SCOTIA — After the politicians did their speaking thing, and Jumpin' Jack's owner Mark Lansing spoke of "closing the door on Aug. 29 forever," his son Mark Jr., took the microphone. He could speak for only a few moments before choking up, glancing away over his left shoulder.

His eyes and thoughts were not on the Mohawk River, which roiled and rolled over the landmark drive-in to nearly its roof last summer as Tropical Storm Irene ruined so much in its path.

Lansing's thoughts were not at that moment with the customers, who started lining up before dawn for a traditional opening that carried deeper meaning this cold Thursday morning. The line would be a hundred deep by 11 a.m. when the season's first order — cheeseburger, onion rings and a soda — would be served to Glenville's Mike Vedder.

"I would just like to thank the crew," the son said, fighting through the words. "They put in a lot of hard work. We probably put in about 800 man hours the first week of cleanup, 10-, 11-, 12-hour days. That crew is the reason we're open today."

The workers stood to his left, almost all in navy Jumpin' Jack's T-shirts or sweatshirts from summers past. Workers get a new one every season. Nothing remarkable there, until you notice some of the years: 2010 ... 2008 ... 2004 ... 2002 ...

"There is almost zero turnover," Mark Lansing Jr. said of the staff that numbers around 45. They hired maybe one new person this year, one the year before.

"They don't want to work anywhere else," he said.

Or, as his dad later said: "It's a hard place to get into, and a hard place to get out of."

You might think a burger joint is the quintessential summer job, with the faces of workers as changing as those in front of the order windows. Not here. There is a loyalty, a fierce one, among the staff and the Lansings, which explains why much of them made their way down to the drive-in as soon as roads were passable last summer, navigating the muck to begin the cleanup.

"Our philosophy is to make it a family environment to work in," Mark Lansing said.

And that word, family, is the one workers used without prompting to describe the workplace they love.

"When Mark Lansing hires you, you become part of a great family," said 23-year-old Thomas Schoenfeld Jr. of Scotia, entering his seventh year. "They become brothers and sisters and parents."

The workers and the owner talked about giving kids and others second chances, and being flexible, and slow to fire. The elder Lansing said he tries to lead by example and help show the way for some.

Mariah Senecal, a 19-year-old from Scotia, took off from classes at the State University at Plattsburgh just so she could work opening day. This is her fifth season, and she wasn't going to let distance nor classes get in the way of her obligation.

"They respect me," she said of the Lansings, "so I respect them."

There are tangible effects to being good-guy bosses beyond the respect and reputation as stand-up people. Jill Vanselow, a 53-year-old from Scotia who bikes to work, said the high morale of workers positively affects the bottom line.

"I think we're better to the customer," said Vanselow, now in her ninth season. "Nobody is losing their temper. Everybody is nice and calm. We're smiling."

The crew points to the bosses. The bosses point to the crew.

Without the workers' commitment, "we probably wouldn't be standing here," Mark Lansing Jr. said of their efforts to restore Jumpin' Jack's after the floods.

"They just showed up," the dad said.

But there's the benefit of being a good boss, right? If they were lousy bosses, how quick would all of those workers have been to rush to their aid and wade through mud to salvage what could be saved and begin the cleanup? Mark Lansing Jr. waves off any talk of a calculated benefit.

"We didn't need a flood," he said, "to be good bosses."

mmcguire@timesunion.com • 518-454-5467 • @MJMcGuire