “Then, they watched us like hawks.”
She laughs about the year she got a $2 bonus at the end of the year. Even in an era of two-cent plains and 10-cent movie tickets, it was a low tip.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
“I said,‘You’re kidding!” They said, ‘This is what we can afford now.’ I said, ‘When does it get better?’”
Tight-fisted bosses were offset by getting to watch the filming of the classic, “Miracle on 34th Street” inside the store.
“I came on the floor and all the machines were up, cameras,” she said.
Later, she rushed out to see it at the theater.
“It was wonderful,” she said. “We all got tickets.”
And in one important way, Syracuse will never cut ties with the store.
“I don’t shop any place else,” she said. “I’m still a customer.”
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