I am only just one person, one of millions who have manned the counters, the phones, the lifts, and spend every working hour interacting with both the public and the machines that the public relies on to get things done day in and day out. I’ve lamented here before how the interactions should go for maximum satisfaction by both parties, but I might not have been clear enough or detailed enough…and that’s ok, because it’s almost 5 p.m. and my shift is almost up for the day, so in my place I’ll leave you with one of the angriest counter clerks I know. This guy is the Tyler Duden to my position as The Narrator (it’s a Fight Club reference.) Without further ado…
There are a number of things you should know when shopping for auto parts. Some things are important to ensure you purchase the proper part and others are just plain common sense and courtesy. In the following five paragraphs I will attempt to facilitate a better parts buying experience for you. So, read the list, heed the words and make your life (and the life of the poor, sad, unloved bastard that has to deal with you) a little easier.
1. First and foremost, you need to know the year, make, model and engine size of the vehicle you are working on. There are variations in parts from year to year and make to make. In order for me, the customer service representative, to find you the correct part I need to know these details. Most stores have tens of thousands of parts in stock and/or available from various sources. There are hundreds of brands of automobiles with thousands of various models with tens of thousands of options. I do not possess psychic ability; I cannot remotely access your mind’s eye and see the vehicle nor do I have a crystal ball. If the vehicle is present, this does not create much of a problem because I can walk outside and pull the data I need. However, if the vehicle is not with you it is nearly impossible in many cases to find you the proper widget that you seek. Help us help you! Before walking into a parts store read the data card on your car, the registration, check the VIN on the internet, ask a friend or take a (%*@#&$) photo of the car and its engine! This simple but very important step will make your parts shopping experience both faster and less frustrating.
2. Oh! You know a lot about cars? That is wonderful Sir and/or Ma’am. Let me give you a bit of insight: There is not a single parts person in the country that gives a fat, flying rat’s hairy patooty if you know every damn part on your car and what interchanges to what. We don’t care that you think it is stupid to enter an engine size when you are just looking for the right wiper blade or headlight. The simple fact is that while computer data bases we use varies from store to store, they are all the same in that they use input from a service representative to search out the right part for your car. It doesn’t ask you what part you want first, it wants to know the YEAR, MAKE, MODEL AND ENGINE SIZE of the vehicle you are shopping for. That’s what we need, so shut your gob and just give it to us. I get it, everyone wants to feel superior, to feel special. So belittling the poor person behind the computer gets you that satisfaction you so desperately crave. Keep in mind that this does not make you special, it does not make you superior, it makes you an asshole. Which brings us to the next topic…
3. Not every person who sells car parts is a car aficionado. Anyone with a good, solid working knowledge of automobiles that has a shred of sanity will not work for the laughable salaries these places pay. Managers try to seek out people with a good working knowledge of the automobile but those types of potential employees are few and far between. The corporate suits do not care who is in the position, they just care that there is someone filling a void. So, as you get irritated and start running your cakehole about how stupid and incompetent parts people are, remember that most are young people trying to make a living who may not have the same expertise as you. Most parts personnel are doing our best to help you, the consumer, to walk away happy. They don’t want nor need your attitude. A parts person’s life sucks, every one of them can do without an unjustifiably irate customer dropping trou and take a hot steaming pile of dookie on our day. I know full well that there are some us who have no business in a parts store let alone allowed to wander around in public without adult supervision. I know that there are some of us who are not firing on all cylinders. These employees are just as frustrating to me as they are to you but remember you can find mouth breathers in every industry. I know that that things can get frustrating but is it really worth your time and energy to get volcanic about a situation that is out of your control? Which brings us to our fourth topic…
4. Yes Sir and/or Ma’am, you are absolutely correct, this is indeed an auto parts store. What you need to understand is an auto parts store makes money selling parts. They sell lots of parts for lots of vehicles but the probability of your local shop having a heater control cable for your 1971 Oldsmobile Delta 88 are pretty slim in 2016. Why is that you ask? Well it is simple: there just aren’t as many of these vehicles on the road anymore. In order to make money, a store has to move inventory. Having common parts for modern cars is a safe bet. If it is not on the shelf, we probably can get it for you but I will have to order it out of a warehouse and it will be here in a couple days. If that is not good enough then follow these simple steps
1. Shut your yap and smile and say thank you for your assistance good Sir and/or Ma’am.
2. Leave the store quietly like a normal, sane human being.
3. Pull up this thing called the “internet”. It is an amazing resource to use when you are looking for odd parts.
4. Order the part if you find it.
Now, if you don’t know how to use the internet, you should ask for help from a friend or family member…or you could just crawl in a hole and die for what I care. While on this topic, let’s address one more thing: If my car part or car related item is not on the shelf, or there is only one on the shelf that is it, that is all there is! I do not have a warehouse in the back. I do not keep spare inventory lying around. I may have it at another store and could have it here by tomorrow or if that is not good enough you could drive your happy ass over there and buy it. We don’t need you throwing a fit in the store like a toddler, out day is crappy enough as it is.
