Moron Parts store CUSTOMERS

Turnabout is fair game fellas. I had a guy come into the parts store asking for ignition wires for his truck. What kind of truck, I ask. He doesn't know. I asked his name. He replied, "Bob". I looked it up on the puter and said, "Sorry but I have no listings for Bob's truck". I have more but would like to hear from the pros.

LIFE OF A PARTS MAN
Leo Chouinard

I work behind the counter
In an automotive store
Sometimes I'm called a genius
Sometimes I'm called much more

I claim I'm no mechanic
But when the job goes sick
The mechanic comes and asks me
What makes the damned thing tick

I'm supposed to know the numbers
Of bolts and nuts and gears
For every car that was ever made
For more than forty years

I'm an engineer and machinist
And what not, Oh, my Lord
I'm supposed to be an Edison
Combined with Henry Ford

But life would be a pleasure
And I'd grin from ear to ear
If the customer would tell me
The model, make, and year.

 

Nice lol

 

A customer came in and asked for front brake pads for his car, and as I was looking them up I asked if he needed rears as well, his response was: I think they are fine...I hardly ever back up.....

 

Ha! I'd kind of like to hear more stories from the other side of the counter. I've definitely ran into some parts guys that really shouldn't have been anywhere near the counter, but at the same time I know there's a ton of sharp guys out there who don't know it all and don't claim to, but do their best to help with not so sharp customers like this. Two way street and with all the bashing of the parts guys, I would like to hear some speak up.

OT but I've been selling motorcycle parts online for years. My favorite call or email is "Now you have this down as fitting 2004 and later Sportster only...will it fit my 1996 Ultra Classic?" but by far the most frustrating thing a parts guy can deal with IMO is a customer who doesn't know what they're driving, and/or has already pinned the guy at the parts counter as being a dummy that isn't going to be able to help them anyways. Give the parts guy a chance, and know what you're working on!

 

Had a lady call and order e-brake cables for an early 70's chevy nova. I had to order from two different sources and it was going to take two days. She came in the following day knowing so but wanted to make sure I had the correct cables coming. I looked under her ragged out chevy and agreed when she pointed to the cables that they were what I ordered. She was relieved as her job was newspaper deliver lady and the e-brake was the only functioning brakes on her car. I made a bee-line to my personal car to move it before she left!

 

Customer needs a brake line. I ask how long he needs it. His reply, "Well I'd like to keep it for a while".

 

Love it!!!

I've been in both sides of the counter and I was always right!! )

 

As a customer, I deal with three stores - two NAPA stores and one O'Reillys. The countermen at each are pretty damn sharp. First off, I go in knowing what I want, and provide specifics; sometimes I'll even have a part number for them. Secondly, I don't cop an attitude with the parts guy. Third, I've yet to NOT get the part I need, and get it quickly.

Find a good parts house, get to know two or three of the folks working there, and you'll rarely, if ever, have a problem.

In the '70s, I worked the parts counter at a Chrysler-Plymouth-FIAT dealership in Colorado, so here is one of my "other side of the counter" experiences: A guy comes in needing a disc brake rotor. I ask him what car the rotor is for, and he replies "It's for a '76 Nova SS"..."Uh, Sir, you are at a Chrysler parts counter. The Chevy store is across the street."..."So, you can't help me?" Ya think?

Too easy.

 

"What kind of engine?" "Small black Chevy."

 

Thats funny..............good for you!

 

There was a time in my youth (early 70's) when a parts man pretty much WAS all that. Seriously. Around here in SoCal when I was young, the parts guys were a wealth of information.

 

i need a set of rotaries.
rotaries? okay.. for what?
a 86 silverdorado.
a what?
1986 chevy silverdorado. 1500.
okay.....

i need spark plug wires for my Volkswagen.
okay... what year and model?
it don't matter, they all the same.
uuhh... no, i'm pretty sure the ones for a 4 won't work on a 6; can i get your VIN so i can be absolutely sure of the engine code?
what? you need a VIN to look up plug wires? just sell me wires for a passat vr6.
(after looking through catalog) okay; that's 275 dollars plus tax.
WHAT? all i want is a set of plug wires.
that IS a set of Passat vr6 wires. are you sure that's what you need to fix your car? we seldom have any demand for these.
yeah, it won't start. it's either that or the mass air flow. (WHAT?)
(turns out he did need a MAF... but he'd have paid for wires he couldn't return...)

 

I just grabbed my own brake lines the other day at the parts store, I thought hey cool they're letting me get what I need. I get home and bend up a line that has compound bends to hug the firewall, sneak past the fenderwell headers and stay tight to the frame.
Guess what, I grabbed a damn metric fitting line, I was like maybe I'll just let them get the next one for me...lol

 

I had a lady order a door molding for her OT car. I asked her if the car was a two door or a four door(first question), Then is it for passenger or driver's side . Comes back a week later complaining the molding is way to long. When I ask again two or four door , yes it's a two door ( we go out to the car) She replies see it has two doors on one side. good grief !

 

So back when I was working, a customer of ours came in and ordered a filter kit for his AT. This was Sat morning and we closed then at 2. He calls at around 10 of 2 that day all miserable and calling us names. Seems we gave him the wrong gasket kit for that tranny! And he demanded that we stay late and wait for him to get there or he would never come back again!! So I waited and around 2:15 he strolls in all smug and pissed off. Throws the pan on the counter and puts the "gasket" on the pan and proudly says "see it is the wrong gasket, nothing lines up. So I looked at it and then looked at him and said no it is the right gasket and then flipped the gasket over and it fit. He took the gasket and abuptly left without an apology. LOL

 

Now that's funny.

