i work at a parts store

a woman came in looking for oil. she "knew" she was two quarts low, but had NO idea how to lift the hood of her E320.

I sold her some Mobil1 and offered to pour it in for her. after showing her how to open the hood, i pull the dipstick.

the first 9 inches of the stick looked like they'd spent their entire life at the bottom of a lake (rusty). the next 3 inches were a black that was baked on just as well as any powder coating job. then at the bottom, not a fluid exactly. mostly just sticky metal fragments.

sensing my shock, she said "is that bad?"

I replied: "change your oil, buy a new dipstick, trade the car off"

her reaction: "well. it's an old car anyway."

There are days I actually miss working in the auto parts biz.

did you show her where her "710" cap was?

:instantrimshot:

Was the light on telling her the tea was done?

guys, she suffered through W210 ownership long enough. she DESERVES a new car.

I'll give you that.

My favorite is the one about the lady that came in looking for a 28 oz. water pump. After much going back and forth by the counterman to decipher what she really wanted, she finally presented the piece of paper her husband had sent with her. 280Z. To which the counterman replied, "Oh yeah, we've got those. Got them in 26 and 24 oz. too!"

I went into a parts store once asking for hi-temp paint. When the guy came back up the aisle with it, he asked what I needed it for, and when I told him I was painting an engine header, he actually pulled his arm back (the one holding the paint can I was reaching for) and told me regular paint would be fine, I didn't need this expensive stuff.

I reached again while saying, "It's a rotary engine. Header temps are higher, so I certainly do need this," but the can remained out of reach--seriously--as he asked once again why I REALLY needed the hi-temp paint. So I told him "crafts" and he handed me the paint.

Yeah, those parts stores are total chuckle factories. But sometimes the laughs go the other way

Margie

I used to work at a NAPA when I was in college. I gotta remember what some of the crazies were...

We need stories!

The store I worked at had three book-bank/computer stations. The one in the middle was across from the front door, so it got all of the walk-in customers. As I seem to be more patient than most, that was my station.

Sometimes things would happen so fast you'd forget to think. In between answering the phone and filling shop orders, a customer walks in and asks for parts for a "Chrysler Reliant". I must have searched in the book for 2 minutes before it dawned on me he had a Plymouth.

I had a lot of older grumpy gentlemen looking for parts for their Chevy. No year, no model, no engine, just Chevy.

It was always a beat up 80's GM full size 4x4 with a 350. I played dumb because they were so rude.

Had a bunch of ford mercury-s come through as well. Different car every time; sable, cougar, grand marquis, etc.

Had one very adamant woman with a Suziki Vitari.

Had another angry woman yelling and ranting about getting the wrong wiper blades. It wasn't raining out and this was a few days after she bought them. We were unable to help her.

Fifteen minutes later she returns and apologizes to everyone in the store because she actually bought them at another parts store up the street. (Advance vs. Autozone)

I had my starter go out on my P11 G20. Went and got one from Advance, asked for a core. Replaced, put old one in the box and took it back. As the guy was ringing me up, he asks me "Can I trust you that there isn't a brick in the box?" HUH? He was telling me a lot of people skimp on the core, fill the boxes with a brick or a rock...

In reply to DukeOfUndersteer:

Some of the stores deserve that....

DukeOfUndersteer wrote: I had my starter go out on my P11 G20. Went and got one from Advance, asked for a core. Replaced, put old one in the box and took it back. As the guy was ringing me up, he asks me "Can I trust you that there isn't a brick in the box?" HUH? He was telling me a lot of people skimp on the core, fill the boxes with a brick or a rock...

The Probe/MX6 guys figured out that they could go to the parts store and buy an MX3 flywheel, and return a Probe/MX6 unit as a core. (It's waaaaayyyyy lighter)

They realized they had done something wrong when they started to buy MX3 flywheels, and they turned out to be really heavy. Makes sense, when the stores were selling MX3 flywheels that they thought were MX3, but were really MX6/Probe.

Some of my missions for Carquest were either "Go to Bob's shop and tell me what the hell he's talking about" or "Take these parts to Bob. A won't fit, but he's saying he needs it. When he finds out it won't, hand him B."

When I worked "hard parts" at AutoPalace just out of college I sold a starter to a guy. He came back saying it was junk. It wouldn't start his truck and he was pissed he was gonna have to get back up under there to replace another one. We had a bench tester. I set it up and it worked beautifully. I suggested he check his wiring and grounds. He told me he would come back and toss it through the front window if he had to come back cause he knows it was bad. He came back--with his tail between his legs. Yup, wired up wrong initially!