5. Lastly, I feel I would not be doing my duty if I did not share this little tidbit: Let it be known that I think it is great that you are smart enough to call the store and ask for part availability and pricing. I think it is smart for you to seek out the best prices for the widget that you are seeking. However, when you call and the person on the other side of the phone says “Hello! Thank you for calling “The Parts Store From Hell”, how can I help you?” the next few words out of your mouth will determine how the interaction will go. If the next words out of your mouth are “Hey, my name is Dan and I need to price some parts,” I will guarantee you the rest of the experience will be stress-free and pleasant. But if the next words out of your blowhole are “2001 Chevy Suburban, 350, automatic, 4 wheel drive, I need a intake gasket set” well Sir and/or Ma’am, I can promise you that this experience will not be as pleasant or go as smoothly as you had hoped. Why you ask? I do not appreciate that you are treating me like I’m standing there with my thumb up my…yeah, you know where. I am not waiting on baited breath with my parts screen opened up just waiting for some dingleberry to start spewing random words at me. There is a good chance I am selling merchandise or service in our garage. That means, I am likely going to be busy and your lack of courtesy and etiquette just irritated the bejesus out of me. I will ask you to hold and finish with the customers in front of me. Then if I feel like it I will pick up in a timely manner but chances are I am going to let you sit on hold a while because you were a rude asshat. Then when I pick up the phone I will ask what you’re looking once more because I was not ready to take notes when you randomly called and started shotgunning info at me expecting me to instantly process the information and return fire with the correct part and price. No, this is poor form. You will be irritated, I will be irritated and it rarely ends with a happy customer. So to recap; phone shop, phone shop till your heart’s content but understand you reap what you sow.
This is information that 8 months ago I did not feel I had to share. However, since picking up a second job as a parts counter guy to help supplement my income I have found that it is absolutely necessary to share these helpful tips to help both you the consumer have a more pleasant shopping experience and to me and my unappreciated, underpaid, unloved brethren behind parts counters across this great country have a better day. In the end, that’s all we want. We want to have a better day, and more pay, and more beer, and free car parts and…
The problem here is your preaching to the choir not Joe or Josephine Dimwattbulb that have no clue about anything automotive. Now photocopy the 5 steps and stick it on the front door.
and get fired for being condescending…
that said, I agree, he’s preaching to the choir – but he’s looking for affirmation and love. We love you Sasquatch, here’s a effin doll, point to us where those mean old customers hurt you.
You’ll find sympathy right between S**t and Syphilis in the dictionary. Now pull up those big-boy trousers, wipe your eyes and get the thingamajig that makes the squeaky sound.
Hmmm, it looks like there are 4 different thingamajig that makes the squeaky sound used on your year, make, model and engine size. Lets go take a look at it and see which one it is.
Our local Car Quest the last couple years: Answer call after call while customers who took the trouble to go physically go there wait in line forever (maybe even chat with the caller about personal matters), argue with me about what it was I needed and whether-or-not they had it in stock (!), take the junk part I’m returning that I spent much of my weekend day installing then un-installing with the comment “yeah, everybody returns these”, and yes, stopping and making make me say the engine size, trans type and everything else when I’m needing wiper blades instead of just using their heads, punching in a common answer and moving on. Also, special-ordering items for me that I could have gotten for 2/3rds the price on the ‘net that then hand it to me in a broken box, missing parts. Gosh, if I’d known that they thought I was the asshole after all that, I’d either laugh or suggest they find different work. Doesn’t matter, after decades in business they closed down last December and left it to other stores that don’t find working with the public so distasteful.
Come to think of it, I wouldn’t like working with the public either, especially at my age where I’m long past needing to pay my dues at Pizza Hut or whatever and with my qualification and experience elsewhere. But then…so I don’t.
I agree, but the problem is policy is keep hammering the phone and ignore the walk in. ESPECIALLY if you have a commercial delivery program! Thats the way all these chains want it, sad but true!
