Parts Counter Clerk

Oh man.... Here we go.....

I used to work at Autozone back a few years ago with fellow GRM'er Pseudosport. I have hours of stories I could tell from both sides of the parts counter and the parts delivery truck that would boggle your minds. I'm sure he can chime in with a few of his own too.

Working there for 4 years twisted the good, honest person that I was into a jaded person full of hate for my fellow man. I'm surprised I didn't kill anyone while working there. I also learned that 99% of the general public are completely inept at conducting simple everyday tasks, and it mystifies me why many people haven't accidentally offed themselves with their stupidity.

Let's illustrate a couple of examples:

How about this one: a guy comes up to me who came in with a completely riced-out Ford Focus sedan, complete with giant dragon vinyl down the side, chrome hubcaps, and park bench wing. He b-lines it toward the clearance section when he sees some universal fit underbody neons. The clearance section has a big sign saying "All Sales Final" on it. He comes up to the register and the following conversation happens:

Me: How can I help you?

Focus Guy: Will these fit my Focus?

Me: They are universal, you have to make them fit.

Focus Guy: So, will they fit?

Me: Again, they are universal. It's up to you to make them fit.

Focus Guy: You didn't answer my question. Will they fit my car?

Me: They are universal. It's up to you to make them fit.

Focus Guy (getting mad): I'm going to ask you again, will they fit my car!?!?!?

Me: Honestly, buddy, they might. You have to make them fit. THEY ARE UNIVERSAL.

Focus Guy: So, if they don't, can I return them?

Me (pointing at the sign): No. All sales are final, like the sign says.

Focus Guy: Ok, I'll take them.

I ring the guy up, he takes them away. Not 3 hours later, he comes back, and tries to return them. He starts getting beligerent and saying that I told them they would fit. My manager at the time (I was an assistant manager) comes over and tries to explain that they are universal and that all sales are final because it was on clearance. He just didn't get it and starts to lose it. I just walked away! Seriously, how berkleying stupid was this guy???

Then there was the time some guy came in with spark plugs that had been in an engine and were used for about 9 months, and he brings them back demanding his cash back. He threatened violence, and my manager just gave him the damn cash. I was pissed. I would have chosen the violence.

Oh, and there's the time the guy got pissed because we didn't have something in stock, so he proceeds to go outside and start beating the crap out of his wife and kid!!!! about 3-4 other employees and I saw him do it, and ran after the guy. The wife he was wailing on was driving, and she didn't stop. He just kept yelling crap out the window like the scum that he was, instead of getting out and facing the angry mob that wanted to stomp on his face. We called the police, but they never caught him.

Oh, and then there's the other end of things....

The company itself is just as twisted as it's customer base. They don't care AT ALL about the customer or helping the customer, they only care about selling these stupid little $0.99 packets of grease that probably cost about $0.02 to make. The district manager will call every day for packet counts. If you aren't selling enough, the store gets in trouble, and you get called out on the conference calls. It didn't matter if the customer wanted that, they would try to make you shove these things down their throat. This is all they train the employees anymore, not to help the customer solve problems, but to sell packets of berkleying grease.

And the talent that they hire: well, when I worked there, there were a couple of guys that knew what they were doing. Most of them are long gone. The old store manager was great! He was a vintage BMW bike guy who knew his way around many a car and bike, and was a great guy to boot. The one that's at the store now was overheard a few weeks ago telling a customer that loose lug nuts will tighten themselves up as you drive a car down the road. That's some sage advice right there. And that knowledge trickles down to the other employees.

So, to the OP.... this is why they can't figure out how to find you a belt based on decoding the part number.

(Sorry for the super long rant, but I always have pent up anger that's begging to be released at the thought of this topic, and I thought I would share it with you guys!)

Wow, you guys have got some of the worst counter people out there. Working in that position now, its not hard to contemplate how bad it could be; I'm pretty fortunate to be surrounded by a tight-knit group that knows when we don't know something. But we do know who to ask or who to call. Not saying that we're perfect but we all try damn hard.

Unfortunately, our rep gets soured by the other stores in the chain staffed by blithering idiots. And the duty is toughened since we not only do parts, but tires and full service as well. I think being a service shop helps a lot with our resourcefulness, as we had better be able to get whatever obscure part is needed.

