Another parts counter rant

Why do people not know what they want or what they are working on when they come in for parts. "I need that thing that goes on top of the engine kind of to the back, but not too far back." If you don't know what it is or what it does how do you know it is bad unless you broke it then leave well enough alone! "Why is it made that way?" I don't know I did not design or build it! "Why does that cost so much?" I don't know I don't set the prices. Yes I can give you a break but why should I after putting up with your mouth? I need a dohickey for my car. What is the make and model? I don't know they are all the same. No they are not. If they were I would not have asked.
I need a throw out bearing for my 1964 corvair, how much is it. I am sorry but my computer only goes back to 1976. Well can't you get out a book from then. If I had one I would but when the place was sold in 1990 some dumb@ss threw them away.

I could tell a lot of stories after 20+ years on the back side of the counter. Before judging the people working behind the counter try being there for just one day. I wish the economy was better so I could find a different job and get out of here so I wouldn't have to deal with the public anymore.

What drives me nuts is when I'm at a parts counter buying several hundred (or more) dollars worth of parts and the phone rings.

The parts man then interrupts my transaction and spends 15 minutes talking to a customer about a ten dollar part, which the customer ends up not buying.

Then, too, there was the time I was working on an I/O drive unit on a boat. A bearing had seized and spun in the housing. Part of the number stamped on the bearing was obliterated.
Rather than take time to order it through channels I went to a popular place that specialized in bearings. I handed the bearing to a dumpy little guy with a dead cigar in his mouth behind the counter. He took one look, and said, "It would be a g-- d--- waste of time to even try to find one", handed it back to me, and turned to another customer.

I walked out, went to a different bearing place, and handed the bearing to a gentleman behind the counter. Without saying a word, he pulled a caliper out of his shirt pocket, took a couple of measurements, reached on a shelf and handed me a new bearing.

Let's just say I had an "interesting" conversation with the manager of the first place.

I went to the first place on occasion after that, and never saw that dumpy little guy with the cigar again. I'm assuming they fired him.

This issue works both ways.

Chester
I Feel for You.
My Dad was the parts man for an Heating cooling co. in Gary In.
People would come in and want a part and not even Know the make of the furnas.
The best was when a couple of "Locals" came in with a bucket and wanted "Some o dat freezone stuff"
Dad tried to explain it didn't work that way,
But they insisted that He was being racial.
So his Boss poured them some R11 and charged a bunch $$$.
We figured it evaporated 2 or 3 blocks away!
Hang in there, WE appreciate a good Counter Man.

Steve A W

I love it!!! How many times have I heard these things???

I work for an electronics store that sells to the public and to installers, etc. For the most part we have the best customers in the world. Most know what they need and how to describe it.

Some of them can be pretty entertaining. I like it when the wife/girlfriend/whoever is sent to get a part and knows nothing about it, just go and get it, they will know what you need. "My husband fixes TV's and he needs to know what the little round thing is that swelled up and burst and how to replace it. Do you have them?" The messenger is often there unwillingly and will get anything just to get it done, only to be back later, mad as you know what, because we didn't get the right thing.

Then there is the rocket scientist who is going to fix his (fill in the blank here). He saw it done on utube and we are supposed to understand. Not only is he an expert, but also will question anything we may tell him. At the same time, he will ask "Now how does this fit again..."

Oh, we also have a few who are constantly devising ways to thwart the people who are spying on them. They pay only in cash, park their cars around the corner where we can't see what they are driving, and constantly look over their shoulders. We sell cameras and related security devices, so these people come pretty often.

It goes on and on. I do love my job though. It's easy for the most part, we are always busy and I get to work 8-5 and off on weekends. My way of dealing with the cranks is to try and not be like them.

After selling something that I know they can't use I always tell them I don't want be reading about them in the paper later.

Went into the local IH place many years ago- woman was at the counter, and parts guy was asking her- "Is this for the old solid red tractor, or the bigger red and white one, or the green and yellow one?"

Those boys knew their parts- and their customers.

