Little Rant

[eaglejim]

So I had to go get a fuse circuit breaker type of thing for my wife's van it was a little bigger than a normal fuse go to the first store whey were helpful just didn't have the part.Went to the second store pull up and one of the clerks was outside he goes in when I pull up,I put the part on the counter and he looks at it and says "what is it" (I didn't say it) I was thinking of saying it's a break pad,I guess my point is if you are unfamiliar with what you sell or work with shouldn't you be inside the store walking the isles and getting to know what different things look like. I know those part guys have a lot of parts to deal with but it looked like a fuse.Oh well have to go to another one tomorrow.

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: Little Rant

They walk amongst us.

 

[Smuggler's Blues]

Re: Little Rant

I know the feeling. I went to one of those chain auto parts stores once to get an alternator for a 1966 Chevy pick up i was building. I had put a 454 in it and when I told the guy at the counter I needed an alternator for a 454 he said he needed to know what year the truck was. I told him it was a 1966 his only response (while looking at the computer the whole time) was that Chevy didnt put a 454 in the 1966. I tried to explain to him it was not the original engine yet he just didnt get it.

 

[wifisher]

Re: Little Rant

Parts stores don't look too hard at the mechanical qualifications of their employees. For the most part if they knew how to fix cars they would. Always go there knowing what you want, or who knows what you have when you leave. Most of them just look in the computer for make model year, and say they do or don't have it. Fuses aren't in the computer so it it often easier for them to say "sorry we don't have it" than it is to try to find it. Hourly pay is a poor motivation.

 

[dlindeblad]

Re: Little Rant

Off the subject, I was building a PC for my son and needed a floppy disk drive, 3.5 inch, to load Windows XP. I know it can be done with a CD boot disk, but I am comfortable with the floppy. Anyway I went to a RadioShack and asked the sales clerk if they had any in stock. He looks at me and says "what's a floppy drive and what's a floppy disk." I thought to myself, this is RadioShack right. Obviously they don't screen their workers anymore for electronic know how.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Little Rant

If they can't find a part on the computer, they have no clue. I even had a couple of guys tell me they need a part#. Say what???!! "What is that electronic gadget in front of you for, or, those parts manuals doing sitting there unopened. I suppose you want me to go get it off the shelf for you too??????" :facepalm:

 

[joed]

Re: Little Rant

I the end I went to farm parts for a spring for my lawn mower deck. Guy took the two pieces of the spring walked back to the boxes of springs just looked till he found a match. Took less than 2 minutes.

 

[ajgraz]

Re: Little Rant

I know the feeling. I went to one of those chain auto parts stores once to get an alternator for a 1966 Chevy pick up i was building. I had put a 454 in it and when I told the guy at the counter I needed an alternator for a 454 he said he needed to know what year the truck was. I told him it was a 1966 his only response (while looking at the computer the whole time) was that Chevy didnt put a 454 in the 1966. I tried to explain to him it was not the original engine yet he just didnt get it.

As wifisher alluded to, parts counter people do not have to be mechanics and are trained to look up parts by vehicle year/make/model. Basically, these same people might as well be working at WalMart for the depth of automotive knowledge they need for the job.

In their defense, this method of looking up parts is generally ALL they are allowed to do, so that no one can complain later that some kid sold them the wrong part by going "off script".

In future, go in there with a year/make/model that will get you the part you need, rather than expecting some 16 year old kid who might not know a spark plug from an oil filter to know what part will fit a 30 year old motor you transplanted into a 50 year old vehicle.

 

[eaglejim]

Re: Little Rant

Ok here is another one,a buddy and I went to lunch today(kfc) order their bar and got unsweet tea went back to get some sweet and low the girl says 'they don't have sugar" so I say no I would like s&l and she just looks at me like I am speaking a different language thank God there was someone there that knew what I was talking about

 

[infideltarget]

Re: Little Rant

Parts stores don't look too hard at the mechanical qualifications of their employees. For the most part if they knew how to fix cars they would. Always go there knowing what you want, or who knows what you have when you leave. Most of them just look in the computer for make model year, and say they do or don't have it. Fuses aren't in the computer so it it often easier for them to say "sorry we don't have it" than it is to try to find it. Hourly pay is a poor motivation.

