One of my swiftest complaints to come flying out of my mouth involving the store, any store, is the computerized catalog. It’s the bane to older generations, the parts Bible to the incoming crew, and as far as I’m concerned…it’s garbage. Just about every bit of it. Intentions were good, sure, but if you’re familiar with what the road to Hell is paved with, you already know what it’s like to get behind the counter if you haven’t. The basic premise is simple enough: enter vehicle make, model, model year, and any specially-required information (engine size, for example) and the computer spits out part numbers, locations within the store, and how many are on-hand. Seems simple, right? In theory, it works well enough, and if you have a bit of common sense and if the store’s inventory is placed exactly where it is supposed to be, then it actually works pretty well. Which means that even during good moments, it’s a cluster-****. Nothing is where it is supposed to be, the numbers might be right if you are having a good day, and common sense…well, you can figure that one out.

A couple of days ago I stopped into the O’Reilly’s in Claremore, Oklahoma to grab up some supplies. Finding a clean store with helpful employees within the first hour or two of a morning isn’t that uncommon…the day hasn’t beat them to hell yet, so if you give them courtesy, they’ll give it right back. Finding all employees actually working was a bit of a surprise, but I wasn’t going to make a not of that right off-hand. In fact, I wasn’t going to remember the visit at all up until I went to pay for my loot and got handed a pretty standard-looking receipt on white paper.

I’ve heard through many sources that O’Reilly Auto Parts has ben working to update their computer systems and receipt systems from the absolutely aggravating dot-matrix, carbon copy system that somehow seems to be older than I am. The counter clerk I was talking to, a raspy-voiced younger guy with ear plugs, a mellow attitude and a “skip the formalities, what can I get ya?” vibe, looked highly amused when he saw the semi-awake guy staring at this receipt like he’d been handed a Golden Ticket to Mr. Wonka’s factory. Naturally, I had questions, and he had answers: the store was one of several that was using a new parts search system and as a bonus, had gotten a new receipt printer. They loved the printer…not hard to see why…but when it came to the search engine, they loathed it. I asked if I could give it a shot. He obliged and I went straight for my “good luck sucker” searches: the random crap that only a well-trained clerk (or a clairvoyant) could find. After a couple of minutes, I switched back over to the older system that was being used as a backup and found everything I was looking for in about a minute.

I’m sure the older guys said the same thing over catalogs when the computers first rolled in, but it’s worth mentioning: sometimes it’s not worth re-doing everything just for the sake of being new. It’s not that the old systems are bad…they just ned to be running on a computer system that didn’t come out when I was in grade school, and there is plenty of new technology out there that could make things so much better and easier. From what I could tell, someone decided that they were going to build the ultimate system and instead built an electronic nightmare that employees struggle to use, but will have to adapt to no matter what. Someone spent major man-hours working on the lemon system, and those man-hours will not be in vain!