What's the dumbest thing you've heard at a parts store?

Time line late 80s. I was trans-planting a 67 430 Buick into my 69 Skylark. I went to local NAPA and asked for motor mounts for a 69 GS 400. All ready had the motor mount pads for the frame, 69 GS 400 real steel!
Mr. NAPA parts guy asked about my 69 GS? Long story short, he told me a 430 would not fit with those mounts. Well F-you mr. napa it fit and ran great, until I found a 1970 370hp 455. Damn if that was a great fit just as the 430.

 

Dumbest thing I've heard at the parts store?

I went into a Shucks to get some spark plugs (so this was a while ago) and tell the mouth breather behind the counter that I want some Autolite #whatever (I forget the number at the moment, I gave it at the time) and he lays into the "year, make, model" schpiel.

So I point out, politely (I was making an excruciating effort to be nice, but I was running late to get the Salt Flat car on the boat for Speedweek) that I asked for a name brand that they carry and the specific part number of the ones I want.

He says he has to look them up anyway, so I told him I'm puting them into a 1956 Berkeley (computer doesn't find it, suprised?), so he asks what engine (gotta give him credit for persistence).

So I tell him it's a Peugeot XU10-J4 with a XU9-J4 top end on it (massive blank look and confusion, immagine if I'd mentioned the Hilborn and the Chevy II Dizzy grafted to the back of the head) so I show him where the spark plug aisle was (I bought parts there alot) and explained autolite was a brand name (as I had found out durring all this that he was new and the schleprocks running the store at the time had left him all alone at the store) and the number relates to style of plug (thread size, reach, projector tip, heat range, etc).

I felt sorry for the guy, turns out he's pretty sharp and willing to learn.

He didn't stick around (working for the parts store) bumped into him later and found out he found a better job where the people that are supposed to support and train you don't abandon you.

So, to be clear, the dumbes't thing I heard was that supposedly intelligent people (managers) left a new hire (on his first job no less) with less than one shift of experience (guy wasn't out of high school yet) and no training, unattended to mind the store.

Why didn't they unlock the safe and put it in the middle of the store so the shoplifters wouldn't be the only ones robbing them blind (I mean C'mon if they would leave the store open, and for all intents and purposes unattended, what else were they pissing away?).

 

Do you want pink coolant or green coolant

 

from the other side of the bench customers tell you all spark plugs are the same so I gave a guy 8 small engine plugs. Another V8 chev guy gets mad at one of the newbs on the counter saying all v8 chev starters are the same so I gave him a 307 starter with off set mounting bolts. Another guy walks up to the counter with a distributer cap asks how many cylinders the cap in this hand has I count vary slowly 1 2 3 4 I tell him it has 4 cyl he says his car has 4 cyl so it must be right I let him walk away. Stupid is as stupid does on both sides of the counter. One of the more arrogant fools that was in a street rod club I belonged to came in one day after taring apart his(bought) 36 olds wanting me to tell him what front disc brakes were under his car after he threw out all the old parts? Then went around telling every one that I sucked at my job and to never deal with me. Stupid counter men

 

how about the guys who walk into the parts counter after there car dies on the side of the road and wants the parts guy to diagnose the problem and sell him the parts asap. Stupid counter men.

 

That happens every now and then but on the other side of the coin it turns out that before you bought the car some one blocked off the mechanical pump and went electric. The counter guy walks up and gives you the mechanical pump you go home wrong pump Stupid counter man. I have had that scenario actually happen.

 

or orange or red or yellow....... That has now become reallity. That is the way the auto manufacturers are screwing things up.

 

I used to work the counter in a local parts house in the evenings after my day job 20 years ago.
Best one: Guys says he needs three rolls of Limo black window tint film for one car so he can put multiple layers on the windows.
Next best one was "they are all the same" from the redneck companion of a customer when I asked the customer which engine he had in his late model at the time Ford pickup. I had to go out and look under the hood of the truck to get that one right.

 

I was in an Autozone looking for a U-joint. Gave the gut the spicer number. A simple part 1977 Ford F-250 U-joint. The part is on his computer and showing in stock. I see the part on the shelf behind him. He tells me they don't have one and it's unavailible. I'm like what???? It's a 1310 U-joint. I point to his screen and say that one! He said we can't get it. I walk around the counter and pull it off the shelf and put it on the counter. This one! I want to buy this one. He left and I had to have someone else ring me up. UGH! I hate ricer parts stores.

 

I have worked in Auto Parts for the Last 16 years, I have seen a lot and heard a lot as well, I will be the first to admit that I and every other parts guys dont know everything, And that all the mistakes are blamed on us, But there is very few parts that are all the same, We hearthis all the time and if this was the case we would not have millions of dollars in inventory, Sbc mechanics are the worst, Like the gentleman in one of the earlier post (I need A Sbc oil filter) and got mad because they asked him what it fit, There are over 6 different oil filters for the sbc before 1990 not including the sbc for the last 12 years so if this Counterman did not ask and you took a filter home that did not fit you would have been mad because now you have to make a second trip because he sold you the wrong part, They might all screw on to the block but the size might not fit your application,


Just remember that it is hard for anyone to know everything about every Car,Boat,Tractor,Farm Truck,Hot Rod,Semi,Lawn Mower,Motorcycle, and everything else that we have to look up parts for, they are just doing there job by asking the questions that they do to try to get you the right part,
I use to work with an old timer that got tired of dealing with people who did not want to tell you there info they would just say they are all the same, So he would just grab something off the shelf and sell it to them, when they would bring it back Mad he would then say I did it your way now lets do it mine, What are you working on?

