Parts Store Counter Workers -- The Official Rant Thread

[Fastbird]

This is for all you parts store counter workers out there. Rant and rave about customers here!!

Pet peeves for me:

1. Don't come into my store expecting me to wait on you hand a foot. You're a capable adult, and can get your own wiper blades. I nearly went to blows with one a-hole who said to me "you can get those and put them on my car for me." Sorry buddy, it don't work like that. I don't have to do anything for you. If I feel like it and you don't irritate me, sure. If you order me, you're on your own.

2. Don't buy a car with a motor swapped from god knows what, or swap in a motor from god knows what, and expect me to be able to give you the right part. If you insist on that part that might not be right, don't come in screaming that I gave you the wrong part. You will get no sympathy from me.

3. Know what the hell you're driving. You'd be amazed at how many people don't know what motor is in their car.

4. If you want a U-Joint for a mid 80's through mid 90's Chevy Truck, just bring in your old one. Chevy used about 500 different U-Joints. Don't get pissed at me when you call and ask for one and I have to play 20 questions that you don't know.

5. Stop calling and asking why your car won't run. Sure, lots of us are mechanically inclined. Some of us even do side work and are VERY good at diagnosing vehicles. But for one we're not a service center, we're a parts store. For two, diagnostics aren't cheap and my in depth advice isn't free. Lastly, we can't tell you why your car won't run or is misfiring over the phone, too many variables.

6. If you know better than me, then don't ask for my advice or opinion. If uncle bob says that this is the problem, at least see if you car has that part to begin with. You'll only embarrass yourself.

7. We do not know everything about every car, so don't expect us to.

8. Lay off the less knowing workers. It's a job, and not everyone has the same skill level. Deal with it. --

9. No matter what you may think, you are no better than anyone else. Just because you walked into the store doesn't make you better than the person assisting you. Getting a holier than thou attitude gets you knowhere. -- This is a HUGE peeve of mine. I've up and thrown people out of the store for treating my employee's poorly. I've nearly gone to blows with people for treating me poorly. I will not stand for it and when it comes to it could care less about my job if I have to whoop someone butt.

10. Know what you want. If you say you need this or that thingy, know the part name. We're not psychic, we can't read minds, and if you can't tell us what you want, how do you expect us to know what you need.

That's all for now but I've got more. How about the rest of you guys.

[Tyler Wheat]

I agree with #5 alot. I ran into that alot when I was selling parts at a GM dealership. We don't diagnose vehicles- we just sell parts. That's what we'd always tell them.

I don't know how you deal with doing all makes/models. The dealership was all GM, which is probably the easiest parts catalogging out there. I had it easy.

I kinda miss that job. It was really laid-back.

[Biggin'89]

Very well said, and covers most of my issues. except:

1) This is America, we speak english so learn it. Don't expect me to be able to know what you want if you can't tell me what you need in english.

2) If you don't know what a part is or does, then why are you holding it in your hand, and how do you know its broken.

3) Do you go to the grocery store and ask the clerk to cook your food for you? Of course not so don't ask me to install your parts in the lot.

4) A/C work should be left to people that know what they are doing. If you don't understand how it works pay someone to fix it.

5) Im not asking you if you need caliper grease, anti-seize, or die-electric grease to up sell you. it is requirement to do the job right and im trying to ensure you get what you need in one trip and possibly save you quite the headache down the road and maybe even some money

6) No your not in here all the time. If you were I would know you by name, what you drive, and your purchase history under your phone number would be quiet extensive or you would have an account

7) Don't grab the cheapest set of wiper blades that are called "rainy days" and ask if they are a good blade. and for god sakes spend the extra dollar to get a full blade instead of refills. I have no problem putting on new blades but won't go though the hassle of finding what width of refill you need and teach you to put them on. if you want to save a buck figure it out by yourself.

8) Fram sucks, plain and simple. don't argue with me.

9) Just because you bought a BMW/Benz and its older doesn't mean parts are still going to be cheaper or easier to find. if you want to look upper class sometimes you have to pay for it. If you want cheap parts you can afford and find buy a cavalier.

I could go on, but don't want to steal all the good ones. and im just making myself pissed off lol

[Biggin'89]

I don't know how you deal with doing all makes/models. The dealership was all GM, which is probably the easiest parts catalogging out there. I had it easy.

its not terrible. but not always fun, you tend to pick up on what the major problems of certain vehicles are. like fords always have problems with the dpfe or differential pressure feedback sensor which is fancy talk for the egr pressure sensor....

