It's always fun having to explain that we don't do brake jobs, a/c work, or oil changes, as we don't have a shop, and we aren't licensed for such work... (But we do have a roll up door in the back, so we MUST have a shop... even though it is maybe 7"by 6"...)
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the workhorse:86 F250 4x4 6.9 Diesel 4-spd, 4.10 axles, holley red electric pump
the other workhorse 92 F350 2wd crew cab, 4.10 rear axle, 92 6bt Cummins, NV4500 with Gear Vendors overdrive
the project: 77 F250 Camper special 400 4 speed Iowa Chapter leader
Come on down and join us in the Iowa chapter, or your own local chapter!!
Had a guy come in with a BMW that looked track ready for Le Mans, one bulb was burned out. Kept asking me if the bulbs were OEM, told him they were better than the OEM, as I had to remove the bulb, and it wasn't HD He came in a couple days later and wanted a warranty refund on the failed original bulbs, as they had to be under warrenty because the car wasn't that old. Cheap SOB wasn't driving car that cost more than most peoples house and he wants a refund on light bulbs, told him to take his bulbs to BMW.
I believe you, but I just can't believe someone is that freakin stupid !
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Bill Lloyd
1981 Ford F250 4 x 4 351M & 4 speed
1982 Ford Econoline 300 six
i went in one day to buy a few stang parts. tell the guy at the counter i need a heater core for an 85 mustang and a carb gasket for the same thing. he starts with the computer and says an 85 mustang doesnt have a heater core and the gasket will take about two weeks. i was like what, thats the most ridiculase thing ive ever heard. so i go on to explane that i just need a reguler 4v carb gasket, like the one hanging on the shelf behind him and that an 85 stang has a heater core just like all cars with heat, and that i bought one there not even a year ago for my old mans stang.. he's like you tellin me the compter's wrong, they aint got one man. yes its wrong i said, but i got no time for this today. so i take the gasket and skoot out, went back the next day and ordered it from another clerk no problem..
one day i went down to get the stuff to change my oil, i was driving my 68 coronet 4dr that i bought maybe a week before. come outside and theres a guy laying underneath my car. so i walked up next to him and say, what ya wana buy it. he crawl out and says, nope just lookin at your system man. i'm like you mean that sweet "y" pipe with the rotted out muffler. ya man you gota get that sucker off, chop that rite off and stick some thrush packs on there. ok i said, thats what i'll do. he goes ya, thats what i do to everything, my new truck, my old ladys car, my lawnmower. all something needs to sound good is a sweet thrush glasspack. i tried but i couldnt hold a strait face, ya had to see him to realy find it funny.
i got a bunch of good ones, but i go to the parts store almost everyday so i deal with dumb people all the time.
i went to national once with a belt in hand, i needed a new one for a mustang i had put together but it was not a facto length becouse i deleted the a/c and smog pump. i walk in with the old belt and lay it on the counter. hey i need this belt, well whats it for. 89 mustang gt. strait to the computer he goes, askes me if its a v8 or s4, what trany, a/c or not.. i said no it's not a facto lengh i need this size, it's a custom lengh. ok, he goes in the back to measure it.. a long 5 minutes later he comes back, gets on the computer. he says no this is wrong, i can get you a non a/c belt but it is longer than this, that must be what you need not this thing. no i need that lengh, i bought it hear before it is just a belt that lengh. back on the compter for what seemed like forever, ok i can also get you an a/c belt buut that even longer than the non a/c belt... super frustrated from dealing with this guy for a good 20 minutes i grabbed my old belt and said i geuss i'll have to go somewhere that sells belts by lengh not buy what its from.. then the manager came over to see what was wrong, i had the belt i needed in 2 minutes once he stepped in...
I hate to diss any Autozones, since at least one of the posters who works their really has it together. But, this is a different store.
I looked up the part that I needed on their website, and printed out the description, p/n, and a pic.
Brought it in, and the counter guy says "ahhh the wonders of the internet". But , it soon dawned on me that he has no idea what he's looking at. He wants to know what kind of a car I have, and what I need.
