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

RockAuto has a commericial playing off of this very topic !!!

 

Do we need a Gyno here on the H.A.M.B.? So much pussy ache!

I have worked the auto parts racket and I was lucky to have worked with guys who liked cars and knew them. Unfortunately our types are thining out and now the parts stores need live bodies to man the computers and they will hire anyone who will take the jobs. People need the jobs and take them, wether they know the difference between a Spanner and a Wrench, some of you will get that, is no longer necessary.

Most of the stuff they sell on a daily basis is regular pedestrian stuff and not some oddball combo. So yes, they will get thrown for a loop when you start rattling off shit that does not make much sense to the average person. They have been tought to use the computer and they no longer have the rack of books we knew back in the day. They try and it is not that easy when some greasy know it all is busting their balls and they have learned to just say no, we don't have it!

Have a nice day!

 

<HR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e5e5e5; COLOR: #e5e5e5" SIZE=1> Well, where is it??

 

YOU are the minority!!! YOU are the one that owns an old car!!! YOU are the person that needs to have his shit together when you walk in there!!! Instead of being a know-it-all asshole customer, why not walk in there knowing what year your engine is and what part you need. When they ask for a year, make, model... have the info ready!

When they ask what car it is don't reply with some jackass statement like a 1948 Anglia! Tell them it's a 350 from a 68 Caprice or whatever the hell it came out of. It'll make yer life and thiers A LOT easier... unless of course you have no idea what you have and it somehow makes you feel like a person of higher stature trying to make someone else out to be a dumbass.

YOU have an old car, get to know what you need instead of looking for a reason to bitch and moan!!!!

 

There's idiots on both sides of the counter, stupid people have been breeding for years.....

I once watched and heard a customer ask to have threads added to a bolt to make it longer. He wanted it lengthened by "a few milligrams."

 

The dumbest thing I ever heard ? Oh boy.... I have a list :

"I need a power steering sensor for a 2002 Taurus"

"Where is the Vehicle Speed Sensor located on a 1998 Ranger ?"

"I need a POA Valve for a 65 Chevelle"

These are crazy, stupid questions, right ?

Oh... wait. These are actually legitimate questions and I am sure everyone here knows the answers.

 

I was asked for my something reward whatever thing card. I was getting a bottle of oil and was in a hurry. I dont have one just tell me how much I say. Grills me with more ?s and says he cant complete sale without it because he don't know how. I left the oil and he had to figure out how to remove started sale. Poor people behind me.

 

Best reply I have seen so far.

 

You, Sir, are the smartest guy on the HAMB. You get it. You understand. I had dickheaded customers come in to my store all the time, thinking they knew more than I or, as Wally and Eddie would say, "To give me the business." They either got, gently, straightened out on the spot, asked to leave or given the "special discount", list plus 10%

 

I always hated it when I'd ask for a particular spark plug number (for a Z-28 302 engine in a 56 Chevy) and they'd start the routine 'What kind of car? Which model?'.

 

You didn't read the thread did you? They have to ask that crap, to locate parts they need to find it on the computer first, to do that they need to pass through a series of questions, most of them are more for statistics than actually required to find the part but if they don't answer the extraneous questions the computer will not let them go any further.
So they need to know this crap to find your part.

No matter how good a counter guy is none of them know where every part is and there part number!!
Some of you guys need to chill out!

Doc.

 

Here is the dumbest thing I've seen.



-Danny

Sent from the best app on the web.

 

They ask most of those questions because they need to.
Would you rather they dont ask and give you a filter for a '92 Chevy K1500,which uses a right angle adapter and way smaller filter that probably won't fit your oilfield skid?

So,does it have a/c?

 

"It's no good you pointing at the part - I need a VIN number before I can find it"

 

Computers.... wonderful things.... until they crash. "We can't sell you the part because our system is down". But I can see the part right there on the shelf behind you... and I've got cash!

 

Part of the trouble is that most parts store computerized inventory systems don't go back as far as their online ones. I've resorted to writing down parts numbers before I walk into the parts store. Also when dealing with odd-ball combos I always just tell them the year and make of what ever vehicle it is that the parts came from. While some people might feel like they are superior when they ask the parts person for sparks plugs for a 30 Model A with a 360 and walk out with nothing I like to actually get my parts.