True Story
Lady comes up to parts counter.
Her: I need a seal.
Me: What seal?
Her: Rear axel.
Me: What tractor?
Her: You should know, it's my husband's tractor.
Me: Ma'am I don't even know your husband.

I agree with Goose 100%, the parts guy should wait on the person standing in front of him before he answers the phone, the guy standing in front of him has money in hand. That and the new parts store hire people to look at the computer, if it's not in their computer it's not available. That's why I go to a real parts store like Napa, Carquest....

Yes it works both ways but most do not think threw a problem to see the underlying problem. All they see is the surface problem today.

We as a country (very large group) have insisted on two things.
The first is cheap. Some will drive 20 miles out the way spend $5 extra on gas or wear and tear; just to save $2 on a part.
The second is got to have it today and do not want to go to 5 places to find 5 things.

In response to our wants retailers have done several things.
They have built large box stores; stocked it with cheap junk they buy in bulk; and undermanned the store with cheap labor.
The savior or thing that makes it possible is the computer. You can teach a monkey or a chicken to press X or Y button when prompted.

So we now have uneducated kids that will work for cheap in our parts stores. They press X or Y based on your input. They sell you a cheap part for 5 times what they paid for it so yes they can give you lifetime warranty.

And the real sad part is we as a country call this progress.

I had a welding shop doing mostly production work in a small farming community. I did some repair work for locals. One fellow brought in a distallate manifold from a Farmall H with a piece as big as my hand rusted/ burned away. I told him that it was impossible to repair. His next question was, " how much would you charge if you could?" My answer was, " I never attempted to put a price on an impossible task." I was not very polite to the next fellow!

While I agree with that for the most part, by the parts man answering the phone when I called in, it saved me from having to drive 40 miles to pickup a bale of twine, this summer. Neighbor guy was in buying parts for his baler, and dropped the twine off at the house on his way home.

The counter people I have to deal with are all in
their 20's and they act like you ask them to kill
their mother when you tell them to get the book
out. And yes these stores have the books. I did
work for a JD dealer as the parts manager for 10
years before computers. Farmers would send their
wives in for a sprocket on a combine and when you
asked which sprocket, they would reply, it's for
so& so's combine, he said you would know. At that
time some combines had over 30 different
sprockets, so I know what you're talking about. My
gripe is the lack of them even trying to help

I worked in a parts store for a year after high school. I hated to see women come in to get parts for their husbands that would sit in the car and then the wife would have to go back out to the car for more information. Then you had special people that would come in and ask, "I needs a stemotat fo a sittynine brerk dueceanaquota"(69 Buick 225). Hey,where's our translator? Another one, "You gotta muffin fuh a 72 Fode?" "Sorry, this ain't a bakery and we don't sell muffins. We mixed paint also ans one Saturday morning when we were very busy, I was changing out a gallon can of dark blue pigment and the top came off and it hit the floor and went everywhere. It took 2 bags of OilDri and some elbow grease to clean that up. First cold snap we would sell the heck out of batteries and antifreeze testers. The day after daylight savings time ended we would have a run on sealedbeam headlights.

Just proves that:

Common sense is not so common.

and

"On the job training" often means "none".

Works both ways.

Been a customer for so long my parts guys, and gal usually know just what book to look in for my make, model... No, she"s not for sale, rent or kidnap. She"s far too valuable!

I remember going to a local JD dealer and having the parts counter kid tell us that the part we wanted didn't exist, ever (which was funny since we had the one that broke in hand). Finally they let us go back and search through their back shelves until we found a few. :roll:

A good parts man or woman is worth alot. The thing is years ago there werent as many parts and different machines as there are now, so alot of the people dont know what all fits what anymore, BUT...making the effort to help makes the difference.

The story from the opposite side of the parts counter. Just as bad.

I pick up oil at Autozone when it is on sale. I hear half the guys at the parts counter wanting parts.

1. Don't even know the year of their car.
2. Don't know the engine.
3. "It's that one thing on the side of the engine"
4. "Can you just install this for me in the parking lot?"
5. "These brake pads only take a few minutes to change right? I have to get back to work"

The one guy there is an old hot rodder, only guy that knows anything. When he is gone I'll be driving a ways to get to a NAPA.

