Ever have a parts store guy tell you you're wrong...

[jumpkickyergunt]

but you know you're right and they keep trying to give you the business? Holy mother of God it is the most annoying thing in the entire universe. Like a guy starting an argument with me about how thermostat housing gaskets are different between Silverados, Scottsdales, and Cheyennes. Please don't argue with me about my truck which you know nothing about ok parts guy?

[AZ87V10]

Ain't that the truth? Lol! 

[Irish_Alley]

as an ex part guy from autozone. what size engine is it for your brake pads?

[Irish_Alley]

if someone came into our store and asked a question about a bmw i would send them to one guy. if they asked a question about gm they got sent my way. some vehicles it matters about what package it has cause the engine would depend on that. but for no reason have i ever had the computer ask me what package the car was it would ask just whats the engine size and ask for the 8th digit of the vin

[jumpkickyergunt]

That same guy also sold me a 3" catalytic converter and when I noticed after the sale that that was incorrect (2. 5" obviously) he told me that "it's what it call for" and I had to get back in line to return it because he "had to get out of here". Line was pretty long too. Get back up there to the manager and tell him that his employee is a jackass. Turns out the idiot got the 6 and 9 mixed up in the part number when he grabbed it off the shelf. All that arguing and sneering was absolutely annoying to have to deal with. 

[LTZ C20]

Every freaking time I've gone to autozone (no offense Irish) I've had to school them on something because they try to prove I'm wrong. That's why I go to O'Reilly hahaha.

[jumpkickyergunt]

Every freaking time I've gone to autozone (no offense Irish) I've had to school them on something because they try to prove I'm wrong. That's why I go to O'Reilly hahaha.

Aw man this was at Oreillys! Haha. Autozone is bad too. Once had a guy there pretend order me some lug nuts. Checked in a day or two later to find out that he never ordered them. I still laugh at the idea of someone pretending to type the order out on the keyboard when you could just put a little more effort in by applying slightly more downward force on the keys. No one can possibly be that incompetent and lazy.

[Irish_Alley]

That same guy also sold me a 3" catalytic converter and when I noticed after the sale that that was incorrect (2. 5" obviously) he told me that "it's what it call for" and I had to get back in line to return it because he "had to get out of here". Line was pretty long too. Get back up there to the manager and tell him that his employee is a jackass. Turns out the idiot got the 6 and 9 mixed up in the part number when he grabbed it off the shelf. All that arguing and sneering was absolutely annoying to have to deal with. 

yeah his first clue should of been when he found the part number on the computer he should of asked for your phone number. then when you paid for it normally you dont have to enter in another phone number unless the part youre selling isnt registered with a warranty.

but to be fair the stupidity is sometimes on the other side of the counter. someone might ask for parts for a Plymouth sunfire or tell you its a 3.2 in a sunfire when the only options are 2.2 and 2.4. or they ask for brake caterpillar or cadillac converter.

our favorite is when someone walks into autozone and says i would like to return this part and its in a advanced auto parts bag and box.

even had this one lady tell me her brake line was rusted and she needed to replace it with fuel injection line. i straight up told her no im not selling you that she got upset and stormed out so i called all the other local autoparts stores (i called them a lot so we all knew each other) and described the woman and what she was trying to do.

[jumpkickyergunt]

I can't give the guy a break. He was trying to get home rather than taking care of the customer. Believe me, I don't like getting stuck at work late, but we're talking about 15 minutes after 5pm at a parts store. It ain't a steel mill. I work overtime and Saturdays in much worse environment and I'm not crying about it or trying to run off when my shift ends. Nobody takes pride in their work anymore. I don't know, maybe I'm too German...

I do admit though that at autozone especially, the employees have to deal with quite a wide array of "interesting" customers.

[fitz]

I know its frustrating to have to answer 20 questions to get the parts you need, but there is a method to the madness.
Most of these parts counter people aren't going to be experts on every make & model.  They are simply typing info into the computer to get a part #.
You know the deal, you have to give them the year, make, model, trim level (as you mentioned), and the engine size.
It may not make a difference on a thermostat housing gasket (as that parts gut thought) but for some parts, it will make a difference.
An example is on the 1980 trucks, silverados had square headlights, base models had round headlights.  Same with taillights, some models have the chrome trim, base models don't.  This also caries over to the engine compartment.  The sending units for the oil pressure & temperature gauges are different to match the gauges on the Silverado as opposed to the dummy lights on the base trucks.