 

Okay, I bring some model car kits to the swap meets in with the other stuff I have to sell. I had a '59 El Camino kit tucked in there with $30 on it, that I bought myself a few years back. Guy picks it up, wants to know if I'll take $25, I say no, he buys it anyways. Now this kit is a reissue from like 1998, new enough to have the "Licensed By GM" and a new Chevrolet logo on the side of what is otherwise a clone of the original release box, but you basically have to know nothing about model car kits to not realize it's a reissue... I mean, if nothing else it has copyright 1998 or whatever year it was on the box. Old kit boxes are heavy cardboard, this was just cardstock; old kit boxes were sealed with tape on the ends, this one I made a point of saying I took the shrink wrap off it myself.

So 20 minutes later he comes back wanting his money back because he's opened it and he says "it's a new kit in an old box" .... I told him tough, and got threatened with being beat up and all this other shit. #1 do you see Wal-mart printed on my forehead? #2, you have to be stupid to not have looked and seen the new Chevy logo and the copyright on it, and #3, you took it off who knows where and opened it... so you're shit out of luck, sorry. The guy wanted a $150 kit for $25, and he got a $25 kit for $30 mostly because I didn't really care if I sold it. I even said as much, that if it had been an original kit it would have been $150, not $30.

I was fine with him and his attitude until he knocked a couple other things down, then I was ready to kill this asshole myself. Never any security around when you need it. Fortunately no major damage.

But the guy never came back and that was the end of it. Later I walked by the guy who specializes in model cars and he had the same damn kit in the same box for $18. I was surprised, because any other vendor with kits that era wants $25-$30 (which makes sense given most of them retail for $20-$25 now anyways).

And I still buy model kits to resell, but I only buy kits still sealed in the original shrink wrap, that solves the problem of people wanting to open them up and lose half the parts on me.

But I get that kind of shit a lot - these people wouldn't pull this stuff in Wal-mart, but they see you sitting there with used stuff and think it's junk and you don't know or care about it and should sell it to them for cheap. I do like 15 car shows a year, I have two flea markets I can set up at when there's no car show, the one flea market is year round, and I do a ton of model shows in the winter - I don't have to sell a damn thing right here and now, and I'm sure not going to give it away just because you waved a $1 at me.

 

Had a guy come in once and asked for "Diesel Shoes"......

Another time a guy called up and asked for Juan, I said - "sorry No Juan Here"

 

I had a guy come in today looking for a cargo lid cover bolt. Decklid bolt? No cargo lid. Where it hooks to the body. What kinda car? Corvette. What year? I dunno.....'94 I think. Ok. Is it a bolt at the hinge? No, above the sunvisor. Huh? Oh! It's a removable hardtop for a Corvette....

Everyday.....I work in the ghetto at a GM dealer. I'm just glad it wasnt an '80's sumthin Caddy.

 

I onley being doing parts since the late seventies so i does nots know a whole lot.I always tells the techs you have the right parts.You are just working on the wrong car.My best one i have is We have everything in stock EXCEPT for the stuff we are out of.Sold lots of rebuilt spark plugs and recycled oil and antifreeze years ago.I hate going into the discounts stores unless i know exactly what i need.

 

We had a sign at the John Deere dealership I worked at. "A lack of planning on your part does not make an emergency on my part."

 

Back in the late '70s a friend opened a parts store in a strip center in Houston. His location was previously a hamburger place. Few weeks after he opened the auto parts store a drunk came in walked past all the auto parts displays went up to the counter and ordered a cheeseburger & fries.

 

Can you cut keys for my car. Sure. We need proof of ownership, title, reg, insurance, and a valid picture ID. Why do ya need that?

Everyday. I work in the ghetto.

 

I have to say, it's been a while since I've been to a parts store for something other than oil and filters.
So, we picked up a OT ride as a new daily to save gas, and I have to give MAD props to the guys (the two Saturday's I was there there were no ladies) who work at Autozone and O'Reilly's in Ypsi Township, and the Advance in Ann Arbor. They were polite, friendly, helpful and generally pleasant to be around, even when they didn't make a sale because they didn't have the part in stock I needed. The guy at Advance even went so far as to write the part number down so I could check the other two (competing) stores!

Just wanted to add some positive vibes too.

JK

 

Whaddya mean the rear brake line fir my '85 Cadillac Cimmaron are discontinued by GM?

 

I have a customer call me up and bitch me out for 5 straight minutes about a set of coil springs he bought from us. While he took a breath, I managed to ask him his name, and while he continued screaming at me I looked at his account and let him know that he didn't order them from us.

He then told me it was my fault that he ordered them from someone else, because I ask to much money for my springs. I informed him that I too could sell shitty springs for $40 dollars less than anyone else, but refused to. He just uttered a profanity and hung up.

The life of a parts guy is rewarding some days & a kick in the balls on others.

 

I need part numbers so I can call GM and get them for less $$.

 

These keys you cut from my title won't work in my 1990 Corsica.
Good chance then the cylinders have been changed.
No.
Did you buy the car new?
No. I'm the 13th owner.
Sorry. No returns on keys. In print.
Where?
Right here on your receipt. Twice.

 

Can I get those parts at Auto Zone?
I dunno. I work for Randy Wise Chevy.
Can you call them for me and tell them what I need?
No.
Do you have a phone book?
Behind you. Next to the other stack of 1,000.
Can I use your phone?
Go away.

 

I got a million. I work in the ghetto, ya see.