Point being, its all a matter of finding one good parts guy, and treat him well.

Silverfleet's assessment of 'packet counts on conference calls' is exactly why I have no desire to work for the big chain stores. That and they would never pay me anywhere near what the stuff in my head is worth.

But it has trickled down unfortunately. The Mom n' Pops are all but dead, they can't afford to advertise etc the way the chains do so they go under. There is a local chain down here that's still doing okay but it's because they have adopted many of the chain store's methods. I know first hand because I worked for them for a short time. A VERY short time. I got another offer and nearly left a hole in the air.

And man oh man, can I tell you some war stories about stupid asinine people. ~15 years on the parts counters, 2 years installing stereos, another 20 something years writing service coupled with a few stints moonlighting as a bartender. Yeah, man. It's no wonder I see myself as misanthropic sometimes.

I worked at AutoZone for about 4 months. It was not an experience I would like to repeat. I finally quit when I got fed up with the General Manager.

I would always show up to work when I was scheduled, never called off, and wasn't late. Other employees would call in sick numerous times a week or just not show up when they were scheduled, of course the manager called me to fill in for them and I did a few times. It got to the point where he would call and I would refuse to come in, it was my day off and I had plans. He started cutting my hours down to about 1 day a week and I talked to him about it. His reasoning was that if I wasn't going to fill in for other employees when he called me then why should he schedule me to work. I told him that I had never called off and was always on time so why didn't he cut the schedules of the employees who regularly called off or didn't show up. He didn't see my point and I quit on the spot.

Thats my rant for the day.

the new O'Reilly's here is managed by a import drag racer ... talked me out of a tach I was looking at and sold me one ~ 25% of the one I was ready to buy

SilverFleet wrote: Oh man.... Here we go..... I used to work at Autozone back a few years ago . I also learned that 99% of the general public are completely inept at conducting simple everyday tasks

And so your point is...?

I've worked retail for 40 years, and the one thing I've taken away is that most folks don't have a clue. Still, I have learned how to tell a Herin from a Handsaw, and Shiiite from Shinola. To ask for more might seem too much.

Most important is to learn how to recognize the occasional one, and let the "other guy" wait on him..

That way, he'll soon learn, too.

After 8 months of working on the Wartburg I finally have the 3 local places trained. I walk in and they just usher me behind the counter to hunt for my own stuff.

The worst was the young kid who didnt even know what I was talking about when I asked for an innertube.....oi.

I have a few stories from my time at the parts counter as well. The requisite "starter for a chevy" to a guy that got mad at me because my broken Spanish wasn't good enough, to the person that, when I asked what kind of car they had, responded "i dunno, it's blue".

Like any service oriented job, it's thankless at times, but the times when you help a guy figure out that problem that's been driving him nuts for weeks, and he's so grateful makes up for all the shiny happy people that you have to deal with.

SilverFleet pretty much posted what I was gonna, so I won't repeat it because it's the truth.

9 times out of 10, I try not to ask "what engine..?" or ".. does it have A/C?" because the computer will not let you continue unless you answer that particular question. it's tough and it sucks because half the customers have no idea. After 5 years in the business, I've found little tricks to not ask those questions and I passed them on to my co workers.

One of the best ones is the listing for an outer tie rod on a 2nd gen Neon. The computer will ask for standard or sport steering. If anyone is paying attention,they will realize both options take the same tie rod.

I wouldn't completely blame the lack of help behind the counter. Sometimes it's the guy in the cubicle in Mexico that's programming the parts listings into the system. He has no clue what the differences are and just types the part numbers and prices.

Sadly, my favorite parts store closed down years ago (for all you NE-ers...Lappens) haven't really found anything decent since. Although I love going to the autozone in the 'hood near me because it used to have these really cute girls working the counter, sadly that means I usually have to do my homework before I get there and just ask to you have x partnumber if it's anything oddball, and go from there.

