Gripe of the day (Page 1 of 2)

When was the last time you saw a clerk in any store make change in thier head?

$12.34 bill and I hand them $22.35 - they start counting out ones....

I work for an internet parts distributor. I try to be a cut above the average parts counter moron, but some info simply isn't readily available to us anymore. It's frustrating to me too.

And on the flip side, there are a lot of duuuuumb customers.

Welcome to the club, Cowdriver!

Here's what I went through on Saturday [with some details anonymized to protect the innocent]:

Searching for an oil filter was kinda fun. I went to the local parts store with
a list of every filter number I could find to cross reference

Fram, Wix, Napa and AC delco numbers-- and got the typical, "What car
is this for".

"You're not going to have it, can you just do a cross reference on these
numbers?"

"What car is it for?"

So I played his game and said "Aaaa".

"Who makes that?"

"Aaaa"

"Yea, but who makes it"

"Aaaaa does, but with help from Bbbb and Cccc"

"Ok, Ccccc. Got it. Now what year?" (he latched on to the first US manufacturer I mentioned)

"1971"

"What model?"

"12345"

"Not the engine size, the model"

"12345. It's a Aaaa 12345 made in Xyz"

"I thought you said it was a Ccccc"

"I said it was a Aaaa. YOU Said it was a Cccc."

"No, you said it was a Cccc."

"Ok, but I said it was a Bbbb first"

"Ok, let's try Bbbb."

"Better try Ddddd"

"What?"

"Type in Dddd"

"Ok, what year"

"1971"

"What model"

"Whatcha got?"

"678 and 91011"

"Gimme 678"

"Oil Filter you said?"

"Yea, oil filter"

"WIX 51???. We ain't got it"

"Can you get it?"

"Lemme see... Yup. It'll take 10 days."

"I'll check back. Thanks."

I like Napa. At least most of the guys at the store I go to most often actually
know how to use the parts look up books, and don't rely on the computer prompts
solely.

However, there is one Napa in my town that has some knuckleheads in there who won't even match up a belt you hand them nor will they let me back there to match it.

I don't even bother walking into a parts store without knowing a relevant car that said part might come from.  And most web sites are super frustrating because the make you pick a car.  There's about 6 or 7 different cars involved in the Grem.  One of the counterhops at my closest Oreillys likes to rattle off all of the different cars my pieces came from and guess which one we need to look up.

Watch Idiocracy if you can take a dumb but funny movie.  Its about dumbing down of humans.

DC Doug (i know its late) and anyone else, Brembo has online dimensions catalog search http://bremboaftermarket.com/En/Car_Dis … earch.aspx then click search by dimensions.

Yeah same here.  Napa is the only helpful place if you need something not stock.  I dont call the chain stores FLAPS (friendly local auto parts) I call em fuaps, (f'n useless auto parts)

Most of the store clerks at the auto parts stores I frequent know me at least by face and generally if I'm looking for something obscure (like a lug nut for a '67 Volvo) they just let me loose in back until I come up with what I need. 

But yeah, it often helps if you've done your own cross referencing.  A brake light switch for a '78 Chevy pickup works perfectly on the bracket I built for my Volvo Amazon.

That was probably a computer scanning for keywords

When I was much younger, auto parts store workers were 30 - 60 year old men who knew their stuff and likely got paid a decent wage.  Today, parts counter workers are paid the same as fast food workers or mall retail store workers.  They only need to show up for work on time and be smart enough to peck away at a keyboard in order to be qualified to work there.

Ya gets what ya pays for...

Most car parts web sites don't even list Opels in their search boxes, not that I expect them to actually have Opel parts other than tune-up and other consumable parts.

None of the other parts stores around here know anything about Opels, or that they even existed, much less are still being produced and were a big-ish news item in the GM bankruptcy mess a few years ago. (The same is true at DMV.) The kids there love trying to find parts listed in their computer, though, only to find the part is no longer available, and the computer does not cross reference to VW/Bosch parts, which our car uses. To them is is a game or maybe a (failed) demonstration of their idea that you don't have to actually learn anything in school because if you ever need to know something you can just look it up.

"Rusty", the one and only "old guy" in our arm of the parts galaxy, at NAPA in this case, knows something about Opels and can be very helpful.

Maybe there should be a Lemons award for these guys, or a national holiday honoring all people who actually know something useful.

Wow, that is great -- I've got it bookmarked now.   Now if I could find the same thing for calipers...

Thanks!

That's it. I think being a parts counter guy would be fun, but in very few cases (myself being an exception), the pay is crap. I sit behind a computer next to a warehouse and sometimes talk to folks by email and phone.

That was some dialect of English (I think).  Where does one learn to speak it and does it earn you more moolah at work?  I especially liked the 'wow' and sigh at the end.  Classic.