What's the dumbest thing you've heard at a parts store?

I'm gunna hafta say the string of dumb shit questions I got while trying to get an oil filter for a 350 chev. Firstly, it was going on an oilfield skid. And I get "What year? What transmission? Does it have A/C?" Like any of that matters, the answer was no, no, and no. Morons

 

I did'nt know that "oilfield skids" don't have transmissions or build dates. i guess i must be a moron.

 

why woukd you put a transmision between the motor and the hydralic pump? and what difference does it make for a damn oil filter?

 

Ive got to many to list. One that stands out is i asked the punk across the counter for the a tranny filter for a turbo 350. He asks me how much boost im running.....Ahhhh what?? I was astonished. I just smirked and shook my head.

 

"Welcome to Pep Boys" but that was my bad...

funniest thing i can remember is a cartoon hanging on the wall at a little place in sheboygan wi ... was of a guy standing in front of the counter pointing at a box on a shelf behind the counter, and the parts guy saying "i dont care how much you point at it, the computer says it aint here"

 

ages back someone ask my mom if her pinto was fuel injected or carb. lol

 

not funny but true..went to an autozone,needed a gasket for a sbc water pump,,guy says yes we have it,,comes out wt one gasket,the white shirts in charge say thats all they need to stock, and he can have the other in two days

 

Was looking for Engine Assemble Lube for a o/t car. First counter troll(young chick) said Huh. Second troll said is that a chemical?, I said yes, He said never heard of it. Finally the old timer over heard and had to search for five minutes cause I guess no one uses the shit any more. Got plenty more but that was my most recent.

 

There are other threads on the hamb about parts guys, this is a dead horse. We've all dealt with this issue. Make it easy on yourself and the parts guy and just tell him its a filter for a 1980 GMC with a 350. Yeah parts guys aren't what they used to be, move on, who cares, deal with it, wah wah wah

 

So why didn't you just walk over to the oil filters and get what you needed?????

 

my buddies and I like to call up the chain stores (autozone, kragen, pepboys) and ask for a water pump for a 73 bug. makes for a good time if you just wanna mess with the guys there.



one time i was in an autozone and the guy behind the counter was trying to sell this old timer 4 new shocks because "they are pretty old and when they wear out, it changes the geometry of the suspension which may cause you to roll the car when you take a corner." needless to say, when i get parts for my lincoln i always wait until that guy isnt available to help me.

 

When getting 292 Edsel parts, it always turns to be a 92 Escort they are looking at on the computer....

 

because it was fuckin camuck tire and they hide everything behind the counter and I was in a hurry and 30 miles from where we normally get parts and the dumb cunt that was working for us somehow put the lid of the battery box through the damn filter.

 

Hmmmm......

 

We put a 429 Cobra Jet in a 62 Ford cabover truck. We used an electric pump but we had a lot of trouble with it so we wanted to put a mechanical pump on it. When asked if they had a fuel pump for a 429 engine, he asked "What's it in?". So I told him. He looks it up and says he can't find a listing for it.

We started giving him different models that did come with 429 engines until we found one he had. He asks how we know it will work.
I had to explain to him that the difference in pumps is where the fuel lines connect and we had to build fuel lines for it so we really didn't care, as long as it bolted to the block.

I went into the NAPA store to get an upper radiator hose for a 74 Monte Carlo. The idiot comes out with a hose that was over a foot short. I told him it wasn't the right hose. He assured me that it was because his book said it was and turned the book to show me. He had looked up a Chevelle. When I pointed that out, he insisted that the Monte Carlo and Chevelle were the same. I looked up the Monte Carlo, gave him the hose number, he got it and it was the right one.

My dad had an 84 F-150 2 wheel drive that had a brake caliper hang up. He went to NAPA and got a new one but he called me because he couldn't get the wedge back in. The caliper was just an 1/8 of an inch too long. Dad had left the old caliper at the store for core. We went to the store to see if they gave him the wrong one. The guy assured us that his book showed all F-150s, for several years, only used one caliper. I had him get the old one out and measure it. Sure enough it was 1/8 " shorter. He got out another new one but it was too long too. I finally looked in his book and it said all EXCEPT 2 WHEEL DRIVE and gave a number for the 2 wheel drive. They didn't have one. I always say that NAPA is an acronym for No Auto Parts Available.

 

I asked for 2 sets of points for my 63 427 Ford and was asked "6 or V8 ?" Oh when he asked what it was in I told him, a 57 Ford. On the customer side I once heard a colored gentleman ask for a "stribier cab roller". Turns out it was a distributer cap rotor

 

Notice the computer, who programs computers, computer programmers. Not mechanics, Not counter attendants , Not hot rodders.
It must be one main parts look up software program because its like that everywhere and online too.

The program needs to define the car and options first. That is the priority of the program. And not going to work any other way - never ever wont happen.
then all the parts , everyone of them, can be looked up for the specific car. That's the way it is until a hot roddder writes a computer program to do it a different way.

 

Counter people today are just that, counter people. It doesn't matter if it's an auto parts counter or a fast food joint, or even a bank. The computer "knows" everything, so the counter person doesn't need to know anything.

 

How bout dis one...I need intake gaskets for a '72 350 chev. What's it in ? A '38 Willys. Oh old Jeeps never had 350s did they? It's a Willys car[still trying to grin] Willys never made cars! You must have something else.The grin was now gone and so was I !

 

man your just a ball of sunshine arent ya.

 

The computer age has really dumbed down a lot of counter people. The stores make things worse as that is all the give the counter folks also, books are almost impossible to find now unless they are 5+ yrs old and covered in dust.

Does anybody ever just answer the questions and wait for them to get confused?

What kind of car? 1932 ford
What engine? 350 Chevy

Then just wait and see what they do?

 

you know so much about oil field skids you should know the part numbers of a small block oil filter!

 

Nothing real bad but I had a woman parts store manager do this.
Went in asked for a Ford 9" rear end gasket for the third member. I then explained its the center section of the rear axle with a 9" ring gear.
She had the WTF look on her face????? She says year? 62 Ford Starliner. She looks it up.... oh its obsolete.
Just give me one for a truck or a Torino they are the same..........
She runs in the back like I know exactly what it is now and brings me the rear seal for a ford standard transmission and starts ringing it up for me. I had to go through it all over and she eventually got it but she acted like I couldnt explain what I wanted.

 

Personally , I don't deal with dumb pepole.
"AND THE BOWTIE ROLLS ON"

 

"Sorry we don't have a FLUX CAPACITOR for a 89 DeLorean in stock @ this time but we can order it for you"

 

I don't bother telling them what the engine or part is actually on, just what it originally came from. Saves a lot of time and funny looks, other than getting parts for 3 or 4 different vehicles.

 

On the customer side of things, I've heard people ask for "socks for a sevell" (shcocks for a Chevelle) and a "brattry"

 

I went to lordco autoparts for a fuel pump for my 302 ford, I got asked what color my interior was....What the fuck are you doing!

 

nah they cant I tried.

 

The dumbest thing I've heard from a counter person was when I asked for a front axle U joint for a '96 F150. Yes, the counterperson asked "Is that two or four wheel drive?"

But, the dumbest things I've heard in parts stores BY FAR were from customers when I was behind the counter. The best ever was the local douchebag who owned both an original '69 Z28, and a '69 Yenko Camaro. He bought a set of brake pads for the Z28 one day and came back the next day complaining that they made a horrible noise. When he showed me the pads, I didn't doubt the noise- the imbecile had put them in backwards. Friction material against caliper, backing plate against rotor.