Working in the retail industry...RANT

[Bonnewagon]

All I know is I will go out of my way and pay a little more for a Mom & Pop store where the old guy knows his sh*t, has at least one of every part ever made in stock, and doesn't gouge you for a 40 year old part. Hard to find these days but absolutely worth supporting those guys.

 

[2fit661ca]

One thing that really pisses me off is my local salvage yards. The ones around here won't let you pull your own part, so you have to tell the guy at the counter what you want. Then he looks it up on the computer and tells you whether they have it or not, and what they want for it, then they go pull it. The downside is that their computers stop at 94' or even more recently. I went in to Smiths (the yard here in town) and asked them for an upper control arm for an 89 S-10 Blazer, and he said "We don't carry any parts older than 94"
"Ya know, that's really funny because when I pulled in, I noticed ten 90' and older Blazers lined up along the fence getting parted out."
"Sorry, but we don't carry them"

 

[RITTER]

I don't care for our computer systems either. There are a few parts that I look up by book only because the computer seems to be consistantly wrong.
As far as returning items at Autozone or Advanced is like pulling teeth, most of the time. I took a distributor back years ago, because it didn't work so I needed to warranty swap, they wouldn't do it because it had been installed

 

[Snaffle]

Yeah, forget using NAPA's computer system to look up u-joints or exhaust parts. Best go with the book. Actually, a lot of times it seems the book is the way to go. Especially for that oddball stuff.

I can't begin to tell all of the silly calls I've gotten. The latest great one was an old man who called because he'd just gotten out of his car, with his keys, and his car was still running. He insisted on talking to a tech, but we can't pull them off jobs for phone calls. So I asked him if he had a remote starter, to which he said no. So I transferred him to my manager, who told him to get back in and step on the brake. Then I hear my manager say "Yeah, you probably just hit your remote starter button. If it happens again let me know." LOL

And, no, you should not buy a used hub/rotor assembly from a junkyard because they're expensive new. Oh, and I am not a living Hollander interchange either. The worst was a lady that became irate when I told her I did not have on file the keycode to make her a key for her 1990something family sedan.

 

[HurstOlds]

You are a 50 year old man and you don't know how to put wiper blades on?

Haha, my cow-worker is that way....
He's been driving around with a burned out headlight (nothing special, bulb style head light) just because he doesn't have time to make it into the mechanic.

Just had his kid's car checked out, problem was an easy fix, so he had the mechanic change the oil and wiper blades so he could still give them business.

This is the same guy that tells me he wants to mod his house so he can "go off the grid".

 

[RITTER]

I am glad we don't make keys.

I use our books for just about anything besides filters, belts and hoses.