What does irritate me is when counter people are lazy and don't want to crack open a book. I had a recent experience with a gal at Advance Auto who did not want to look up anything in a book. I can't remember the part was but it was a very common one that I had bought a few months earlier from the same place. She told me it was dealer only

I did help another gal at the same place find spark plugs for a 427. Some jackass had called in asking for plugs for a 427 powered something (the motor was not original to the vehicle) and gave her the typical they're all the same line. I gave her a suggestion of what vehicle might have came with a 427 originally and she was able to find the douchebag's spark plugs. It's a computerized world, deal with it or shut up.

 

Black Dude wearing his last nights dance get up... walked into the parts store and said Yo man I need some disco pads for my Pinto... Everyone fell out !!!

 

350 chevys they're all the same

 

Went in to the local Auto Zone.Young guy behind counter.I needed a brake hose clip for my sons 81 Chevy Luv Truck.Kid said whats it fit,I answer,he trys to look up on computer.Looks at me confused and said,"Whats it fit??" I say 81 Chevy... He looks at me again and said ,That vehicle doesnt exist,theres no such thing.

I said okay,I,ll go accross the road to your competition and then go home and drive my invisible truck back here to show you.

This is my cheap NAPA plug.No knotheads!!!

 

Hello Can i help you?

 

Most of the francise parts stores have online stores, you can look the part number up yourself and in most cases see if they have it in stock before you go to pick it up. That way you have the number before you ever leave the house, saves a lot of frustration.

 

Hey, it can work the other way too.

I work for on-line parts retailer and some of the customers that call us up don't know crap either.

We had a guy call in one day looking for a set of sticks for his Chevy.

Us: Sticks?

Customer: Yea, sticks?

Us: Not sure what you mean by sticks.

Customer: Those things inside the engine that work the valves.

Us: Oh, do you mean pushrods?

Customer: Yea, okay, I've always just called 'em sticks.

Dumbass.

 

Hahahaha ... I can just here him "Ya dude my 307 in my chevelle is smokin' alot so a buddy said I need new compression rings for my tail pipes or somethin' like that oh yeah I'll take the bitchin' rubber steering wheel cover with the neon pink spider webs too. Right on man."

 

slightly off topic.
but it was at canada customs when i was driving truck.
the crossing is a rural crossing and farming community. i was hauling a new combine and the customs agent asked what was in the green container. i said it was the freight. she asked again what it was.

now the dumb a$$ in me kicked up to overdrive and i said it was machinery and that was all i knew about it. she asked if i didn't know what i was hauling and i said different freight every couple of days it goes on and i'm told where to go with it

she went back to what is it and i said it was a commercial greens mower. and she wrote it down and told me i was free to go. i asker her one more question and she said ok. i asked if there were farmers in her family and she replied yes my family farms about 15000 acres.... i said ok?

 

I work at Mazza auto parts so i've heard some things. Trust me.
But the worst was when i was WAY away from work with the 53', showed one of my buddies how the 'air filter' worked on the cadillac. Noticed my oil level was low. went to the advanced auto and placed the quart of cheap oil on the counter. guy tells me 'This is our cheap oil, for something that nice you should go with Mobil 1...' I say, "No man, its ok its just for the air filter." the look on is face was a mix of if called his mother a tramp while giving him $100. Then had to show him & two other workers how it worked as well.

 

Here it its, sorry it wasn't sooner buy I don't have the technology to post a video from my television to the computer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeiyZWGgoQ4

 

For you guys who say that you need to know what car you part came out of......what if you don't know. I mean, if you buy a 302 from somebody who inherited it from grandparents or parents, they don't know, you don't know. All you know is it might be a Ford 302.

Just calm down guys...

 

was at a salvage yard counter when a guy came in and told the counterman that he needed an alternator for his gooo le . the counterman said "gooo le? never heard of a gooo le." the customer says "ya a pontiac gooo le" counterman goes outside to see what a "gooo le" was. comes back in-gets him his alternator and the guy leaves. turns out the "gooo le" was in fact a pontiac 6ooo le with the "6" applied upside down on both doors , hence the ultra rare-one of one "pontiac gooo le"

 

Fair enough mate, I didn't mean for that to sound so offensive either!!
Thank you for posting it.

Doc.

 

Wrong.