[Fixxer99TA]

(Not really customer service, but close enough :D)

Just one of my favorites from the GM Stealership :

Older Guy comes in one week for a tire rotation/oil change and one other thing (cant remember, its been awhile... But it was all basic shit)

Car checks out OK, make a quick note that the tie rods are looking a little beat/some play. Car looks good other than that, but the tie rods are still driveable (play, but hanging in there). Service writer mentions it to customer, but of course customer doesnt care and wants said car back.

Thats cool, dont buy it if you dont want to/cant. Doesnt bother me as long as it doesnt waste my time. In and out, No problem there.

Customer comes in almost exactly one week later, complaining of a vibration/something feeling weird in steering. Customer insists that we rotate the tires back to where they were the week before, he is SURE its something the Tech (Me) did. Before I continue, this is a classic angry old person. This guy doesnt take ANYTHING for an answer.

I finally get to check the car out, but my SW keeps telling me just re-rotate em' and get it back to him without doing/checking anything. I pop the tires off, and obviously I see a totally eaten tie rod. My manager happens to be nearby, so I tell him to take a look. He agrees, and goes to talk to the older guy.

Manager takes almost 2 hours to kindly explain the danger of the situation, but said customer refuses to listen. (All the while, this is eating up one of my bays AND my time... For something as STUPID as this).

Long story short, customer leaves with tires in SAME place as week before, AND a nearly broken tie rod (I still to this day think he hit something, that tie rod went from borderline to minced WAY too fast). But this would happen almost everyday, people would hit shit and deny it up and down the wall. If they would just tell us what they hit, things would go 80% quicker.

EDIT : Things would also go quicker if people would LISTEN and not be STUPID, but thats a different rant for a different day :D

[Tyler Wheat]

its not terrible. but not always fun, you tend to pick up on what the major problems of certain vehicles are. like fords always have problems with the dpfe or differential pressure feedback sensor which is fancy talk for the egr pressure sensor....

Yeah, I just don't think I'd want to deal with all the non-domestic engine stuff. I think I could deal with strictly domestics. I ordered some parts for a guy I worked with that was a big Honda buff so he could get our discount. Some of that stuff was foreign to me. Luckily he knew exactly what he was looking for.

[Tyler Wheat]

(Not really customer service, but close enough :D)

Just one of my favorites from the GM Stealership :

Older Guy comes in one week for a tire rotation/oil change and one other thing (cant remember, its been awhile... But it was all basic shit)

Car checks out OK, make a quick note that the tie rods are looking a little beat/some play. Car looks good other than that, but the tie rods are still driveable (play, but hanging in there). Service writer mentions it to customer, but of course customer doesnt care and wants said car back.

Thats cool, dont buy it if you dont want to/cant. Doesnt bother me as long as it doesnt waste my time. In and out, No problem there.

Customer comes in almost exactly one week later, complaining of a vibration/something feeling weird in steering. Customer insists that we rotate the tires back to where they were the week before, he is SURE its something the Tech (Me) did. Before I continue, this is a classic angry old person. This guy doesnt take ANYTHING for an answer.

I finally get to check the car out, but my SW keeps telling me just re-rotate em' and get it back to him without doing/checking anything. I pop the tires off, and obviously I see a totally eaten tie rod. My manager happens to be nearby, so I tell him to take a look. He agrees, and goes to talk to the older guy.

Manager takes almost 2 hours to kindly explain the danger of the situation, but said customer refuses to listen. (All the while, this is eating up one of my bays AND my time... For something as STUPID as this).

Long story short, customer leaves with tires in SAME place as week before, AND a nearly broken tie rod (I still to this day think he hit something, that tie rod went from borderline to minced WAY too fast). But this would happen almost everyday, people would hit shit and deny it up and down the wall. If they would just tell us what they hit, things would go 80% quicker.

Oh people never make mistakes. If you change the oil in someones car and the dash lights quit working, its always your fault. NO EXCEPTIONS.

LOL oh the joys of working in the shop.

I love the ones where you're not supposed to roll the window down but no one tells you..... then it won't go back up. That one seems to get people fired up from time to time.

[Fixxer99TA]

At a dealership, in my expeirence, EVERYTHING gets EVERYONE fired up :D

[Fastbird]

1) This is America, we speak english so learn it. Don't expect me to be able to know what you want if you can't tell me what you need in english......

