ON SEPT. 6, AS A CAPACITY CROWD rocked Baltimore's Camden Yards baseball park, Oriole shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. played in his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking the record held by the legendary Lou Gehrig. It was a landmark moment—for baseball, that is. In real life, Ripken's achievement—showing up for work 13 years in a row (and only in the warm months)—is not that big a deal.
Consider conductor Leonard Slatkin, who hasn't missed a rehearsal or performance with the St. Louis Symphony in 16 years. Or John Nauart, never out sick in 25 years as a truck mechanic at the Oberweis Dairy in Aurora, Ill. A record? Nowhere near. On these pages are six people whose unbroken string of workdays—never calling in sick, never taking a day beyond their vacations, not even to sneak off to a ballgame—started before Ripken was born 35 years ago.
How do they do it? Well, like Cal, they not only love to work, but they figure getting there is part of the bargain. "The day I call in," says newspaper proofreader Audrey Stubbart, "I won't be sick—I'll be dead."
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