 

and spark plugs, Some brands have a STOCK NUMBER that you stok them by and they have a PART NUMBER that is on the plug, If you give him the number on the plug it will not show in some computer systems that it is a good number because they use the stock number, NGK is Good for this, That is the way the manufacture does it not the guy in the counter so keep that in mind also,

 

I did 8 years behind the counter....I heard a lot....probably said some stupid stuff, too.

 

This thread would be about 2 pages long if all of the lies were weeded out

 

True Dat ...


This just happened this morning, the wife and I took out the O/T HURST/Olds, I decided to stop at AZ to pickup some paint (their store brand yellow paint is a close and cheap match to my work truck) while getting it we heard one parts guy say to the other " what kind of car did you say that was " didn't hear the reply and the first guy said " where do they put the bodies ? "


And only to be fair I will share a story that made me look like the dumb one, years ago I had a very O/T Dodge St. Regis E-58 Police Car. I went a local auto body supplier to get a quart of paint to paint the wheels and do some touch up. I gave them the paint code, and he said it was not a Mopar paint code. I told him I got it right off the build tag. So he came out and looked and sure enough that was the paint code. He told me he would look into it. Come to find out it was a special order paint code, which was not uncommon for Special Service Vehicle. The code was actually for a GM Fleet white, the department that had the car had previously used Chevys since 1955 and apparently wanted to keep the exact shade for whatever reason.

 

Holy shit you're an angry person.

 

Best one I've heard this week was from a female customer. She asked for pads and rotors for her SUV. There was two listings for the rotors ( one was a OE exact replacement and the other was a lesser expensive brand) after taking forever to make a decision, she bought the OE spec ones because the cheaper rotors were " made of pot-metal" - her exact words.

I received a complaint from a customer that my manager who has less than 2 yrs parts store experience told him that since he couldn't find a u-joint listed in the computer, the customer would have to junk the truck because nothing was listed. A day or two later the same customer came back and within seconds I found the listing in the catalog.

 

yesterday, AutoZone manager "I have no idea what that is, but Im pretty sure you can get it at a hardware store"
I said "its an automotive application"
His response "Well, if I was looking for it, I'd go to a hardware store."

 

I had a customer order an alternator and it came in. I called him , come on down , your alternator is in. Customers show up and looks at picture on the box and tells me " it's wrong" I ask him how do you know you haven't even taken it out of the box yet.
He tells me the picture on the box displays the wrong one.
Like they would print different picture on the box depending what goes inside it
Alternator bolted right up ,no problems

Rik

 

Do you want pink or green coolant

Well keeping inline with being traditional, I had to pick the green colour. I aint puttin no pussy pink coolant in my car.

 

From one Chevrolet parts guy to another.... AMEN

I always look up my own parts online before going to the parts store. Face it if you can post here you can look up your own hot rod parts

Funny story when I worked in the service dept. we told the shop rat to go to the parts counter and get a can of compression

 

Funny story when I worked in the service dept. we told the shop rat to go to the parts counter and get a can of compression [/QUOTE]

A smart kid would bring you back a can of compressed air used to clean computers and electronics

 

I work behind the counter and you would not believe the moronic A holes that come in. The computer lookup is designed for speed not for special situations. If you have a special situation, it is time to dig out the catalogs and spend an hour or so in the store. I am sure some of you guys would not want to do that and would complain about the time it took to get a part.

I have had guys come in with a bearing off a trailer and spent an hour chasing the bearing parts and cross referencing the seals and even looking up brakes needed from catalogs, just based on the bearing P/N. Since it was a Sunday and they were broke down on the road, they were glad to get the parts.

I agree some parts guys are almost useless, but don't put us all in that category.

 

I get that one alot as well. same with fuel pumps.

 

I was this guy once, not everyone is willing to look, its becoming extremely rare. I hope you rub off on your Co workers and fellow parts guys nationwide.

 

I was that guy with the trailer hub scattered over the highway.
After a couple of calls to autoparts stores I found a place that did brake relining on trucks. These guys knew thier stuff, when he wanted the bearing number and when understood it was in traffic he asked for sizes. I had a 6in machinist scale in the trailer and we determined that he had all the parts including a brake drum/hub.

I was lucky that this shop existed and I could find it. In reality, these types of shops are disappearing at an alarming rate to the cookie cutter model.

J

 

exhaust bearing--------nissan stocks it at the dealer

 

"its a what"- Zoner
Hudson-me
"stop messin around i dont have time for kid games"-zoner
True story

 

My .02, needed tie rods for the 31 chevy, of course the question is asked and I say well it won't be in your computer. He disagrees so I concede and tell him..... he looks then tells me it's not in the computer. But...then he lets me in the back and I get to pick the part that fits my application...well closest fit, I still need to get some machining done but my point is not all counter people are idiots.

 

Right after I reacquired my '64 Fairlane back in 1996, I decided to do a transmission filter change on it's two speed automatic. the young man behind the O'Reilly's counter informed me that Ford never made a two speed automatic and that I was thinking of Powerglides in Chevrolets. I asked if he wanted to come out and look at the gear selector in the thing. He declined and said he didn't need to. An older clerk set us both straight. Ford did make a two speed (duh) but the "filter" was a brass screen that you clean but never replace.

 

I try not to ask them too much at the parts store. When I tell them I have a 351 W in the 38 Ford truck they always thumb through the book and tell me that they didn't come stock in that truck so they don't have a reference.
Oh my, what shall we evar do?