5) Im not asking you if you need caliper grease, anti-seize, or die-electric grease to up sell you. it is requirement to do the job right and im trying to ensure you get what you need in one trip and possibly save you quite the headache down the road and maybe even some money


100% Agree with #1. At least TRY to speak english.

As for #5, I've got a fix for this. I explain to people that if they bring in their brake pads and one is down to nothing and the rest are fine, tough luck, you're not getting a new set because your car wasn't properly maintained. They buy it. Which leads me to......

Warranties. READ THE FINE PRINT PEOPLE! A Lifetime warranty is against defects and failure. A lifetime warranty does NOT mean bring your old pads back to us when they're worn and get a new set. I would absolutely LOVE to put an end to this practice but the damn companies are so much about kissing the customers ass that they ignore their own warranty policy.

I do deny warranty claims on plenty of occasions when I see something come in that's obviously because of a bigger issue (like eaten up brake pads), and I absolutely LOVE sending someone out of the store with the same starter/alternator/battery that they bring in swearing up and down that it's bad and I hand it back after testing saying "You've got another issue, this is fine." I'll stick to my guns through and through on those situations.

[BLOWNDFIZ]

Man you guys are bringing back memories from my "behind the counter" days.... It's making me rethink my idea of buying my own NAPA store someday.:confused:

[Camaro_94]

Luckily, I deal with a good Auto Zone store around me where most of its employees are a big help when ever I need it. The Manager there is a real nice guy and is always willing to help you out and is very honest.

BUT, from a consumer point of view, I hate when an employee at a auto zone or anyother part store does not listen and just tries to sell you the part with the highest profit margin. Case in point.. I had to buy some new winter tires for my Formula a few weeks ago, and I went to a local pep-boys store to browse around. I told him exactly what I needed, exact tire sizes, and everything (which he told me I was wrong at first... insisted that my Formula had 15in rims), checked his computer, and BAM! 16in tires come up. No big deal, I'm a very patient and understanding guy. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am extremely easy to deal/work with. So after that, I tell him what I'm looking for (need some winter tires), and so he tries to sell me these crappy (forgot what brand) "high performance" tires. I keep telling him that I dont want those since they arent good for the winter, but he keeps trying to sell them to me since they were on sale, but still incredably expensive for what they were.

I found some BFG's that looked good, and he tells me that they arent a good winter tire. I was wondering how he came to that point or what he heard about them and where he found that or if he had personal experience with those tires. So he says that "he could just tell", and not to get those and the other set that he was trying to get me before were a better set for the snow, even though they had a really crappy traction rating. So at this point I was kinda getting frusterated and was tired of his made up reviews and trying to sell me something I told him I dont want or dont need. I told him that I'm just going to keep looking around and to have a nice day.

I left, and went right across the street to another place that sells tires. The place was called Sams Club, and I was talking to another guy there who was much more help and I told him what I was looking for and what I needed. I also told him about another tire I saw (the one at pep-boys), and he brought me over to it and started to explain someof the good and bad things about it (I guess he had them on his own car). He said they work really good in the snow, and good in the summer. He did say that the tires were known to be a bit noisy or something like that and wear a bit quicker than stated but have a 50,000 mile guarentee. But he said that they were a good snow tire and would fit my needs very well. So I went ahead and bought them and had them put it on. They were the BFGoodrich Traction T/A's and I've had no problems with them since and am very glad I bought them.

When I go into a autopart store, I dont expect them to know a lot about my car (thats my job). But I just dont like it when they try to sell me something that wont fit my needs.

Like I said, I am a very easy guy to work with, and a great customer, but I just dont like to be "taken".

- Mike

[Biggin'89]

I will never try to sell something to someone just based on price. Of course i will push the premium line, which yeah its more expensive but its also higher quality. and what I put on my car, except for some things like brakes. I will recommend the top grade pad and our house brand rotor, its just a good combination that i've never seen wear uneven if installed properly.



As for #5, I've got a fix for this. I explain to people that if they bring in their brake pads and one is down to nothing and the rest are fine, tough luck, you're not getting a new set because your car wasn't properly maintained. They buy it. Which leads me to......

Warranties. READ THE FINE PRINT PEOPLE! A Lifetime warranty is against defects and failure. A lifetime warranty does NOT mean bring your old pads back to us when they're worn and get a new set. I would absolutely LOVE to put an end to this practice but the damn companies are so much about kissing the customers ass that they ignore their own warranty policy.

