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Question Of The Day: What’s Your Best Method Of Messing With The People At The Parts Store?


Question Of The Day: What’s Your Best Method Of Messing With The People At The Parts Store?

Ok, it seems that our own Unknown Parts Counter Guy has become bored. That isn’t a good thing…when the guy with a bag on his head has grown weary of listening to the sounds of angry rage-quitters on GTA Online, doesn’t want to listen to any more music and has no more parts to stock, he reverts back to his most primitive forms of entertainment: practical jokes and screwing with the people at the counter. Why does he do this? Who knows…we are still trying to figure out what to feed him besides donuts and Red Bull, and we’ve been his custodians for years now. Besides, we can’t exactly blame him for choosing the counter workers as his targets: some days you walk out of the store without your parts, wondering how some people make it through life without a life coach standing next to them, chanting “inhale…exhale…inhale…” to make sure that they make it to the next day, let alone if they are capable of finding you the heater switch relay you need.

The last time he did this, he called every store in a fifty-mile radius, asking about the water pump gasket for a 1997 Toyota Tacoma. A few minutes ago he darted out the back door, without the bag on, muttering something about finding the youngest guy in the store and asking them about parts for American Motors vehicles. Think about it…AMC has been gone for thirty years now, and some of those young bucks are still in their late teens. Yikes. Well, if you have suggestions that won’t end up with the police or ambulance called, feel free to leave them below. We will inform him on what you suggest. Maybe. Or we might tranquilize him…

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16 thoughts on “Question Of The Day: What’s Your Best Method Of Messing With The People At The Parts Store?

  1. aussie351

    Having worked at many a parts store, believe me, most customers baffle us enough with the info on their own car! “I need a part for my car” “What type of car?” “It’s outside”

  2. Crazy

    SEEMS this unknown parts guy needs to buy thicker glass for that house as he has shown that even at his age he can be as clueless as a 19 year old.. new to the job counter person..

    SAD, as many a motorsports team /event is sponsored by these companies and employee’s.
    Hope one day you get what you got coming.. While out at an event.. and they ask you to leave.. the event or get out of their pit..

  3. Mouse

    Baffling parts people is simple. Before they have a chance to start their “what vehicle?” line of questions. Tell them the part and the part code number that it’s listed under in their computer.

  4. BILL

    I have worked on cars and trucks my entire life and have worked in many parts stores. During this time if you want to frustrate the hell out of counter people that are not a true seasoned car person, when they ask what is it for? Simply reply “Mud Truck” or “Street Rod”. This will ruin that person’s day instantly because in both cases its likely the guy buying the parts didn’t build the vehicle and has no idea what cobbled together parts compose his prized possession.

  5. bill

    c/q store closes at 5. after hours I have to go to advance auto. sometimes I have to cut down the smart ass counterperson. I need parts for my 1968 front engine dragster. finally rings a bell with them and then they listen to me.
    I have 30+ years in the parts business, plus being a machinist. I’m not a rookie.

  6. Gump

    For the rare times I have to go to a parts store I come armed with the part number. I worked at the O for awhile, and after o quit when I still new the employees I would go behind the counter and get my own stuff. Now they\’d probably arrest me. Back when the computer usually had the wrong part listed, so we actually used the big books.

  7. Joe Jolly

    It’s hard to screw with most counter guys. They have their computer and not much working knowledge of automobilia. If you have a decent parts guy you don’t want to piss him off. I usually get frustrated with the counter creatures long before they get frustrated with me. I once needed a 46 inch 6 rib serpentine belt for my 408W foxbody. Counter guy insisted on knowing what make and model it was for. I told him a 454 chevy in a 1926 Packard. The look on his face was really worth the wasted trip..

  8. Brash

    A mate of mine bought an old ski boat that’s powered by an old 272 Ford Y-Block V8. Needed plugs and a filter for it. Call up the shop ‘need some spark plugs for a 272 Ford V8’ get the response ‘a 2002 Ford V8? Yep we have them!’

  9. Richard Fitzwell

    my favorite part of going to the parts store is listening to the counter morons troubleshoot cars over the phone “no crank? Bad starter. Wont run? Bad crank position sensor. Check engine light? Oxygen sensor.”

    I buy all parts online now. Only time i go to the part store is for oil and stuff like that. If i want attitude ill go to the dmv, piss on dealing with the unhelpful morons at these places.

  10. ImpalaGuy

    I had an “overly helpful” young lady at Advance ask several times if she could help me find anything while I was perusing the shelves looking for motor oil with zinc. I could tell she was showing off for the district managers who were visiting and were the only other people in the store. I inquired about an upper radiator hose for my ’65 Corvair. No other distractions during the rest of that visit, aside from the knowing smiles of the DM’s.

  11. Radio

    I was standing in line at the Parts store a while back. The guy in front of me is talking to the pimply faced kid behind the counter. “86.. Mazda … rx7… 1.3… ummm….. I think it’s turbo… yeah I need piston rings.”
    Keyboard clicking.
    I walked right out the door.

  12. Scooterz82

    My current project is a ’64 Rambler Classic, guess what? Rambler isn’t in their computer. Fortunately they still have books on the counter so I can look up my own parts. Have tried to explain to some of them how to find parts in a book, complete waste of time.

  13. DanFordFixer

    Whenever a new parts guy tries to help me I say quickly, “I need a GM double-d style bit for a Rochester 210d twin flow” I know right where they are, but I like to watch them struggle for a bit.

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