The incredible story of an elderly grandmother who has cleaned train stations for 50 years with no plans on retiring has angered some millennials who have argued ‘working until you drop’ should not be normalised.
Vesela Grujoska, 80, has spent the past five decades cleaning Sydney’s Central Station, all the while raising her two children alone.
She’s ‘probably never taken a sick day’ and has worked countless public holidays including every Christmas except three over the years in her ‘dream job’.
Ms Grujoska came from humble beginnings, and was born in Vapila, in North Macedonia before migrating to Australia with her family in 1970.
She didn’t know English but landed a job with NSW Rail just three years later and has worked at Central Station ever since.
Her story was shared onto SBS News’ Instagram page with many in awe at her incredible work ethic for her age.
But some younger generations took the chance to blast the idea that people should live to work.
Vesela Grujoska, 80, has spent the past five decades cleaning Sydney ‘s Central Station, all the while raising her two children alone
Ms Grujoska came from humble beginnings, and was born in Vapila, in North Macedonia before migrating to Australia with her family in 1970
‘But if you are sick it’s also okay to take a sick day. I don’t like the hero-ship for people that never take a day off,’ one commented.
‘Work is not everything in your life,’ said another.
‘Normalising working till you drop? No thanks,’ a third added.
A fourth said: ‘That’s great she’s happy but I’m seeing more and more people of retirement age forced to stay in or go back to the workforce.
‘I’ve also seen a lot of media trying to normalise this lately. I hope everyone gets the chance to rest and enjoy their last years in dignity and comfort.’
Despite the critics, many more Aussies were quick to celebrate her work ethic.
‘What a noble character,’ one said.
Another added: ‘Bless her! Agree with her motto too.’
A third said: ‘Hope they gave her a pay rise too!’
Others pointed out that some people had no choice but to work for most of their lives, while one 70-year-old said they were grateful to have a part-time job.
‘Totally agree. I am 70 and work 4 days a week and love my job,’ they said.
When Ms Grujoska first moved to Australia she started work in a factory for just $29 a week.
It wasn’t until a kind neighbour wrote down on a piece of paper that Ms Grujoska was looking for work, telling her to hand it to the station manager at Rockdale Station, SBS Macedonian reported.
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NSW TrainLink recently threw a special lunch to honour the grandmother’s hard work over the past 50 years
When she started at Central Station, she had ‘Central’ written down on a piece of paper and had to match the shapes of the letters to the signs to know where to go.
Ms Grujoska also worked in a role alerting train drivers when passengers had safely got on and disembarked. That role later became digitalised and she returned to her work as a cleaner.
‘I will, perhaps (retire), when I reach 100… but maybe not even then,’ she told the publication.
While working at the station, Ms Grujoska went through ‘a very difficult marriage and divorce’, leaving her to provide for her two young children on her own.
She’s been able to keep up her hard work through her motto: ‘Work keeps you healthy and young. Doing nothing would be a disaster.’
Ms Grujoska had to raise her two children on her own after going through a difficult divorce
NSW TrainLink recently threw a special lunch to honour the grandmother’s hard work over the past 50 years.
She has also had her nickname ‘Vesa’ put on the licence plate of one of the station’s luggage carriers.
‘If you stay at home, all sorts of negative thoughts will fill your mind that will get you depressed and you will start to deteriorate,’ she said.
Her story of hard work comes just weeks after it the boss of national recruitment agency, U & U Recruitment Partners, slammed the Gen-Z and Millenial work trend ‘Bare Minimum Mondays’
Employees who practice the work-life trend, focus on getting the minimum amount of work done on Mondays – or only completing their contractually-obliged tasks – to ease into the week.
Workers catch up on everyday tasks that need to be done including washing, walking the dog, cooking meals, grocery shopping and even napping.
‘Personally I am against it. Employees are paid to do a job and work the hours that they have agreed to,’ Craig Sneesby told news.com.au.
‘It creates a space for workers to be lazy and generates a culture of entitlement. These kind of work perks have really gone too far. It just is not sustainable.’
CEO of Winning Appliances, John Winning, who is also a millennial, called out the generations work ethic in comments that went viral in 2019.
He said good millennial workers were ‘few and far between’ and are ‘expecting more than what they put in.’
‘People are expecting more than what they put in,’ the chief executive of the appliance retailer said in an interview with Nine newspapers.
‘Some of the people coming in for interviews, their expectation of what they should be paid versus how much they’re expected to work is just crazy.
‘You train them up and by the time they’ve finished the two-month training, they’re either looking for the next thing or asking for a promotion or more money.’
The 80-year-old is seen with her daughter. She says she has no plans to retire