[jumpkickyergunt]

I think he should just listen to what I say. When I say it doesn't matter then he should say ok and click either one because I can clearly see that there is no Bonanza option on their screen. All the interior packages were listed under every gasket anyways and he's telling me the opposite of what the screen says right in front him. I can't defend incompetence. I would not let him stay in my armored fortress if WW3 broke out. He'd screw something up and doom the whole group.

[LTZ C20]

Well I haven't been in to an autozone in a very long time and my trips to O'Reilly's have been rather uneventful for a long while too so lately I actually have nothing to complain about.

[LTZ C20]

Every freaking time I've gone to autozone (no offense Irish) I've had to school them on something because they try to prove I'm wrong. That's why I go to O'Reilly hahaha.

Aw man this was at Oreillys! Haha. Autozone is bad too. Once had a guy there pretend order me some lug nuts. Checked in a day or two later to find out that he never ordered them. I still laugh at the idea of someone pretending to type the order out on the keyboard when you could just put a little more effort in by applying slightly more downward force on the keys. No one can possibly be that incompetent and lazy.

Oh man lol double trouble!

If memory serves me right, I think Irish or maybe it was Engineer, I'm not sure I know it was one of the regular members, had a pretty good story from a Napa store about a year ago, I think it was over brake parts, not for sure tho.

[Dr_Snooz]

I remember when they used to say they had whatever it was you called them for, then changed their mind when you got there. It was Jeckyl and Hyde. On the phone, "Yeah, we got that. Come on down." Then when you got there, "Oh... no we don't have that," usually accompanied by a vacant expression. That really cheesed me off.

To some extent I blame the businesses. They want to hire the cheapest person they can find. Then they don't train, so the guy behind the counter only knows to punch keys and follow the script. Try to go into any store and say "I need a filter for a TH400." Even if they know what you're talking about, they'll still go through the script. Parts guy used to be a career you retired from. Now it's just another low wage retail job.

Hey, just be glad you can still get parts for these trucks. My beloved Red Car is sitting dead in my yard because I can't get parts for it anymore.

[Irish_Alley]

a "good" worker will automatically say "let me make sure we have the part" and go check on the shelf. most workers wont mind if you ask "can you verify the part is on the shelf" although i was only a red shirt, i did some work of the gray shirts (management) and i was getting paid more than most managers, which pissed them off when i told them how much i was getting paid. they have a dress code black pants and black socks with black shoes. i would wear my brown cowboy boots and be dipping (really frowned upon and un professional but as long as i didnt spit in front of the store or a customer and kept my bottle out of site. no one complained) but if we had some other big wig come around i would run to the car was section and grab some "back to black" or something like that and give my boots a nice coat to turn them black/dark brown lol.

went to a diffrent store once to get a conversion u joint with my friend who put a 14 bolt under his blazer and the kid said our computer doesnt tell me what u joint so i cant help you. fire went though me, so i "nicely" told him "why dont you get the u joint for the blazer then get one for the 14 bolt then find one that was the same as the two for the conversion u joint". he then said in a crying voice "you know how long that will take?" i laughed and told him "the store is empty you have nothing better to do but sweep the floors. so just do it" i was using a tone i normally dont use and wasnt smiling one bit. he gave me this blank stare my buddys grabbed me and said "c'mon tim lets go." im friends with that store mangier but she normally works the after noon so she wasnt in. i wished she was so she could straiten him out. i even had this one girl who didnt want to work and ended up quitting a week later and she didnt know who i was. but she read some codes on my car and i asked her to print it out she says she cant. i go over to the next computer enter the codes and press print then ask her to hand me the slip that just printed out. she didnt even care that it could be done just wanted to get paid for doing nothing. this was at my old store and me and the store mangier are like father and son, he told me i was like the son he never had lol. but i kind of work undercover for him to see any week links for the new cats.

i could go on and on about stories just from our store even some about me screwing up or when i drove for autozone i used to pick my beagle up and take him for rides with me.