NYG95GA wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: Oh man.... Here we go..... I used to work at Autozone back a few years ago . I also learned that 99% of the general public are completely inept at conducting simple everyday tasks

And so your point is...? I've worked retail for 40 years, and the one thing I've taken away is that most folks don't have a clue. Still, I have learned how to tell a Herin from a Handsaw, and Shiiite from Shinola. To ask for more might seem too much. Most important is to learn how to recognize the occasional one, and let the "other guy" wait on him.. That way, he'll soon learn, too.

Yeah, I don't really know where I was going with that, but another trait I did take away from working there was how to sniff out the idiots before the other co-workers could and let the other co-workers that I didn't like (and yes, there were plenty, employment there was a revolving door) take care of that guy. But, for every hundred idiots you have to deal with, you might get someone worth helping. And sometimes, they can help you back!!!

The 400 Pontiac short block that now resides in one of my Trans Ams came from a guy like us that assumed that the parts jockey didn't have a clue what a real Pontiac V8 was. Well, when that parts jockey happened to be me, who owns two 1979 Trans Ams and has grown up around GM products, he was surprised enough to befriend me. And seeing that I had a leaky Olds 403 residing in between the fenders of one of my cars, he gave me a spare, non-original engine he had from a 1970 RAIII T/A he just picked up. And there are more stories like that. My other Trans Am (a 1979 10th Anniversary model with the Poncho 400/4-speed manual) came from another customer who knew that I would appreciate it for its rarity. He had to ditch it quick, and he thought of me first. (One more!) Another guy came in once and asked who owned the Trans Am in the parking lot. I spoke up, and he said he would come back the next day with some parts he had in his basement from his old Firebird. He did return, and with a car load of parts!!!! Some were NOS pieces!!! All the other good parts guys I know have finds like this, just because they can connect with people when they need help.

I stress that there ARE parts people out there that still know what they are doing, but it is a dying breed. The mom and pop places are going the way of the Dodo, and it's sad. I have a few places around here that still exist, and they are almost always cheaper than the big chain stores and can get better quality parts. When they disappear, and they will, it's gonna suck.

I wnt to my local mom and pop looking for a couple of sealed bearings by ID and OD. The lady politely told me that their system wasn't set-up that way, and to try the other mom and pop down the road that had a machine shop across the road. I thanked her drove three blocks, walked in and told the owner what I wanted. He had both in stock, his last two, and he told me he wouldn't be re-ordering because they were so obscure. Then we talked dogs for ten minutes. Corporations will be the death of our society.

SilverFleet wrote: Oh man.... Here we go..... I used to work at Autozone... (Sorry for the super long rant, but I always have pent up anger that's begging to be released at the thought of this topic, and I thought I would share it with you guys!)

I don't want you to give yourself a stroke, but...

Any more stories?

SilverFleet wrote: The company itself is just as twisted as it's customer base. They don't care AT ALL about the customer or helping the customer, they only care about selling these stupid little $0.99 packets of grease that probably cost about $0.02 to make. The district manager will call every day for packet counts. If you aren't selling enough, the store gets in trouble, and you get called out on the conference calls. It didn't matter if the customer wanted that, they would try to make you shove these things down their throat. This is all they train the employees anymore, not to help the customer solve problems, but to sell packets of berkleying grease.

I think that kind of stuff is just a part of modern life in any type of retail store. Its really amazing how rude and insulting and sarcastic, etc district manager type people are. I think from now on I am going to make a point of not buying those grease packets if I can though. lol

I work for one of those big bad corporations in another retail segment. I must be living in some sort of bizarro world, because I like 99% of my customers, get along with just about all fellow associates from the part-timers to upper management, and have found that most employees have the desire to do well, but are leery to ask how to do so. It is unfortunate that the district types that others have experiences are so smarmy and detached. Our company isn't small at around 50,000 employees, but I have met our president three times, the regional vice president knows me by name, and the district manager offers genuine insight into how we can improve our store without the verbal harassment.

I have found that the experience working retail is so much dependent on perspective. When expecting the worst out of someone, you'll probably get it. This applies to both fellow associates and customers.

ok.... my time for a corporate rant on AZ...

