10 / 24
10 | iNarrabri Magazine | October 2016
Local Legends
What’s the first job you had?
This would have been working at
my Grandfather’s (Bruce’s) Dairy
here in Narrabri. I was chief bot-
tlewasher. I would of been 13 I
suppose. We looked after the cows
and prepared the milk. I think I
was getting about $1 per day.
What career ambitions did you
have in your final year of school?
I always wanted to be in the
Police Force but I knew that this
wouldn’t happen as I was an
asthmatic... so I ended up a carpet
layer. When I was about 14, our
family travelled around Australia
and we ended up at Maryborough
(Qld). My father got a job as a
carpet layer and after school I
would help him and it just went
on from there.
How did you find your way to
owning your own business?
Up until 1983, I used to contract
carpet laying for Logans and a few
other shops around town. The old
skin buying shed came up for sale.
Tommy Plunketts. So I bought it
and opened up my own business,
selling carpet and laying it and so
forth.
Why do you think your customers
frequent your business?
We try to do the right thing by
them and look after them. As long
as we do the best job that we can,
people tend to come back. You
need to be there when you say you
are going to be. You don’t muck
people around. You say some-
thing, you do it. I think we have a
pretty good name when it comes
to service.
What’s something people don’t
know about the business?
There are still a lot of people
around who don’t know that
we do blinds and awnings. And
especially around Moree. Even
though we have been doing them
for close to fifteen years. I have
been doing carpets for such a long
time, I guess they just know me as
carpets.
What do you enjoy most?
Being the boss! (Laughing) I like
meeting new people and it is
always a pleasure when people
I have done jobs for, come back
after twenty/thirty years for the
next job. The boys often go out on
a job and people tell them “Your
father did this for me twenty years
ago”. It’s a good feeling.
What is an aspect of your job that
you could do without?
Whinging customers! (Laughing).
Some people you just can’t please,
no matter how good a job you do.
Many years ago I did a job for a
lady and she rung me up a couple
of weeks later to tell me there
were white marks on the carpet.
So I went out and had a look at it
and it was chalk marks... where
we measured it out. I hit the car-
pet with my hand, the chalk dust
lifted, and I walked out the door!
She never vacuumed for a couple
of weeks and was whinging about
a little chalk mark...
How do you deal with stress?
I like to take one of my old cars
for a run. I am a member of the
Inverell GT Club. Nothing beats
the sound of a V8. I also go out
with my brother, metal detecting
out near Tippaburra. No phones.
Nothing. Just very relaxing.
What’s the best piece of advice
you’ve been given?
My father always told me that
if you do a job, do it right. Take
your time and do it properly the
first time.
Who is a person in business that
you admire and why?
I have always admired Viv Yandell
who was in business for a long
time (now retired). As a builder,
he would often be on the same job
site. He’d always do a great job, tell
a good joke and was just a good
bloke to be around.
If you weren’t doing this, what
would you do?
I would of liked to have had a
go at car racing, be Alan Moffat
for a while. I have been around
Bathurst a few times in my old
cars. Just driving around, not
racing, but we give it a bit, just
enough to get the adrenaline up!
Robert Anderson’s Carpets
photo: John Burgess
Each issue, iNarrabri Magazine features a local business owner in the
“Local Legends” section. Locally owned businesses invest so much into
this community in ways that many people do not consider. This issue
features Robert Anderson, owner of Robert Anderson’s Carpets.