I think I was the only guy on the parts counter of Pep Boys who knew what he was talking about... But I did get a few stumpers. I was young and always heard CV shaft/joint/boot, never heard Constant Velocity Joint. I felt retarded. Used to have guys from other parts stores call for coolant temp sensors for VW bugs, anything for an 83 Corvette (not made), torque converter for a Mustang Cobra (all standard), etc. I'd call them out. Had lots of hispanic customers come in looking for parts for a Cheby Ban though...

vwcorvette wrote: When I worked "hard parts" at AutoPalace just out of college I sold a starter to a guy. He came back saying it was junk. It wouldn't start his truck and he was pissed he was gonna have to get back up under there to replace another one. We had a bench tester. I set it up and it worked beautifully. I suggested he check his wiring and grounds. He told me he would come back and toss it through the front window if he had to come back cause he knows it was bad. He came back--with his tail between his legs. Yup, wired up wrong initially!

must be the same guy with the same threat was in here last week.

after telling me "he would come back and toss it through the front window" i replied, "by the marks on the case i can tell you already hit it with a hammer, and it just tested perfect three times in a row, throwing it through my storefront probably won't hurt it a bit."

Nitroracer wrote: Had another angry woman yelling and ranting about getting the wrong wiper blades. It wasn't raining out and this was a few days after she bought them. We were unable to help her. Fifteen minutes later she returns and apologizes to everyone in the store because she actually bought them at another parts store up the street. (Advance vs. Autozone)

We've had those phone calls. So angry, and they only get worse when you say "You couldn't have bought it from us, we don't even sell that brand"...

My favorite is the Cadillac Converter.

I remember "back in the day" being called by the District Manager and reamed out because I told the customer we wouldn't give them their core charge back because they didn't buy the part from us. They brought in an Advance Auto Alt, with their Advance Auto reciept to us at AutoZone. Then had the audacity to call the DM, ream him out about howwe wouldn't give him his core money back. Then we had to call the customer to have them come back so we could give themtheir corecharge.

That was when I knew it was time to leave.

In reply to Bobzilla:

Wow. Just wow.

Sadly, I can't even make this stuff up. The horror stories I have from 3 years in retail parts are enough to fill a book. Another one could be filled from the last 10 years in dealerships.

In reply to Bobzilla:

We're listening!

OK, here's one.....

Guy orders headers for his Olds Cutlass. "It's a 350 Olds." OK. So we special order in some Flowtechs. He gets them home, he swapped in a 350 chevy into his Cutlass. They don't fit. So he calls and I tell him that special order parts are not returnable, but if they're not opened or scratched I can probably get the manager to OK a refund. This is around lunch time. He tells me he is on his way in. Fine.

10 oclock rolls around and we close up for the night. I'm counting down the last register of the evening at 10:15 and someone flies into the parking lot, hits the parking block and stops on top of the block with his ford truck. falls out, grabs the headers in the box and walks up to a mostly dark store and pulls on the door..... the locked door. He starts cussing and yelling and throwing a fit about how we sold him "the wrong E36 M3 you shiny happy people" etc etc.... 10 minutes of this goes on, and he picks up his box, puts it over his head, and slams them on the ground, storms off gets in the truck, backs up in a puff of blue smoke and trans whine... stops, pulls back forward and slams it into gear. Falls back out again, picks up the box and throws it into his bed and flies off.

Next day, his father comes in with this semi-destroyed box, no son. He tells us that his son ordered the wrong parts and he wants to return them. I open the box to find one of the header tubes smashed. I politely told him that when his son threw them down outside the store last night, he smashed oneof the headers and they are now the owners of one set of smashed Olds 350 headers. The guy thanks me, then says "That should teach him to be so damn stupid" and walks out.

Or this one....

Buddy and I closed one Sunday afternoon at 6pm. We got done with our closing responsibilities and walked out to our bikes to ride home. We sat outside for almost an hour shooting the breeze, having a couple cigs (still smoked then). Around 7:15, over an hour after we closed a dude shows up in a ratty pile of crap chevy pickup from the mid 70's. He walks up to the door and finds it locked, tries the other door... locked as well. He sees us sitting back off the side talking and yells over "Hey, I need some parts!" We yelled back "we closed at 6. Sorry, the alarm is set and we can't go back in until 7 tomorrow morning". He starts cussing, calling us everything he can think of. We just start laughing. He hops in his truck, slamsit into reverse, backs up, peeling rubber the whole way, slams it into drive, smashes the gas and BANG! pops the driveshaft.......

We fired up our bikes, put on our helmets and rode right past him on our way out, waving as we went by.