Back when I was Ass manager and was in control of the inventory, our district rep came in pissed off. His theory was there had to be at least 5 things wrong for him to point out. Our store was a top 5 store (at that time) for 10 months in a row. We were the #1 store in the district for 4 of those. We had a great crew, we had tweaked the schedule to allow the PSMs and both the manager and me to have a weekedn off every 3 weeks instead of on in 6.

So after spending an hour walking the store, he decides to start checking my order schedule. He questions me for 45 minutes on why I had ordered X amount of Y and the like, all with supporting documents...the entire time he's only getting madder. You can see him boiling because there's nothing wrong with our store. We had the cleanest floors, the best stocked shelves, the right product, the right attitude.... Wasn't good enough.

After 3 hours he finally calls me and the manager into the office. He's looking at our schedule and flat tells us we cannot do that anymore. We have to go back to the one weekend every 6 week routine for the ENTIRE store.

I think I left 6 months later.

I understand the whole packets of grease thing. One of my good friends managed an Electronics Boutique store in the mall. His district rep used to get all over his case about not selling enough of the rotary CD/DVD scratch fixers they had in stock. Basically, they HAD to push these with every sale and if X number were not sold in a week.. he got raked over the coals.

Bobzilla wrote: After 3 hours he finally calls me and the manager into the office. He's looking at our schedule and flat tells us we cannot do that anymore. We have to go back to the one weekend every 6 week routine for the ENTIRE store. I think I left 6 months later.

These are the kind of people you want to see burn in hell.

Chebbie_SB wrote: In reply to dimeadozen: If it is some "Kid" tryin to build his/her street cred, either send him/her on a goose chase looking for a "Brass-magnet" or "Stretch-Paint" ! or just turn it around and reply "Hey Professor Pinchvalve" ! Che

I think they say it with "respect"- I had them look up an oil filter for my G20 one time. As I walked away from the counter, the guy in front of the computer, noting the SR20 engine was listed, said to the other guy "WOW, He's got the JDM only Bluebird SSS engine in his car!" I didn't have the heart to point out to them that my car is stock down to the air filter.

Auto parts store clerks do have my respect for having to deal with the public though- I was waiting in line behind a guy looking for wiper blades for his 2005 BMW 7 Series. He was pissed they didn't have them in stock, so they suggested he try the dealership. He responded with "I did, but they want way too much."

The clerk found the blades in stock at 3 other area stores, and tried to describe their location to the guy. The guy snapped that the first store was "Way too far away", the second "I have no idea where that is." The clerk started describing the location of the third in great detail, and the guy interrupted him by pounding on the counter and shouting "Look, don't treat me like I'm an idiot, I know where that road is" and walked out of the store.

I worked retail for a long time -- and I found I could keep my Zen-like balance by remembering that the customer may not always be right, but he or she will always be satisfied. Saved a lot of useless hand-wringing over things I couldn't control, anyway.

JeepinMatt wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: Oh man.... Here we go..... I used to work at Autozone... (Sorry for the super long rant, but I always have pent up anger that's begging to be released at the thought of this topic, and I thought I would share it with you guys!)

I don't want you to give yourself a stroke, but... Any more stories?

You want MORE?????

How about this one: The store closed at 9pm. Every once in a while, you'll have a customer in there finishing up his business after we lock the doors. Not really a big deal. Well, my manager tells me to go lock the door, and we'll let him out after. At this point, it's probably about 9:10, and a customer pulls up and starts knocking on the door. I go to the door, and tell him that we close at 9, and it's now about 9:10. He then points at the other guy, and says that if he's in there, then he should be able to come in. I tell him that he has been in the store since 8:30 and is finishing up. Meanwhile, while we are going back and forth, more people start to show up and demand entry to the closed store. The guy starts trhreatening me, telling me he's ggoing to kick my ass as soon as I leave. He's freaking out because he couldn't make it to a freaking store on time! Freaking out like a little baby!!!! Once he started having his temper tantrum, I told him I was calling the cops, and picked up the phone. Yeah, he left real quick after that.

Oh, and then there's the time that a guy threw a box of brake pads at me because he was sick of being in line.

Then, there was a time that one of our commercial customers, who was in collections (AKA had no more credit and his account was shut down) flipped out on me over the phone and said he was going to come down there and kill me. Yeah, when he saw that I was twice his size when he got there, he quickly apologized, and I made him pay full price.