I do deny warranty claims on plenty of occasions when I see something come in that's obviously because of a bigger issue (like eaten up brake pads), and I absolutely LOVE sending someone out of the store with the same starter/alternator/battery that they bring in swearing up and down that it's bad and I hand it back after testing saying "You've got another issue, this is fine." I'll stick to my guns through and through on those situations.


See normally I just won't say anything after they say no. I look as it like, I offered and you declined. If you come back next week with one toasted pad and 3 new ones i'll say you should've gotten the caliper grease. But if they ask if they really need it then yes i'll explain the reason behind it.

and yes i agree about how we bend the warranty policy on brake pads. Normally if they are the house brand then i'll make them buy another set but if they are a premium i'll warranty them out. And i don't know about you guys, but the reason we warranty them for wear is just because the other parts stores do. Now that is just plain stupid to me, if we all stopped doing it we wouldn't be giving free sets of brake pads away any more.

I absolutely hate the people that will bring in batteries that have just cranked and cranked and cranked on them until there is nothing left in them and think they can just say it won't start the vehicle and expect a brand new one.... NOOOOO mutha facker you now get to wait for me to charge it up or you can go charge it yourself. If the battery is good you don't get another.

[Fastbird]

and yes i agree about how we bend the warranty policy on brake pads. Normally if they are the house brand then i'll make them buy another set but if they are a premium i'll warranty them out. And i don't know about you guys, but the reason we warranty them for wear is just because the other parts stores do. Now that is just plain stupid to me, if we all stopped doing it we wouldn't be giving free sets of brake pads away any more.

I absolutely hate the people that will bring in batteries that have just cranked and cranked and cranked on them until there is nothing left in them and think they can just say it won't start the vehicle and expect a brand new one.... NOOOOO mutha facker you now get to wait for me to charge it up or you can go charge it yourself. If the battery is good you don't get another.

That's funny. AutoZone warranties the brake pads because everyone else does too. :doh:

As for the battery thing, I'm the most strict when it comes to those. If the battery doesn't have enough voltage to properly test, you are NOT walking out of my store with a warranty replacement just like that. Oh no......it's getting charged and tested.

I actually don't even bother to upsell our parts. I'll say stay away from our low end stuff, but like with brake pads AutoZone's main lines are Valucraft (valucrap), Duralast, Duralast Gold, and just recently debuted Duralast Gold CMax Ceramics. I almost never sell the Duralast Gold pads because they're 90% of the time the same compound as the Duralast, but with a stainless steel backing plate (sometimes they're actually a ceramic, but it's rare).

[Ponyhntr]

Don't get me started on this shit! :lol:

I worked in a Advance for a while in and right after college. I had the exact same complaints you guys do.

Now I work in a little more of a specialty market (lot of you know where I work), but do a lot of the same things.

What gets me really riled up is the "I'm an ASE Certified Master Tech with xx years of experience..." line, which basically they're trying to one-up me. In my eyes ASE Certs are a fucking joke, all that proves is that you have worked in the business for 2 years and that you can pass (70%) a fucking written test. It doesn't tell me that you're a competant HIGH PERFORMANCE technician. They call me up for my 'expert' advise, then do nothing but tell me I'm wrong and bad mouth me. They usually get hung up on. If they can't talk to me like a normal human being, they can talk to the dial tone. Luckily 90% of our customers are not like that, and it's also nice that it's over the phone and not in person, or else it could get ugly! :lol:

[IronOutlaw]

I would like to thank you guys who work in parts stores and know what your talking about. I use o'reillys now and the guys in there either know what they are talking about, or tell you if they dont. I hate going to a parts store and the guy behind the counter doesnt know a thing about what you're trying to get, but claims he does.

One time i was converting the front brakes on my 72 ford to disk brakes and had to get some new calipers. The guy in advance auto told gave me 2 left side calipers. My dad was with me, i was only 14, and we both told him it was the wrong part. Then he went on to how he, "built his own drag car and built the whole engine and did all the fiberglass work himself, and he knew that was the right parts."

Me and my dad gave up and just took his word for it and went home to put on the parts. Needless to say we got home and put the left caliper on, and then went to the right side and it would not fit. My dad was pissed and left and told me i couldnt go with him. He came back with the right caliper and a free set of brake pads. :)

[1hottcamaro]

I dont work at a parts store but I want to chime in cuz Im bored. I work at a bank and this is what pisses me off.