Rick

one reason i get down on the counter kid is i have spent many years on the backside too , we had to deal with much more than just cars and pickup trucks, back then this area was in a boom period and there was not only farm equipment but all kinds of industrial stuff too finding parts for that stuff took some time and a lot of reading, its there, but you have to search it out, we had computers too but this kind of stuff isnt in it, you have to actually read, and you had better know something about mechanics and machinery too, a lot of these guys in the stores today have neither , if they can find it with a few button punches, they dont want to do anything else, and the most mechanicle experience they have was when they hung a truck exhaust pipe tip under their honda, they'll never know the genuwine thankfullness of the man standing in front of them hopeing you can find something like a fuel shutoff solinoid for a caterpiller grader which is holding up a million dollar project because it wont start, and you are the guys only local hope of fixing it in a timley fashion

As a mechainc I am constantly on the customer side of the counter. That said you will never hear me complain about a parts person that actually takes the time to help me find the part I need. For instance I needed the two hardened pins that the shift lever rotate around in my '87 F150. It has an odd transmission in it that was made by Ford so it's not the typical Warner or New Process. In fact a search online and in the dealership turned up nothing in regard to the transmission door code on mky truck. That being the case it took the guy at the dealership nearly 20 minutes just to figure out what I had, and had to do that based on the part number on the top casting. We finally found a pic with some parts numbers, and that's all we needed. Of course the parts I needed weren't available so that took me to NPD. They showed the parts as being for a '52 - '56 model truck transmission, but again unavailable through them. So the counter guy got on the internet and got me the name of a place that handles obsolete Ford parts and I got what I needed ordered from them. In the end it was alot of trouble to get the pieces, but I couldn't have asked for a better experience trying to find them.

On the other hand I have walked into a major equipment dealership and get the one counter guy that doesn't give a crap about anything. If you don't have the part number written down, good luck getting anything. You can have the model number, serial number, arrangement number, and every other pertinent piece of info the normal guys need to find the part and he still can't find what you need. That's whan I have a problem.

As far as what a part is called, that often changes between mfgs, and it makes a difference when the parts guys do a computer search. I once bought a piece for one of those machines that was built by one mfg for another mfg, and said mfg was then owned by another major mfg. The part was what most of us would call an O-ring. One came packaged called an O-ring, another package said it was a seal, and another said it was a gasket. Same part, same part number, three different descriptions. Get into other machien systems and you have holding valves, lock valves, or some other mfgs 'propriatory' name for the same item. Too I've been in looking for a pigtail, connector, terminal end, call it what you will. Depending on the use as to what the book called it and what section it was in, but ultimately the pieces were all a short piece of wire, bare on one end, with a connector body of some type on the other end. In the end I understand customers that are oblivious when it comes to what they actually want, but there are those of us that know exactly what we need but have no idea what the mfg has decided they want to call it. When a parts person won't take the time to help me figure it out, that's when I have a problem.

I've spent enough time talking to my local parts guys and listening to the other customers to know what your talking about. The sad thing is that as bad as I hate to say it, nowdays either side has just as much reason to rant as the other.......and it seems to be getting worse.

I went into an Autozone to see if by chance they carried standard gas shock/strut for the rear window of pickup topper.

I said exactly that to the young fellow at the counter.

What year is it?
I don't know, I bought the topper used.

What year is your truck?
Well the truck is a 2003 but...

What model is your truck....
Well it is a Chevy S10 but...

look I can't get you this part without this information..2 or 4 wheel drive?
Ah..2 wheel but....

front or rear....
well the topper is on the rear but...

OK you need a 354657 Rear takes 2, in stock, want me to go in the back and get'em?
No I think I left my wallet at home.

He seemed upset that I had wasted his time.

I spent 30 years off and on behind a parts counter, and a lot of time on the other side of the counter. Good counter help is great, when you can find them. Unfortunately, at the chain stores they only pay just over minimum wage, so you get what they pay for...which is inexperience.

