parts stores......why i now look up my own part numbers!

[Silent viewer]

i am always at the parts stores, advance auto, oriellys..... and it never fails that the person helping me is dumb as a box of rocks. i find it absolutly ammusing that something as simple as say a set of valve cover gaskets for a small block chevy is so damn hard to figure out. i guess in my mind small block chevys are about the most common thing in the parts world, most stores have a whole section of performance parts sitting out just for them! i expect them to ask if they are center bolt or non center bolt valve covers but instead they say what kind of car is it, what year and if it had ac or not!!?!? what the hell does it matter if it has ac??? i have a million stories to make them look like they are stupid as hell but i wont get into that now. the thing that i look back at that i find absolutly amazing is that about maybe 3 or 4 years ago when i was still in college taking cad classes i applied there as a possible second job or to possibly turn into my main jub untill i was done with my classes, keep in mind they were in desperate need for help at the time. i called back trying to talk to a manager and finally got ahold of one a week later and "she" said she would look over the application. keep in mind i at the time was no dumbass with engines by any means, i had taking automotive classes in college and high school, small engines classes....... long story short i go in there a week later to get a starter for a 305 and there is this new group of trashy looking morons working in there. i go tell them i need a starter for a sbc and they go into the what make model..... does it have ac crap. i had no clue what the engine was out of in the forst place so i just said something that happened to only have a 350 for a option and they said thats a totally different engine and when i said just give me that one it will work just fine for our engine the guy got into a huge fight with my saying that a 305 and a 350 were totally differnt engines and there is no way on earth it would work, every person in the store was watching this going on, there were a few guys luaghing cause they knew i was right. so i take the starter home,install it and then drove the car with the new starter back to the store to return the core. lets just say that the guy felt like a dumbass cause he wouldnt say a word about the starter. my most recent was when i bought a set of those raptor turbo mufflers in 2 1/4" and it turned out i needed a 2" instead so i called them and told them i just bought a set of them and i need the 2" instead, the guy looks it up in the computer and says sorry they dont make them in a 2", i said oh really, thanks and hung up the phone. i got online and looked up the 2" muffler, got the part number and called one of their other stores, asked tehm to look it up and once again got the same sorry they dont make that, i ask them can you look up this part number and he is like sure what is it, i give him the number and what do ya know, he says yea i can have those here from our warehouse at 7am tomorrow. wait a second, 2 store just told me this part doesnt exist????? also asking for a normal universal turbo muffler was pretty amusing also! this is why i look it up online before i go to the parts store. advance autos web site is a great tool for this. oh yea , the parts store i am mainly making fun of starts with the letter O and has a irish sound to it.

 

[v8power]

i have been there several times, in my opinion, napa is the best store around for that stuff, but i still try not to go to them, i just order all my stuff online, or if i need it aspa, i go to a store called competition products around here, but they are expensive.

 

[Silent viewer]

honestly the napa "main" store in omaha is about the only one that the people are half decent but the prices are higher and its a bit further of a drive for me. they are the only ones that had a set of 30 over rings that we needed for the last sbc build. not even the performance shop had a set, figure that out!?!?!

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

My favorite story was when I needed a front wheel bearing grease seal for my truck. Auto Zone had improperly entered the part number in their system and gave me the wrong one a few times. I finally brought them the old one, and someone knowledgeable cross referenced the part number off the original and found me the right one.

Another time, I was trying to find parts for a 1970 Chevy 400 Small Block at another store. The parts guy kept trying to tell me it was a big block!!! AAAAgh!

 

[megaladon6]

how abot trying to explain that a 5.7L is the same as a 350ci.
or that you don't have a ford 5.0L in your chevy, both companies made them. "well are they the same engine?" no dipshit, ones a ford ones a gm they just happen to have the same displacement.