1. They hand me a check or cash and just say ''deposit this into my account'' FILL OUT YOUR OWN F&^$$ DEPOSIT SLIP! OR AT LEAST ASK ME TO FILL IT OUT FOR YOU.

2. When I deny them for a loan they yell at me and tell me how much money they have and tell me how ridiculous it is.
I DONT CARE HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE, YOUR CREDIT SUCKS NOT MY PROBLEM.

3. If someone wants me to do something against the policy, and I say 'let me check with my supervisor' and they start saying ''I have x amount of money'' or '' i have been banking here for x amount of years'' I DONT CARE I AM STILL GOING TO CHECK BEFORE I DO SOMETHING THAT CAN PUT MY JOB AT RISK. I HAVE SEEN PEOPLE GET FIRED BEFORE FOR DOING THAT.

4. When people bring there stupid little dogs in, and actually put it on my desk or counter and let it drool!!

5. When people come up eating the cookies we give out and I watch the crumbs fall out onto my counter.

6. When someone comes up to my station on their phone and tells me to ''hold on just a sec''

7. When canadians deposit a check over $300 drawn off a canadian bank and expect us to give them immediate credit.

8. When Someone deposits or withdrawls over 10,000 and I let them know I will be completing a currency transaction report, and they get upset about it.
I AM JUST DOING MY JOB AND IF YOUR NOT DOIN ANYTHING SHADY WHY DO YOU CARE?!

anyways there is my rant for the night!

[CamaroZGuy]

i mainly just get F'ing stupid people...and sometimes the "i use to be Vehicle maintenance" guys that always insist that we are doing shit wrong cause they did it differently 10 years ago, and for thous hear in the airforce, if you turn in a truck to VM please dont piss off the coustmer service guys...you got to rember that the vehicles dont belong to your unit...they belong to us and we have keept trucks before. and if your turning in a vehicle F'ing know what its coming in for, dont expect us to know whats rong with it.........

i gess i realy dont have it as bad as some of you, since i can tell people to piss off.

[Biggin'89]

ok heres one that happened to me yesterday.

Guy come in and asks for coolant on a saturn, so i go show him where the dexcool is and answer all his questions about why you have to use dexcool, why its only sold in gallons not quarts, and whole bunch of other stupid things.

Then we get to the counter and he is like "So since the light on the dash says its low on coolant, I could check to see if it really is low right?" Me-Yeah. Him-Oh maybe i should do that so i don't waste time buying this. I'll be back if i need it. bye.

So lesson today children.... Learn to maintain your vehicle and don't rely on the computer to tell you whats going on!!!! and find out what you need before you waste 15 min. of my time asking stupid questions.:shiner:

[1hottcamaro]

since i can tell people to piss off.


I would LOVE to be able to tell people to piss off or get out at work, that would be awesome!

[slowdime]

So lesson today children.... Learn to maintain your vehicle and don't rely on the computer to tell you whats going on!!!! and find out what you need before you waste 15 min. of my time asking stupid questions.:shiner:



I gotta try that next time I go to Advanced:laugh:.

On a serious note, I'm starting to realize any job you have to deal with customers in is the same for the most part, 20-30 percent of the customers are complete dipshits.

Back when I was at the hardware store alot of common ones i would get are

"I need screws" well what size and type theres a whole focking aisle of them dumbass

When I would cut glass or build a custom window screen to the measurements they provided then they come back and say it wouldnt fit. Shouldve measured right the first time, its not my fault you cant use a measure tape

Then we'd get the people that we duplicate a car key for and go out for a minute come back in and tell us it doesnt work, then I go out put the key right in and it works perfectly, How the hell did they even drive there if they cant use a damn key?

The best ones have to be the old guys that are looking for something and call it by the wrong name, get on your case when you give them exactly what THEY ASKED for, and of course they're old as dirt so they're never wrong in their mind. I eventually stopped arguing with those toolbags and would just have the owner come and tell them to GTFO!

We used to tell the boss to GTFO and go pay the bills, everytime he gave us crap.

[Biggin'89]

On a serious note, I'm starting to realize any job you have to deal with customers in is the same for the most part, 20-30 percent of the customers actually know what they want and are cool people.