Just sayin...thats a bad generalization. I worked at, and at one point during college managed, a large chain parts store. Worked a three different ones in fact while in school. I was, at one point, ASE certified, and was an ASE certified "Parts Pro" too (yes there is a certification for that). Look for the gear heads in there when you go. They will think outside the box. But as a general rule, they are taught to ask VERY specific questions, and not to deviate far from that due to liability issues. Cut 'em some slack. EVERYONE that walks into a parts store is mad. They are not there to shop for new bling...they are there because something is broken and they have to pay money they may not have, and will be spending time they dont want to spend fixing something they may not even like. Deal with that every day, all day, and you tend to get a bit nonchalant from time to time.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Little Rant

Sometimes you can turn it around on them,

Couple years ago we were at a race in Oklahoma (Super late model), I got in late saturday night and the driver told me it was great we had raced there before so we had the crew set the car up like we had the last time we were at this track about a month before, only problem was the oil pressure was falling off at times more then he liked so after talking about it and a few checks I figured out the oil pump was on its way out and then found out the crew forgot the brand new spare at home(AZ) its 10 PM were hosed until morning.

Sunday we have four hours until the race and we go up to O'Rielly since the race shops are closed and I was grasping at straws at this point, I tell the kid I need to look at two hi performance chevy oil pumps one pre 95 small block chevy and the other for a big block about the same year

O'Rielly kid- no problem what year is the car?
Me- I Told you a pre 95 chevy small block and a big block oil pump from the same age
O'Rielly kid- yes sir but in order to get it from the computer I need to know the year of the car

now I'm in a pretty good mood even though we could have a serious problem, the driver is the son of the team owner and he knows me well so when I give him the look he just kinda smiles knowing what is coming next

Me- 2009
Kid- Make sir?
Me- Lefthander
kid- Excuse me?
Me- Its a 2009 Lefthander chassis with a Monte Carlo body
Kid- hummmmm what motor does it have in it?
Me- 377 CI Small block
Kid- is it a chevy motor?
Me- no its a Hendrick
Kid- uh I need some help excuse me sir

Just as he got those words out of his mouth his manager came around the corner with two oil pumps, and his eyes were watering, He was listening in to the conversation and got a kick out of me messing with the kid. So he drops the two oil pumps down and the kid thanks the manager as I unbox both of them the manager walks off and I'm just not sure when a light goes off in my head, I ask about the warranty on both of these and the kid tells me they are both lifetime warranty, I'm like COOL! I have the old one outside can I take these outside for a moment and compare them? the kid says sure! So I take them outside and get my tools out I notice the shaft of the big block oil pump is identical to ours and take both apart WINNER!! I go inside and pay for the big block pump and the kid asks me for information for the warranty and I broke it to him that all I needed was the shaft and the impeller and that I didn't think the manufacturer had that in mind when the called it a lifetime warranty! I learned a valuable lesson that day, I can take the shaft and impeller out of a big block oil pump and it is a straight cross to the race oil pump in our motor. We took 1st that day! But it was pretty funny messing with that kid, even though I felt a bit bad since he was very polite!

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Little Rant

I got another one but this one went a completely different direction, I have a 1959 Thiokol Super Imp Snowcat, its been in my charge since 1986 and when I got it, it had undergone a complete professional frame off restoration. So fast forward to 2005, I am having steering issues and on this snow cat it has a hydrostatic steering system just like a skid steer, pull the left lever to turn left and the right to turn right, pull both to stop and a gas pedal to go pretty basic stuff.

So after having this snowcat for nearly 20 years at this point I know if I want the slave cylinders they are NAPA part number blah blah so I head to NAPA to get them and I am told I need to go to the main distribution center or they can have them in the morning, I got time so off I go. The main dist center is a NAPA auto parts store attached to a HUGE warehouse so I go in and pull a number, after ten minutes its my turn so I go up and its probably a 18 yr old kid, no problem I have the part number already

Kid- can I help you?
Me- yes I need two NAPA part number XXXX
Kid- what year vehicle?
Me- 1959
Kid- WOW thats an old one, what make?
Me-Yep its a Thiokol
Kid- a what?
me- Its a Thiokol snowcat
Kid- oh I see whats the part number again?

I give it to him and he goes in back, next thing I hear this guy just going off on someone about how this person is wasting to much expletive time and he needs to turn expletive people over faster, I mean the entire place could hear this guy verbatim. well a few minutes later this kid comes out and he has my slave cylinders and he has the water in the eyes look and he says here you go sir would you like to verify the parts and I told him I would so he opened the boxes and they were the right parts well Mr. big mouth comes out from in back talking to a suit and walks right behind this kid as the kid asks me if that would be all, I couldn't help it I told him no thank you and I think he did a great job even though he works for an ****ole, Mr Big mouth heard me and turned towards me and I just smiled at him and thanked the kid and walked to the cashier. Its a different time so sometimes you just need to be patient, hard to expect things to be like it used to be but I think in twenty years they will be saying the same thing