Customers in the store are likely to stay in the store and buy something, even if they have to wait. The person on the phone is a potential sale, and if you dont answer then they may call somewhere else and then it could be a lost sale. This was the motto in my part slinging days.
Why in the name of all that is holy would you ignore a sale for a potential sale?! That doesn’t make a damn bit of sense, especially when there are 3 competing stores in a 10 block stretch of road. Yeah, the person on the phone MIGHT get something from you or MIGHT end up calling one of the competitors, but the guy in the lobby already chose you. you blow him off, he’s going up the street and possibly not coming back.
That policy is one of the most asinine things I have ever come across.
I agree its terrible. I had worked in stores for a total of 5 years. I cant say I have ever had someone leave the line due to being on the phone. People got clearly agitated(rightfully so) and would make comments but stay in line. Do you leave stores if they are on the phone? I dont, i usually wait until there done, as do most people I would guess. I dont agree with the policy, but I would wager it works as intended most of the time.
It is our policy to politely ask the customer in front of you to wait a moment then answer the phone and ask the phone customer to hold. If we are extremely busy we are to ask for a name and number and call them back as soon as we can. This helps to keep most customers happy….
This is pretty standard policy at our store as well. When you’ve been left with two guys at the counter, three customers in the store and three phone lines going apeshit, most of the walk-in guys understand…
For what it’s worth, it’s our policy too. 95% of my walk-in customers understand. 5% get mad and leave. Not much we can do. I can either sell you a $5 widget, or I can grab the phone call from the customer who spends $150,000 a year with me, and make him happy.
My local Napa shops are awesome. Great, staff who usually have what I need, even for my ’73 Valiant project. If they don’t have it, they can get it, or i hit RockAuto. It’s always a great experience in there. I’ve seen the tantrum guys too, man they’re embarrassing to be around and I don’t even know them!
ok UNPCG why after I’ve taken the time to look up your stores product item number for Autolite 3924 plugs,and I know you have them because the magic flashing lite box told me you have 40 of them,do you still insist on MM&Y?
My local store has them insight of my position safely on the customer side of the counter,I see them “right there!”,but they have to look in the computer before they just turn around and take 1 step and pull 2 boxes off the shelf.
Why?
It’s a simple work around….bring the part number or SKU in and we wont have to look in the data base. However, I cannot count how many times people come in with a part number they looked up on line and/or got from their “mechanic” and just to be safe I decide to double check and it turned out that they are asking for the wrong part. I will ALWAYS double check a part numbers application…does not matter who you are or what you know because if I do it every time there is little chance of customers coming back in and throwing a tantrum because we sold them the wrong part even though it is the exact part we asked for. Checks and balances. It may inconvenience you for 30 seconds but it saves me and the managers hours of ass pain.
Careful there, I’ve been on the customer side of the counter looking up a part number on RockAuto so that I can buy the part from the store because the ‘gentlesquatch’ on the other side of the counter can’t work their 2000 year old computer…
I think comparing online to real life is a false one because, as the consumer, I have to balance how badly I need the part vs. the price one must pay the squatches.
Thats great but not the point I was trying to drive home….I try my best to help a customer any way I can…I will not dance and/or do any sasquatchy things but I will help them find what they need…….don’t tell anyone I said this…but…I work in a low income side of town. Most cars we see are 10 years old or more. If I were to guess I would say the average income is less than 30K a year. So when customers come in on a tight budget and they feel our prices are out of reach I often ask if they need parts right now and if so shop around. There are 4 other parts stores around. I also suggest to customers to shop rock auto if their budget is super tight but time is not a factor. Often times I will see those customers again and again because the know I am honest and will help them find the best deal even if I lose money in the process. I will bend over backwards for a customer….but I will not for an asshole…ya know?
Cyclone03, would you like me to tell you the number of times I have had someone come in with a part number and have it not be the part they need? Give me a few extra minutes to double check for you. It can very well save you a ton of frustration that you will end up trying to take out on me.
I run a NAPA. I print these ramblings off for my guys and gals to enjoy. Not enjoying the misery but in being able to relate. Its nice to know that parts shopper know it all dicks are universal throughout the land not just in our area!
I work heavy truck parts and this is SO TRUE, me and Co workers talk all these points all day. If people don’t get me info I just go grab any old thingamajig and say ” there all the same” grouchy old men just love when I throw that back at em
I always try and frequent the same parts store.Most of the time I go online and get the part number and make a visit.The Mgr is a car guy.Hes trying to educate his co-workers especialy on older stuff.Have I bought the wrong thing? Yes.Do I admit it? Yes.In perspective it fits almost any retail business.
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