We had recurring customers that we would name, like Chicken Wing. He was this very large kid that was always dirty and smelly, and he would come in and buy those neon tubes and destroy them, and then return them and demand his money back because they "broke". I have no clue what the hell he was doing with them, but they would come back all mangled!

Then there was Don. Don was a old man who would go dumpster diving behind the store and toss all the stuff into one of his many Chrysler minivans (he drove those exclusively). He was nuts, and kinda looked like a slow Rodney Dangerfield. He would try to help customers sometimes, and by helping, I mean contradicting the good advice that we would give and give the customer the impression that we were ripping them off. I had to kick him out a few times for that.

I'll have to think of some more. Maybe I can hold a parts store hate seminar at the hotel down at the Challenge. I'll be out by the pool, and admission is 1 beer.

Oh, I almost forgot:

My experience at Autozone helped me get an A+ in an Anthropology class back in college. I wrote a paper on how messed up it was to work there, and what I learned about society from my experiences there. I have to dig it up and post it.

That reminds me, one time I went into an AZ to get a few things. I bought one of those little $.99 packets of Loctite (because I use it so infrequently the bottles usually leak out or dry up before I get to use it twice). For some reason it only rang up for a penny. I didn't even notice, so the counter guy brings it to my attention and asked if I'd like any more, so I bought every packet they had on the counter! I'm still using my little packets of Loctite years later!

In reply to 16vCorey:

hah, thats what they go on sale for when they dont want to sell them anymore. i think i still have a couple of those 1/4 gal jugs of premixed 50/50 antifreeze and a couple "deep freeze" water wetter type things from when they went on sale for a penny back in the day.

the packets of grease they sell you for 99c actually cost the stores 1c.

hERE'S a few....

Greatneck tools had the lifetime warranty. When they were returned all the stores sprayed them with orange paint so they couldn't be returned from the dumpster. We had a guy that would watch the dumpster for those tools than grab them and walk from the dumpster to the store to return them for store credit. A.) back then ther was no store credit and B.) half were still tacky from our paint.

Had a guy buy "Olds Rocket headers".... looked them up, ordered them and he picked them up. Calls us at 3pm on a sat saying we ordered the wrong parts...come to find out he'd swapped the Olds 350/turbo350 for a chevy 350/350. Obviously that information would have been helpful.... so I told him to return them. He said ... and after all these years I remember this clearly.... "I'll be there in 15 minutes to straighten you out." I waited all day, he never showed. 9pm comes around, we lock the doors. 9:15, after the last register was finished counting down this pos dodge truck comes flying into the parking lot. He comes to the door with his box of headers. Tries the door, starts beating on it and screaming.... when the guy I was closing with went to the door and tried to explain that we closed 15 minutes ago and all the registers were shut down for the night. He starts flipping out, grabs his headers puts them over his head and throws them on the ground screaming and yelling, hops in the truck (which was apparently a manual trans) tries to start it without putting in the cltch. puts the truck over the parking block, gets out, still screaming and grabs the headers and throws them (literally) into the bed of the truck, finally gets it started, backs out and attempts to do a burnout. Stalls the truck, then tries to start again without the clutch, finally starts it and rumbles off. NExt morning he comes in and I inspected the headers to find 4 or 5 large dents from him throwing them around the night before. "Sorry, these have been damaged, I cannot return them". This time he said nothing but thanks and left.

Back way back when they used to turn rotors and drums for $7 each. But we would not turn them down below minimum specs. I had a guy bring me in some 1-T dually rotors (which we couldn't get on our machine anyway) with the inside face gone to the fins. He just wanted us to turn the fins down so he could use it a little more.... "It's just my old trash cump truck. I don't need fancy new stuff for it." Yeah.. that was a fun convo.

HAd a guy bring me in his Olds 88 rotors to turn. Outside surface was literally paper thin. I mic'd them and showed him how far under they were and he continued the whole "they're not that bad you just want to sell me some $12 rotors (yes, they were that cheap then). I grabbed the outer lip and broke off a piece of the paper thin metal and he yelled for 5 minutes about how I destroyed his rotors....

Gawd... I could go on for days from there.