I managed to explain to him that this was the part number that THEY used, and that he should be able to look it up on his computer. Eventually he managed to find the part.
I should mention that there were two other employees there. One was trying to make coffee because they were having some kind of 'customer appreciation ' deal. I say trying because she kept saying that she didn't know how many scoops to use -- and neither did the others.
The third person was pigging out on the candy that they were supposed to have out for the customers being appreciated.
A little O/T, but I also had a real eye opener about differences in parts guys -- and this was a dealership. I needed an obscure part for an old Mercedes. I called the parts dep't, and the guy says "yeah, we got it". It was pretty cheap too (less than $20).
So, a couple of days later, I stopped in, and the guy on duty says "No way, we can't even look up parts for anything like that. We'd have to contact Germany, and it would be at least $200. " I tried to explain, but no dice.
A couple of days later I called back, and got the first guy again. I explained what happened, and asked him to leave the part out with a note because I wasn't sure just what day I could get there. Fortunately, he was there when I went in and I got my cheap part
Bless the good parts guys -- and I won't mention the rest of that statement
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ford2go (hj)
Wish I had -- F150 I6 5 speed
Have E350 RV
No problem dissing on the AZ's that deserve it... I have been to some, even while employed by AZ... it is sad, because the stereotype is not entirely undeserved, but there are some stores like ours that do way better.
One I went to, all I wanted was to get torque specs and procedures to do a head gasket for the brother in law. I had to explain over and over and walk the counter guy through everything to get the procedures out of the computer, then he STILL managed to get me the wrong info... I was being polite and trying to work with him, maybe I should have just walked up to another terminal and did it myself... I had issues with that store in the past, so it shouldn't have been a surprise. If I ever dealt with them, I always went with the part number ready.
One annoying thing we all have to endure there, is that even if there is no specific vehicle the part is for, like say a marine battery, I still usually have to log it in under a vehicle... We have checkouts at the lookup terminals, and the register. If I run it through the register, I don't have to add vehicle info. If I run it through the lookup terminal, I do...
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the workhorse:86 F250 4x4 6.9 Diesel 4-spd, 4.10 axles, holley red electric pump
the other workhorse 92 F350 2wd crew cab, 4.10 rear axle, 92 6bt Cummins, NV4500 with Gear Vendors overdrive
the project: 77 F250 Camper special 400 4 speed Iowa Chapter leader
Come on down and join us in the Iowa chapter, or your own local chapter!!
I was in Autozone a couple weeks ago, getting parts for my 97 Ranger that my wife wrecked.
In walks this guy and his kid, I kid you not... carrying what looked to be a black trash bag that was full of something. The guy walks up and asks the clerk, "do you guys recycle oil?".
Puzzled, the clerk says "Ya, but you can't dump it out of that. You need to buy a drain pan or something."
Guy buys a drain pan, walks outside, still carrying his trash bag of oil and begins to attempt to put the oil in the drain pan... oh, but it's okay, because they held it over the trash can at the entrance to make sure they didn't make a mess. And rather than doing the only smart thing you can do at this point which would be to cut a small hole in the corner of the bag, these two decide to try to dump it into the drain pan.
At this point, the clerk goes running out there and tells them they can't do that there, and that if the EPA happens to drive by, they're screwed.
You can't make this crap up people. And these people vote! I could write novels.
BTW: I forgot to say, the oil was from this guy's 7.3L Powerstroke! So you can imagine how much oil was in that bag.
I was in Autozone a couple weeks ago, getting parts for my 97 Ranger that my wife wrecked.
In walks this guy and his kid, I kid you not... carrying what looked to be a black trash bag that was full of something. The guy walks up and asks the clerk, "do you guys recycle oil?".
Puzzled, the clerk says "Ya, but you can't dump it out of that. You need to buy a drain pan or something."
Guy buys a drain pan, walks outside, still carrying his trash bag of oil and begins to attempt to put the oil in the drain pan... oh, but it's okay, because they held it over the trash can at the entrance to make sure they didn't make a mess. And rather than doing the only smart thing you can do at this point which would be to cut a small hole in the corner of the bag, these two decide to try to dump it into the drain pan.
