Vaarwel pet
It was the year in which Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer, Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th president of the US, and Bucks Fizz won Eurovision with Making your Mind Up.
And it was also the year that Sternfenster’s inhouse technical specialist Kevin Wallis first handed his CV to Sternfenster founder Eddie Parczuk.
Forty years on and Kev remains an integral part of the Sternfenster team.
“Kev demonstrates an unwavering commitment to ensuring that our customers, our colleagues and our suppliers are respected, treated fairly and given every ounce of effort to assist them with whatever issue they are faced with at the time,” MD Mike Parczuk said. “Everyone in Sternfenster owes him a huge debt of gratitude.”
Kev joined Sternfenster having spent time working in the construction industry in the Netherlands, slightly more ‘vaarwel’ than ‘auf wiedersehen’ pet.
Turning in his CV in Dutch, he holds the record for the shortest interview by any Sternfenster employee.
Eddie Parczuk asked: “what does Ik ben hard aan het werk en je moet me een baan geven’ mean?”
Kev replied: “It means that I’m hard working and you should give me a job.”
As technical sales manager, Kev works across all areas of Sternfenster’s operation from customer services to manufacturing, including spending a significant part of his day with customers.
“My working day is pretty varied but one of the parts of it I like the most is the technical element, either trouble shooting or training, because you’re their working side by side with our customers, maybe fixing a problem that someone has struggled with,” Kev said. “When you help them to find the solution, it’s always really rewarding even if it is 300mph to get the job.”