 

[I Fish]

Re: Little Rant

I don't think this store clerk incompetancy thing is limited to auto parts stores. It seems like every time I'm looking for something at a big box, I get mislead. Last Friday I was looking for a swivel, you know, the thing that makes a lazy susan or bar stool spin. After unsuccesfully looking in 3 different stores, I come home and get online. Well, it just so happens that on the website for one of the stores I was in says they have 8 in stock. Huh? Well, Saturday morning, I'm driving by that store and decide to stop and look again. Sure enough, they had it. The worst thing is that it was on the shelf directly behind the employee that said they didn't carry them. I just wish I had spotted them at the time, so I could have been like, "Really? Well, what this, then?"

 

[infideltarget]

Re: Little Rant

When I worked there, those of us that knew our stuff used to like to mess with the customers some if they gave us too much crap. NEVER did a day go by that some 3rd grade dropout would not come in and say something like this "Yeah...ah needs a corbrader fer a three-fitty shevee". Well...anyone who knows anything about engines, knows that there are way more than one "corbrader" that will fit, and if you want one exactly like what you have, you need to know the year and model it came from. So this was an everyday conversation:

JimBob Redneckerson: "Yeah...ah needs a corbrader fer a three-fitty shevee"
Me: "ok...what year is that engine?"
JBR: "Well hell...it dont make no damn differnce. They's all tha same."
Me: "Oh? Well then it won't matter which one I grab off the shelf then will it?"
JBR: "I dun teld you they's all tha same."
Me: "Be right back sir. Now you realize that once you run gas through this thing its yours. Make sure it is exactly like yours before you install it and run gas through it. OK? Make sure your linkages are the same, and make sure you don't need an adapter of any kind."
JBR: "It's a shevee three-fitty. Thar ain't no damn differnce in 'em!"


JBR gets his carburetor, goes home, and the new one does not match. He says it dont matter, so he puts it on, modifies the baseplate to make it work, fabs up some stupid linkages that are not even close, then he tries to run his car...which instantly puts gas in the bowls, and makes it non-returnable unless defective...and even then as an exchange for same part number only item. JBR gets pissed, rips the "defective" carb off he engine and brings it back to the store, and begins his tie raid about how stupid all us parts guys are, and how he wants his money back for this "defective" carb. I would wait for this, and smile graciously and remind him that it was in fact a carb for a three fifty Chevy engine, but obviously NOT the one in his vehicle. There are, in fact, at least 50 different part numbers for those carbs. No, you can't have your money back because you ran fuel through it and modified it, so since "they's all tha same", take it back home and make it work. Have a nice day sir, and you come back!

 

[Alpheus]

Re: Little Rant

I cant stand the ones that think they know what they are talking about. I dont know everything about every engine but I am very familiar with SBC,Honda and Lycoming engines. I needed a set of timing gears for a 4.3 engine. I know its for a boat so I took it easy on the kid. I said it was for a 99 Chevy blazer. The kid finds the part goes in the back and grabs me two of them. I told him I only needed one. He got upset and proceeded to tell me that I have two cam shafts in my engine,One in each head. Thats why they call it an over head cam engine. I didnt have the time or energy to deal with this kid. I told him Ill just take one. He says OK but you will be back to get the other one. Needless to say I never went back for the other one...

 

[infideltarget]

Re: Little Rant

I cant stand the ones that think they know what they are talking about. I dont know everything about every engine but I am very familiar with SBC,Honda and Lycoming engines. I needed a set of timing gears for a 4.3 engine. I know its for a boat so I took it easy on the kid. I said it was for a 99 Chevy blazer. The kid finds the part goes in the back and grabs me two of them. I told him I only needed one. He got upset and proceeded to tell me that I have two cam shafts in my engine,One in each head. Thats why they call it an over head cam engine. I didnt have the time or energy to deal with this kid. I told him Ill just take one. He says OK but you will be back to get the other one. Needless to say I never went back for the other one...

Thats a generational thing for sure. I had kids come in to interview for jobs on the counter that had wrenched on cars all their lives, but did not know what a pushrod was. They had just never had any experience with old technology. A lot of these younger guys (and gals) simply have had no experience with any kind of powerplant that has less than two cams, and four valves per cylinder.
I used to race and build Wankel Rotary engines as a hobby. You should see me try to explain THAT one to some of those guys!

 

[Brewman61]

Re: Little Rant

For what the typical retail store pays it's employees, you're not in a lot of cases going to get someone with a mechanics background.
Maybe at a specialty shop, dealership or something, but at the typical Autozone type of place? Maybe once in a blue moon.