The incentive I always had to find a part was that PART of my pay was based on commission, on the department's gross sales. So I made DAMN sure that if the part wasn't in stock, I'd do everything in my power to locate it for the customer. If they wanted to go themselves and pick it up, that was also OK...because they knew I was the guy who had gone the extra mile for them, and when they needed someone to do that again, they'd turn to me...and I'd get paid my commission on the NEXT sale.

One time in the 1970's, working in the auto parts department of a big-box store, I had a guy who came to the counter and said, "I need front brake pads for a '75 Pontiac." When I asked him what model, he said, "Dammit, kid...they're all the same." So I went back and pulled a set for a Bonneville, AND a set for an Astre [the Vega clone]...and SHOWED him they were definitely NOT all the same. Guy called me a GD smartass and asked to see my manager...who, after hearing the story, told him HE would've done the same thing.

So there are problems on BOTH sides of the counter. You make the best of it, and life goes on...'cause for the most part, neither you nor I have the power to change it.

Actually... the one on the phone might be the sure sale. Here's why. NONE of the garages pick up parts. They call. The store delivers... and the guys at the garage know what they want. They call. They order. The invoice is printed and the parts delivered. THAT is their bread and butter, not you standing at the counter.
That said, most reasonable places I deal with will put the phone customer on hold until they are done with whomever they were waiting on. In other words, wether you're in front of them or on the phone, you get placed in the line and waited on in turn...

Rod

Went into NAPA last spring to get filters for my
skid steer. Gave the kid behind the counter the
part numbers and he played on the computer for a
while and then told me the are not the right
numbers. He then asks me what skid steer it is and
the model and I gave him all that info along with
the the motor model. He then goes back to the
computer and then tells me they never made that
model of skid steer. I said that I must have the
only one then. Cute blond was standing back
smiling and then she went into the back and came
out with all the filters never had to look them
up. I thanked her and was on my way

I too wish I had taken a different path. I have been working
with parts as long or longer then you. Sure would like to get
out of it. People are getting dumber every day. Would like
to not have to deal with them anymore.

I work in retail but have also been on the other
side of the counter needing assistance. I always
try to get the right information and do my best to
get the customer what they need unless I can tell
they're just wasting my time. This doesn't happen
very often but sometimes you get a person who
wants prices on everything you have in the store
and a bunch of stuff you don't keep in stock, asks
a million questions and you know they're not
actually interested in buying anything. Usually
happens when there's other people waiting and/or
near the end of the day when you're trying to
finish up so you can go home.

The thing I really hate as a buyer is the guy
behind the counter not knowing what you're talking
about but instead of trying to find out or getting
someone who knows, they try and fake it. There's
nothing wrong if you can't answer every question a
customer has but don't try to impress the customer
with a load of BS to try and make yourself look
good. 99.9% of the time the customer is realizing
what a total fool you're making of yourself.

A parts guy that speaks English? WTF? I have pretty
good luck with the parts stores now that I quit
going to Advance. Maybe I'm just not picky enough.

You have outlined a need. It sure would be nice to know where to go and who to contact for parts for these old tractors and equipment. With credit card sales and UPS the dealer/store 500 miles away that knows their stuff and can ship quickly is a real asset.

I have a parts gal Rene' at the Massey dealership in Simpsonville, KY that really knows her stuff on old tractors and is 100% reliable. But I found her by accident. Wish I had someone as good for baler parts and mower parts.

We need a parts dealer directory, with customer reviews.
Does such an animal already exist?

Our guys here at the case/IH dealer are real good.
They don't know the part number all the time, but i
can call in and they will look up the part pretty
quick. The thing that I like is i don't have to say
my name, they know who i am on the phone and they
dont have caller id either. And i am not in there
all the time either.

> I need a throw out bearing for my 1964 corvair, how much is
it. I am sorry but my computer only goes back to 1976. Well
can't you get out a book from then. If I had one I would but
when the place was sold in 1990 some dumb@ss threw them
away.


Well, now, I realize that is not the parts counter guys fault, but
with that situation, your job might not last all that long. Both
sides of the counter have their head shakers and funnies, but
this is a situation where your business is not even trying to fill
the need, doesn't really look good for then to be around if they
are not able or willing to be able to look up parts.