______________________________



The best ones have to be the old guys that are looking for something and call it by the wrong name, get on your case when you give them exactly what THEY ASKED for, and of course they're old as dirt so they're never wrong in their mind.

^^^fixed

and as for getting what they ask for. I love it when people say they need shoes so i send them home with shoes. 20 min. later they come back saying that its not even close to being right... that is then when the learn the difference in pads and shoes.

Oh and the hardware store reminds me of another pet peeve:

Just because it came off your car doesn't me we are going to sell it. ESPECIALLY nuts and bolts. That is what hardware stores carry. (well atleast for common bolts) and unless its just a regular hex bolt no bigger than 1/2" or 12mm and you don't mind grade five... We don't have it, go to the correct store.

[Fastbird]

Had a good one yesterday evening. Took a phone call, lady sounded agitated. Wanted me to look up a warranty for her alternator on a 90 Plymouth Laser 1.8L. Found the warranty, no problem.

Lady; "Ok. So I do have a warranty. I called earlier about this. You have a guy there who is F---ing Stupid. rabble rabble rabble."

Whatever.

Fast forward to about 8:30 at night, :30 to close. Said lady comes in and plops a used but decent looking alternator on my counter. I am nice to her, and pick it up and go test it. Hook everything up, test it not once, not twice, but THREE times, with the same result every time. Pass on all measures. Fokking sweet......time to say No.

So I come back around the counter, alternator in hand, and gently set it on the counter in front of her. "Ma'am, this alternator just tested out fine. I retested it three times and it never failed anything."

Though she hid it well, you can insert a minor nuclear explosion in at this point.

Lady; "So what are you telling me? That I can't have a new alternator?"

"Yes Ma'am, that is what I'm saying. I can't simply give you a new alternator because this one is not faulty. The warranty applies to faulty parts, not perfectly good ones."

Lady; "THIS ALTERNATOR IS BAD. I KNOW IT IS. MY VOLT GAUGE IS LOW ON MY CAR WHEN I PUT THIS ALTERNATOR ON THE CAR."

"Then you've got some other issue going on ma'am. Most likely a wiring issue."

She's red in the face, yelling, and I'm simply smiling at her the whole time. She picks up the alternator and on the way out the door yells "No wonder everyone goes to O'Reilly's."

Whatever, good riddance. Just to be safe, I called all the local AZ's and said "Hey, if a ride b*tch comes in wanting a new alternator for a 90 Plymouth Laser, test the one she brings in first and if it passes don't give her shit."

Sadly, nothing eventful to report for today. I opened, so everyone was pretty chipper since they hadn't bee stewing at work all day.

[bidicamaro]

Customers suck balls anyways... I don't work at a parts store but do customer service none the less. Assholes need to learn that I just do my job, it's their fault they're stupid!

[BLOWNDFIZ]

In the great words of Ron White "You can't fix stupid".:D

[whammer33024]

i LOVE it when people come in and ask me to diagnose their problems with their car or to put in like a battery that you have to tear have the engine bay out of to get at. do these people understand that i'm a business and i have some very loyal shops in town that do the exact sort of thing you're asking me to do? tell ya what, i'll sell ya the battery...if you don't know how to install it, take it to the shop down the road and tell them i sent ya!

about wiper blades...screw refills. if someone wants refills, they are getting them in the package and that's it. i'm not going to take the time to slide that little piece of rubber in there and then install it. new blades or gtfo. i love it when people want warranty on a wiper blade because they just bought it last week and it tore apart when i started my wipers with 6" of ice on my windshield...well no shit

one thing that happened to me today...lady says she needs a headlight for her car but won't tell me what it is. takes her 10 mins to look up the bulb number in her damn manual...i just wanted to yell...if you'd have told me what car it was on i could have had you out of here 8 mins ago with the right damn bulb!

[Camaro_94]

hahaha. Some of these stories are halarious.

- Mike

[sinistr]

i always brake shit so im always there , haha theres only a couple knowlidgeable employes at my frequent ones. honestly i know more than most of em , its got to the point where they just let me go behind the counter and use there computers .. then u got the new people that work there and try to stop me , with hey what r u doin .. then the managers are like he can do what he wants lol .

basically i tought them some shit and they respected that and i listen to what there opinions are .. it goes a long way when your always there .

but those piece of shit dumb mother know it alls who dont know dick are my pet pieves ..

