I need to vent a little

[Boatfloater1989]

I personally worked at an AutoZone around the corner and bit to toot my own horn but when it comes to automotive engines in a freakin genius anyway I used to have to look up parts for lets say a headlight bulb and the computer wouldn't let me go further unless I picked either auto or manual trans.. I never asked I would just pick whatever one was closer to the arrow at the time but you would be surprised how many people have no clue what they drive I had a guy come in and needed an alternator... So I go through the usual questions that everyone knows the first one being what kind of car do you have.... No lie this mans answer was " a blue one" had no clue what he drove what year make model motor .. Nothing he showed me a picture on his phone .. It was blue... Lol a blue 97 for Taurus sho its hard not to laugh in someone's face when you make 8.50 an hour and deal with complete morons

 

[turbotodd]

its hard not to laugh in someone's face when you make 8.50 an hour and deal with complete morons

That is the truth right there!

But I've been on the side of the counter too. Walk into a parts store and the guy behind the counter said what can I get you. I was needing a outer tie rod end, working on my old '75 Ford Maverick-but I swapped in a Mustang II/Pinto front suspension, with rack & pinion. So I tell the guy exactly what I was doing. Said I needed a tie rod end for my '75 Ford Maverick that had a '74 Pinto front end in it. He says ok, what kind of car is a Maverick? (Didn't I just say Ford?)....so ok I can play this game.

Make: Ford
Model: Maverick
Year: 1975
Engine: 7.3L
Transmission: 2 speed Chevrolet Powerglide

And you can imagine the look on the parts person's face. They he wants to get smart with me. I let him...after all I was being a smart butt with him. Then I asked him to look up the tie rod end for a '74 Pinto and out it came, perfect. Told the guy very nicely that if he'd listen a little closer and use some critical thinking skills that he could avoid such problems in the future.

And I've been on the parts clerk side of the counter...many MANY times over the last 20+ years. You'd be surprised how many people come in and they don't even know what they have. "I need a part for my lawn mower". Ok sir, what kind of mower do you have? "Orange one". Well...Husqvarna, Kubota, Bad Boy, Stihl, what brand of orange mower do you have?" Then usually they either get real smart with you or they don't know and think that all parts interchange, and walk out the door and badmouth you. Daily occurrence multiple times a day, trust me! It wears on you.

Usually, though, if I need something off the wall and I am at a place looking for it...if there's a pimple faced kid behind the counter and an older person, 99.99% of the time I'll bypass the kid and talk to the old guy (or gal in some cases).

 

[Y_J]

I just spent a couple days hitting up all the auto-parts stores in my city, along with tractor supply and a couple of lawnmower repair shops with a fuel petcock in hand. My ??? to them all was "Do you know what this is?" Favorite answer given at all of them was "I have no idea". I finally got to an Autozone and an old gentleman and his reply was. "A fuel shut off valve". Great. Do ya'll have any, please? I'm afraid not he says. Ok. Let's try this one out. I unscrewed the knob on it and took it out to reveal where the O-Ring should be. Got one that will fit this? He tried his best to find one that would fit but no luck.
I ended up back at another lawnmower shop and just bought an inline shut off valve for my outboard motor. Not anything close to OEM but should work OK until I can find an O-Ring..
I can not believe how ignorant (use Websters definition please) auto parts store and shop employees are.

I've also worked tech support in the computer field and hit tons of responses similar to what turbotodd was talking about. Sure can be frustrating at times..