Meet the locals - Mary Weston retires after 32 years at Service NSW Maitland

Now, after almost 32 years in customer service at Service NSW and 54 years in the workforce all up, the time has finally come to retire.

Mrs Weston, who is about to turn 67, got the job soon after moving to Maitland with her husband, Dennis and since then the couple have firmly cemented a life here.

They have four lovely children, all raised in Maitland. and 11 grandchildren who keep them very busy.

In other news:

Over her three decades at the agency, Mrs Weston has seen many changes, from the name changing from RTA to RMS (Roads and Maritime Service), to Transport for NSW and Service NSW, to changes in the way people pay for their green slips.

Once upon a time, she said, she and her colleagues would end the day with thousands and thousands of dollars in cash because that's how people paid their fees.

Now, it's almost all done via card or online.

Being a familiar face behind the counter meant Mrs Weston is always being recognised around town - and out of town too.

"We were once standing in the Jenolan Caves on a tour and this guy came right up to me and stood right next to me, and I looked up to him to think 'what the hell are you doing, buddy?' and he said 'how's the RTA at Maitland going?'," she said.

Throughout her career, Mrs Weston said she often found herself in trouble for going too slow and spending too long with the customers.

"I always got told off to be quicker, but I wasn't going to be quicker because to me, my customer was more important," she said.

"Even now, we'd have to have an evaluation every so many months and I'd go into my manager and the first thing I'd tell him is 'no, I'm not as fast as everybody else' and he'd laugh at me and say 'no, you're not as fast as anybody else but you're definitely not the slowest either'.

"Well, that's a good sign."

Mrs Weston said it was always important to her to understand what the customer needed.

"Not trying to get them in and out as quickly as possible and missing something," she said.

"When a customer came to me, and especially if they had a problem, I always tried to do the best I could, I always tried to make sure that I got back to them or let them know what was going on, I try to always be upfront with everybody."

Mrs Weston hasn't got any plans set in stone yet for retirement, but lots of time with family is definitely on the agenda, as is doing a bit more baking.