Name: Haley Carpenter

Title: Inside Sales Representative 

Hired: 2011

Hobbies: Traveling and taking care of her children

Bio: In her eyes, when Haley Carpenter began working for Hose and Rubber Supply, she had some pretty big shoes to fill. 

“My mom actually worked here,” Carpenter said. “She kind of did what I do now, back in 2007. I would come in after school and do some filing of the tickets and all the other stuff that nobody really wanted to do and I guess that’d be what brought me here. And then I wandered off and had a couple children and then just started coming in for a couple hours when they were at school. And then, eventually, they were at school all day, so I just kind of hung out here all day. And my boss at the time just threw a pen at me and told me to just fill out an application.” 

And so began Haley Carpenter’s career with Hose and Rubber Supply. She started working for the company full time in 2011. 

As an Inside Sales Representative, Carpenter spends a lot of time working directly with customers. 

“I answer the phones a lot,” Carpenter said. “I type up a lot of orders for the guys in the back to build. I do a lot of quoting for customers, and a lot of getting quotes from vendors. I kind of do a little bit of everything. Like, I’ll drive the forklift and unload the trucks if I have to. I do receiving help, accounting, anything like that.”

It’s a busy job with a lot of responsibility, but it’s also one she enjoys. 

“My favorite part of the job is talking to people,” Carpenter revealed. “I’ve been here for a long time and there are still, to this day, people that walk in the door and I recognize them by their voices. That’s what I think is cool, because you could talk to somebody every single day on the phone and not have the chance to meet them. Sometimes they’re hours away. But when they show up, you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I know that voice!’ It’s the coolest thing.”

The fact that talking to people is her favorite part of the job is surprising, even to Carpenter herself. That’s because she says she’s not really a “people person.” She wasn’t for much of her life, anyway. But nowadays, she’s as sweet as pie when she wants to be.

“I think this job has helped me not to be so shy,” she said. “Cause it’s kind of like the oil field. People have a certain vocabulary that I’ve become accustomed to, and working with all of the guys and knowing all of their quirks and stuff. It’s opened me up a lot more.” 

Carpenter is more open with her coworkers and with her customers. In fact, she said, Hose and Rubber Supply’s customer service is what sets them apart from the competition. 

“I can’t speak for other places, but I know that the customer service that we provide is top tier,” she said. “We pride ourselves on that and on finding a solution. And if that means that we don’t have the parts, and we send the customer to the competition, then so be it. But we always try to figure out something here that we can do for them today.” 

The customer service is Carpenter’s favorite aspect of the job. But the other thing she likes is the flexibility that it offers. Carpenter is a single mom of six children. She is the sole provider and the sole support system for her kiddos, and she wouldn’t be able to be everything that she needs to be for them, if it wasn’t for her team at Hose and Rubber Supply. 

“The flexibility that this job has provided me with allows me to take care of any of my kids’ appointments or anything else like that,” she said. “I just chase them around and do whatever they need me to do, and Hose and Rubber lets me.” That’s an important part of the job, because working for Hose and Rubber Supply is important to Carpenter, but being a good mom is even more important. And that’s something she learned from her mother.

When Carpenter began working at Hose and Rubber Supply, her mother was working there as well. The two worked together for a time and Carpenter’s mom was quick to make sure that her daughter got no preferential treatment (other than the fact that she brought her lunch every single day). 

Unfortunately, Carpenter’s mother passed away a few years ago. Because of that, Hose and Rubber Supply isn’t just a job – it’s a place to remember her mom. 

“Being here is kind of like a safe space for me,” Carpenter said. “I kind of find comfort in it. It’s hard to get away.”

Not that she would want to. Carpenter loves her job. She’s good at it. She’s a vital part of the process, just like her mother was. 

So, what would her mom say if she could see Carpenter now? 

“She would tell me she was proud of me,” Carpenter said through tears. “It’s kind of like a legacy to carry, because the only reason why I think I know most of the things that I know is because she taught me. And there are a lot of people down here who would say the same thing; she taught them as well.” 

And now, Haley Carpenter is the one teaching. When a customer comes in and has a question, it’s up to her to find the answer. Or find the one who can find the answer. When a new employee starts working in the warehouse and comes up to the counter to get a part, she’s the one that looks it up. When somebody calls in with a problem, she’s the first line of defense to find the solution. 

Just like her mother was. 

It’s safe to say that Haley Carpenter has filled those big, big shoes. And, when it comes to being an integral part of Hose and Rubber Supply, it’s very much a case of ‘Like mother, like daughter.’