Lessons Learned from My Friend Peter

On my way home, the other day, I went into the neighborhood grocery store to pick-up a few things. While I was checking out, I chatted with my friend, Peter Zafferes – pictured above – a cashier at Publix.

Peter is one of my favorite people in the world and he certainly knows how to roll with the punches that life throws his way – especially in his work-life, where he has been through four major career transitions.

I’ve had several brief, “checkout line conversations” with Peter, but awhile back, I met with him – during his lunch break – just so I could learn from this affable, hard-working octogenarian.

Peter Zafferes was born on October 3, 1925, in Boston, Massachusetts, to parents who had recently emigrated from Greece – through Ellis Island. The year after Peter was born, his father opened a small neighborhood grocery store in Brookline, Massachusetts.

In the 1930’s and early 1940’s, from age four to age seventeen, you would have found Peter working in the Zafferes family’s Brookline Provision Store. There, he perfected his customer service skills as he assisted customers, including such notables as Joe and Rose Kennedy and their well-known son, John F. Kennedy, who knew Peter by name.

At seventeen, Peter’s grocery career was interrupted, and he began building vessels in the local shipyard, for the war effort. A few months later he was on one of those ships, as he set sail to join the Third Army, under the command of the legendary General George S. Patton. Over the course of the next two years, Peter quickly rose to the rank of Sergeant and was decorated with a Bronze Star Medal.

Within a few weeks of VE-Day Peter was seriously injured when the truck in which he was riding ran over a German mine. As a result, he spent three months in a Paris hospital.

In 1946, Peter went back to Boston to receive training in electronics – which would allow him to outfit military ships with radar, radios and other technical equipment.

In 1959, Peter had to change careers – after 16 years of government service – and joined a large insurance company. Peter worked for that company for 28 years, until he retired, again, in 1982.

At that point, Peter worked in public safety and dabbled in retail, for a brief time, before heading to Florida – to be closer to family and friends who had slowly migrated south. Soon after arriving in Florida, at the age of 67, he re-started his grocery career that had been cut short 50 years earlier, and began working for Publix.

Nine years ago, Peter decided to move to Franklin, to live with his daughter’s family and continue working, full-time, at a newly opened Publix.

You could reason that Peter has probably “retired” about four times over the past 80 years – but he has no intentions of doing so again. He enjoys his current job and loves seeing his regular customers – and we certainly love seeing him.

As for Peter’s secret to staying young-at-heart and perpetually happy, he credits it to simply keeping busy and staying positive, in spite of life’s trials and unexpected turns. And, while Peter’s past is rich in memories, he clearly lives in the here-and-now, and is focused on continuing to contribute and bringing joy to everyone he meets.

If you are going through some hard times – as Peter has – don’t give up and don’t hesitate to take a full or part-time job you might consider to be beneath you. Just make sure it isn’t the type of position that will harm an employer if it ends up being a very short-term job.

If the position only lasts a few months, you don’t have to place it on your resume. Simply re-label the “Employment History” section on your resume to “Relevant Experience” – and simply indicate the year you left your last relevant position.

If the interviewer asks what you are doing today, simply explain that the last relevant position you held is on your resume – however, you are currently engaged in some interim work while you look for your next position.

A short-term position just might help serve as a monetary bridge to your long-term gig – and it could do wonders for your attitude.

Was this article helpful? If so, let me know. And if you have additional thoughts and suggestions – I would like to hear from you. To provide feedback, either click on the tiny “comment” link, at the conclusion of each article (or click on the title of the article) and you’ll find a comment box at the very bottom.

Area Codes on Resumes: What Might it Tell Employers?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my 20+ years in marketing, it’s that ridiculously small things often make the difference between failure and success. Resumes are no different.

I’ve talked about how much more difficult it is to find a job when prospective employers know that you aren’t a local candidate. And let’s say you lived in Birmingham, AL but recently relocated to Nashville due to your spouse’s work. You might have family and friends in Birmingham, so you think about keeping your old cell phone number at least a few more months. Birmingham doesn’t share the same area code as Nashville. They are 205 and 615 respectively.

Now that you’ve unpacked a few boxes in your new Nashville home, you figure you’ll start sending some resumes to local companies. Since you heard it’s usually best to include your cell phone number on your resume, you include the 205-555-1212 number you’ve had since your teenage son was in diapers. You say to yourself, “they know I live in Nashville, so this long distance cell phone number shouldn’t matter”. Well, you would be wrong.

Unfortunately, here is what goes through some inquiring (and cynical) minds…

“I’ll bet this person actually lives in Alabama, and is now using a friend’s local address. She is just fishing in this market to see if she’ll get any bites. After all, if she already lived in Nashville, she would already have a local cell phone number.”

“She might live here, now, but her heart is in returning to this 205 area code… wherever that may be. I’ll be darned if I’m going to train her for nine months and then have her return to the friends and family she has there.”

Yes, people really are this way. Not all of them, but certainly enough to make you pause before committing this potential mistake.

So, what can you do? Well, if you really are committed to living in Nashville, get your number changed. It’s easy to do and probably won’t cost you more than 15 bucks. However, if you can’t part with your old cell number, there are still other options. You can probably add a local line to your existing phone plan, get a new local cell phone plan, or simply use your home “land line” phone number on your resume. The end result is the same, and you stand a better of chance landing your next employment opportunity.

Was this article helpful? If so, let me know. And if you have additional thoughts and suggestions – I would like to hear from you. To provide feedback, either click on the tiny “comment” link, at the conclusion of each article (or click on the title of the article) and you’ll find a comment box at the very bottom.