At this point, the clerk goes running out there and tells them they can't do that there, and that if the EPA happens to drive by, they're screwed.
You can't make this crap up people. And these people vote! I could write novels.
BTW: I forgot to say, the oil was from this guy's 7.3L Powerstroke! So you can imagine how much oil was in that bag.
And even worse, they can contaminate the Earth by reproducing.
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Bill Lloyd
1981 Ford F250 4 x 4 351M & 4 speed
1982 Ford Econoline 300 six
Young kid comes in while talking on a nextel. Apparantly the guy on the other end was the guy fixing his boat and was trying to describe the part that he needed. I was lucky enough to be the closest to the parts computer. Asks me for an obscure seal that I rarely sell or have to replace on an I/O engine. He said it was for an early 80's boat. I told him, "I really need the serial number to make sure that I get you the right one. He insists that he'll be able to tell the difference just by looking at it, and besides there all the same right? Again its an oddball and even I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two, but whatever. I look it up, its no longer available but i had dozens of them in stock. He promptly rips the bag open and goes "that looks like the one!" he pays and leaves. Yesterday, he comes back and has a mangled, greasy seal wrapped in a paper towel.... oh boy. "yea you sold me the wrong seal, it dont go in right" I was like yea i can see that. But this time he came in with his serial number, i run it in the computer and its off of a 1969 sterndrive, not one from the 80's which of course is different. He asked for his money back and got all pissy since it was "my fault" that he told me that they were all the same when they were not. I reminded him that if he had his serial number in the first place we could have avoided all the confusion! Sucked for him since the seal that he really needed is no longer produced, then he asked my favorite question.... "ya got any used ones?"
I can about imagine the mess they made draining it out of the truck...
Had a guy ask today for used door locks for a Blazer... the new ones run $13....
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the workhorse:86 F250 4x4 6.9 Diesel 4-spd, 4.10 axles, holley red electric pump
the other workhorse 92 F350 2wd crew cab, 4.10 rear axle, 92 6bt Cummins, NV4500 with Gear Vendors overdrive
the project: 77 F250 Camper special 400 4 speed Iowa Chapter leader
Come on down and join us in the Iowa chapter, or your own local chapter!!
__________________
the workhorse:86 F250 4x4 6.9 Diesel 4-spd, 4.10 axles, holley red electric pump
the other workhorse 92 F350 2wd crew cab, 4.10 rear axle, 92 6bt Cummins, NV4500 with Gear Vendors overdrive
the project: 77 F250 Camper special 400 4 speed Iowa Chapter leader
Come on down and join us in the Iowa chapter, or your own local chapter!!
Someone seriously drained oil from an engine into a plastic garbage bag? Someone that stupid should have taken it to an oil change place to get it done.
Okay, so here is my story.
In about a week I am changing the oil in my 92 Mazda Protege. The local Auto Zone was having a sale on the Pennzoil quarts, and that's my preferred oil. So I went today to get five quarts and the filter.
I grabbed my own oil and my own filter, didn't need any help from the guys working there. So yeah, I am in my jeans and sweatshirt...I do not look like an employee at all...and this guy asks me if I work there. I told him I don't, and he wanted me to help him find the spark plugs and wires for his truck.
So he tells me that he drives a 2001 Ford Explorer, and I tell him that that stuff is all kept in the back, and he will have to ask an employee.
So he asks the employee, and the guy tells him that the best plugs for his SUV are Bosch Platinum. I told the guy buying the plugs that if he wants his SUV to run the best it can, to get Motorcraft plugs and wires, because those are the Ford ones that come with the car.
The parts guy got all pissed at me and told me not to interfere with his job. I simply told him that his job isn't to tell the customer what to buy, but to give him the choices and let that person choose.
This is the same guy who I have watched numerous times tell customers that they want the more expensive things, when they come in knowing what exactly they need.
I really hate those types of employees at parts stores. Most of them have no idea what they are even talking about (if they did, they would have a better job), and are going off of what they see on The Fast and the Furious.
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