After 74 years working at a Dillard’s department store in Tyler, Texas, a 90-year-old woman has decided to retire. However, she said she’ll miss her home-away-from-home.
“I loved everybody there, and I loved to go to work every day,” said Melba Mebane at her retirement party, according to KLTV. Fox News Digital reported that she never took a day off or called in sick.
Per the outlet, she started her career as an “elevator girl” for Mayer & Schmidt department store in 1949. That store was purchased by Dillard’s in 1956, around 18 years after Dillard’s was first founded in Tennessee.
“Melba sets the tone for everything, every expectation, every customer service quality that we look for in a luxury experience,” James Saenz, the store manager of Dillard’s, told Fox News Digital. He said that Mebane is not just a salesperson but a mother figure to her coworkers.
As she built friendships with coworkers and customers at Dillard’s, Mebane was also a single mother. Her son, Terry Mebane, is now a financial adviser in Tyler.
“There were times that I would get my grandfather to take me up to the store at about 7 p.m. and I would get to kind of run around the mall or the store and hang out with her so that I could ride with her home at nine o’clock,” he said, remembering days of riding the bus to his grandparent’s house because his mother was at work. He feels like he grew up at Dillard’s.
Mebane only worked the elevator for about six months before she was promoted to men’s clothing. From there, she moved to cosmetics, where she stayed for most of her career. She would always be there early and take a quick lunch so she wouldn’t miss out on seeing customers.
“There was a gift basket they were trying to sell, and nobody could figure out how to sell these gift baskets. My mom, very unorthodox, stepped out from behind the counter in the aisle and would talk to people and introduce them to the basket, and she sold all the baskets,” said her son.
He told Southern Living in a text message that “her favorite phrase to her female customers was: ‘Are you trying to get a man or keep a man?’”
Even manufacturers noticed how successful she was at sales, and would send her gratis items in hopes that she would promote their products.
Mebane was also known for handing out perfume samples.
Ginger Wimbs, who has worked with Mebane for 33 years, said she considers her a great friend.
“She tells it like it is. I admire her tremendously. She’s taught me so much. She is so talented with clients,” said Wimbs. “She can take a tiny sale and turn it into a huge sale. She just fascinates me. She works and works and works the floor. She keeps everybody talking. She keeps everybody laughing. Some of her stories are just fantastic.”
Eventually, Mebane also became close with Dillard’s leadership.
“My mother was good friends with Mr. and Mrs. Bill Dillard,” said her son. “They just adored her for being there all those years. So bottom line, the store managers would say, ‘Hey, the Dillards are going to be here on Thursday. Somebody call Melba because she's got to be here when the Dillard’s are here.' She was like a buffer.”
When Mebane turned 65, Mr. Dillard even made sure she wouldn’t have to work nights anymore. At 90, she decided to retire after health issues made it harder to keep up her perfect attendance record.
Although she’s not working there anymore, Mebane’s influence on the store will be a lasting one.
“She guides you. She gives you advice on life. She’s amazing,” Saenz said of working with Mebane.
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