[bidicamaro]

i always brake shit so im always there , haha theres only a couple knowlidgeable employes at my frequent ones. honestly i know more than most of em , its got to the point where they just let me go behind the counter and use there computers .. then u got the new people that work there and try to stop me , with hey what r u doin .. then the managers are like he can do what he wants lol .

basically i tought them some shit and they respected that and i listen to what there opinions are .. it goes a long way when your always there .

but those piece of shit dumb mother know it alls who dont know dick are my pet pieves ..

Yup... used to be like that at one of the local places until they sold my wife a bunch of crap when I had her get me water pump gaskets. Told her that I HAVE to have intake/valvecover/oilpan gaskets to do it. Nope motherfucker, my wife went to get what I told her to so I could finish my job up. They knew my wife and knew that she was there to get what I had told her to get. Fucking douch bags got an ear full from me. I was so agrivated that she came back with all this extra shit and was like 20 minutes longer than needed to be because they had to convince her that I "needed" it to do the job. Don't go there much anymore because of that. Did return ALL products for a full refund and still got the gasket I needed. Took an extra hour probably to do the job though... oh well... Now I go to a budies shop and he orders it and it shows up like 15 minutes later and it's a 15% discount! WOOT WOOT!

[BluBeaSSt]

I know the feeling fastbird. I worked at Advanced then was a partys guy at a Mazda dealer...heard and seen some STUPID people that shouldn't touch a wrench.

The timing set for the RX7 was the best....and he was being serious! Or the lady wanting to know where she could find some 710 for her car (OIL)

[Fastbird]

The timing set for the RX7 was the best....and he was being serious!

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

[Adam]

Good list, I used to work at carquest. Thankfully I was just a driver. I never had to deal with any of the customers. Simple pickup and drop off, but I did see the guys on the phone getting stressed out.

My main complaint with parts stores now is:

1. They advise me on things I don't want or need and I don't want to be rude and say I already know or that's not correct. I just say ok.. ok.. ok... ok..... I didn't ask for it, I've already done my research. So I assume they are used to advising most morons but please save it. But in the rare occasion that I ask your advice which i would never do because I research everything before buying parts, I do appreciate your effort to help. The last advice I got at autozone was a guy told me he had a lt1 tip to get me more horsepower by removing a spring in the throttle body. I can actually get that guy to probably write it out for me to share with you guys.

2. I don't want any of that extra crap at the checkout unless it pertains to my part. I came for this seal or sensor, I don't want that pos screwdriver that's on sale for 4.99. (brake grease or gasket maker is acceptable to offer)

3. Stop selling HORRIBLE tools. I bought 3 tools from autozone and all 3 of them broke within the first 5 minutes of use. 1. valve spring compressor 2. "harden" steel hex sockets 3. snap ring pliers. I will drive over an hour an half to get to a better tool store now.

[Fastbird]

1. They advise me on things I don't want or need and I don't want to be rude and say I already know or that's not correct. I just say ok.. ok.. ok... ok..... I didn't ask for it, I've already done my research. So I assume they are used to advising most morons but please save it. But in the rare occasion that I ask your advice which i would never do because I research everything before buying parts, I do appreciate your effort to help. The last advice I got at autozone was a guy told me he had a lt1 tip to get me more horsepower by removing a spring in the throttle body. I can actually get that guy to probably write it out for me to share with you guys.

2. I don't want any of that extra crap at the checkout unless it pertains to my part. I came for this seal or sensor, I don't want that pos screwdriver that's on sale for 4.99. (brake grease or gasket maker is acceptable to offer)

3. Stop selling HORRIBLE tools. I bought 3 tools from autozone and all 3 of them broke within the first 5 minutes of use. 1. valve spring compressor 2. "harden" steel hex sockets 3. snap ring pliers. I will drive over an hour an half to get to a better tool store now.

1. Right with you. Some people have good advice, some don't.

2. I couldn't agree more. AutoZone corporate has the "checkout challenges" where there is a featured item(s) each period. This time around it's orange cleaner and blue shop towels, get both for like $2.99 or something (obviously I REALLY care about this). Apparently the bigwigs expect every person to sell 5 "deals" each 8 hour shift. NFW that's going to happen.

3. For AutoZone stuff at least, stay away from Greatneck. They're crap. The OEM stuff in the red packages is usually pretty dependable, and the Duralast tools are actually quite nice. I've used quite a few and they have never given me a problem. Granted, I wouldn't swap any for my Craftsman stuff, but on a budget they're pretty good.