The Napa store had a fella that you bring in a bearing, he
would caliper it, walk off upstairs, come back with the bearing,
never wrote anything down or looked up a computer or book
for the average bearing.

New guy at the Napa spent 10 minutes looking on the
computer and in books for the same bearing years latter, he
had to order it in not in stock, what he sold me did not fit, I do
not know what he measured or cross checked. I went
somewhere else to get the needed bearing, think the odd
sized one is in the shop somewhere. Seemed to be a stock
bearing, nothing to order in special at the other place.

Went to Napa a month ago, sign on the wall they don't take
checks any more.

Huh.

Not the parts guys fault, but huh.

Paul

I have been on both sides of the counter.

The funniest story was the woman that told me she believed her child was mixed up at birth and she was given the wrong child at the hospital. [I left out a lot of verbs pertaining to the description of her child]

I also had a woman that came in wanting a set of tires for her car.

She didn’t know the model or make of car or the size of the tires but she got real mad when I told her I needed a little more information before I could give her a price.

P.S> Since I do have experience behind the counter with the general public and experience with less than stellar counter people I always try to get as much information as possible before I send my wife out to pick up parts!!!!!!

Gotta laugh. That reminds me of something. I was at one of the local Deere dealers back in the early 70 when we had dealers. They were real busy and this long haired dope smoking hippie commune type was at the counter for some part for an old 2 cylinder. Then he asked the parts guy waiting on him if he had a hub for the back of a plow. No other info. The parts guy asked him a few questions about it,but the fella (and I use the term loosely) didn't know a thing. The parts guy went in back and came out carrying a hub. The hippie sounded just like Tommy Chong (looked like him too for that matter) and said "No man,this thing's like ancient".

I thought I was going to bust a gut. The parts guy just looked at me like "will this day ever end?". lol

Back in the '70's I worked at a place called Fleeners Auto Store, part of a now gone nationwide chain of stores. They used to carry a line of wrenches TAT (Thorson Allied Tools) that had a lifetime guarantee to try and compete with Craftsman. Break one, no problem, bring it in, exchanged no questions asked. So one time a fella brings in a big boxed end wrench that he broke the box out of, so I traded him and sent him on his way. Super Glue was new then too, so I got an idea and super glued the pieces back together and tried it out. Super Glue might have been good for a lot of things, but that wasn't one of them. It came apart pretty easily. So, I glued it back together and left it on the counter where I knew that my unsuspecting boss would find it and tell me to put it away, and he did. He picked it up, took a quick look at it, didn't notice the crack, handed it to me and told me to go put it away.

"Why do I have to do everything around here?" I demanded to know giving a real good hard slam onto the counter in fake anger. That thing shattered and sent pieces flying in front of him and customers. He stood there looking at me in disbelief to the point where he started laughing, not knowing whether to be mad or not, not knowing whether I just really broke that big wrench...in front of customers to boot.

So most people are not car mechanics and need your help. If they didn't, you might not have a job, something that lots of people wish they had these days. Tomorrow's another day. Good thing they aren't all the same and event free or we'd be pretty bored this only time that we're on earth.

Mark

Somehow, I feel that part of your rant is the fact that you have just realized that the store owner will never pay you what you feel you are worth. The sign by my nearest O'Reilly store has said that they are looking for counter help for several years now. (I drove past it today. The sign hasn't changed) Oh, I know why there is such a turnover at those stores. Too bad that all the people who apply there don't know why there is a turnover until after they work there for a week or two.
As a kid, I remember all the seasoned part store employees who usually knew what the exact part number was before they opened up their book (instead of a computer. That was wonderful) to positively make sure. Those days are long gone. Every time I now go into an auto parts store, there is a new employee behind the counter, usually some kid under the age of 20. I know that when I go back there the next time, that face will have been replaced by some other face that is still full of pimples.

I lookup parts online for whatever I am working on before I go to the auto parts store. That way I know the part # and the price. Saves me time also.