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Unknown Parts Counter Guy: Throwing A Temper Tantrum Over A Hot Wheels Car In Middle Age


Unknown Parts Counter Guy: Throwing A Temper Tantrum Over A Hot Wheels Car In Middle Age

The line to an automotive addiction starts with $0.98. Ask any parent of a gearhead born after the mid-1960s and you can almost guarantee that somewhere along the way in childhood, a tiny little 1:64 scale car set the tone for a financially crippling addiction to cars. Most of you readers probably have fond memories of a favorite that you owned growing up. I have fond memories of fishing out a Racing Champions NASCAR 1992 set from an upstairs toilet after my little brother decided to do his best Plucky Duck “…go down the hoooole!” impersonation by flushing as much of the collection as he could, but that’s another story for another time.

You know it’s been a good day at the store when Store Manager is sitting in his office, making noises that sound suspiciously like a severely hung-over college kid at four in the afternoon. Since even the most totalled drinker is usually with it by that time, it only means that some hell has gone down and that he’s back there, hidden from the customers, trying to rub a migraine out through his temples. Which naturally means that I have to know what happened, because when you look at the day-to-day calamities that strike the store, having something happen that results in headache medicine is an event worth noting.

As the story goes: the night prior, a gentlemen of middle age and calm temperament came into the store to purchase a water pump for his vehicle. After initial confusion over the application (the customer swore the pump only had four mounting bolts while the application called for twelve), the clerks sold the pump, made sure to explain the return policy clearly, and sent the customer on his way. Sure enough, the next afternoon, he returned to the store to return the water pump. Not exchange, return it for a core charge. This doesn’t go over well with the customer, but he’s still calm and understanding. After being told that there is no way that he will get a core charge for a brand new part he’s trying to return, he accepts a full refund on his card and walks over to the Hot Wheels that are on display. After careful consideration, he selects one (no idea which one) and throws it at the clerk, saying that he will be right back, he is going to go get cash to pay for it, and leaves.

In a span of a few minutes after, a clerk coming on shift notices a Hot Wheel package on the counter, decided that their kid would like that particular car, pays for it and puts it in their vehicle to take home after their shift is over. Thirty minutes after he left, the customer returns back, ready to pay for a Hot Wheels product, and finds out that the one car is gone, it was the only one on display, and that there was no agreed-to hold for a single Hot Wheel. The customer, who up to this point has been cool, calm and collected, proceeds to lose his ever-lovin’ mind at any and every one present. One counter-clerk takes on the full brunt of verbal abuse as the customer demands to see the store manager. Store Manager comes out and stands there as this guy is screaming…as was told to me, “veins popping out, turning purple, screaming”…about how the store is full of thieves, how (STORE NAME) is out to screw him over at every turn, and how he’s gonna get everybody’s asses fired once he makes a phone call to the regional office. So Store Manager does the only thing you can do in that situation: he writes down the phone number, hands it to the guy, tells him to call, and informs him that if he doesn’t leave the store on his own, that the police will be escorting him out.

Screaming Man leaves, but he doesn’t go home. Instead, he goes to every last parts store in town to yell out his frustrations over a Hot Wheels car. And it’s about this time when I have walked into the store…right after Store Manager got off the phone with Regional, explaining himself, while the guy in the back is on the phone with the sister store in town, explaining to their SM just what the hell happened. It’s been many years since I’ve wanted to buy someone a drink out of pure sympathy, but damn if Store Manager couldn’t have used a beer right about then. After I hear the story, SM looks at me with a weary expression and asks if I’d ever consider returning to the store, even part-time.

Care to guess that answer, readers?

hot wheels package


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4 thoughts on “Unknown Parts Counter Guy: Throwing A Temper Tantrum Over A Hot Wheels Car In Middle Age

  1. john t

    Reminds me of a weird hot wheels story..As some might know, I have an XB Falcon coupe, a bit rare even in Australia, that I’ve owned for the last 15 years and which was the family car until recently (daughters kids don’t fit in it) Anyway, on this day a few years ago, I’d just hopped back in to it at the shops and a guy walking past is looking at the car..then he stops like he forgot something, walks back to his car, then walks up to me in the drivers seat. He then hands me a Hot Wheels car, still in its packaging, a black XB coupe – these were rare in Australia too, don’t know if you guys got them in the states – but he says `here, you own the real thing, you should look after this one too’ and walked away – didn’t want any money for it, obviously cherished it carrying it around in his car etc. Its still on my mantelpiece to this day.

  2. Crazy

    You have no idea..
    We have people come in every load day to see what new hot wheels /matchboxes we have got in.. We sell 100+ a week and it’s a supermarket food store.. I stopped putting them in the dump bin/shipper display right off the bat.. I learned it was better to set up a small bin table beside it, and put the new stock there untill the next shipment came in.. (every 3 days) this way the grown men, didn’t make a royal mess as they fished through the dump bin shipper looking for a new “model” .
    The kids with parents would fish the top and pick one.. not pick through all 300 cars in the bin..
    These grown men would be at the store the day of the new stock ..
    It was crazy.. When I took over the dept. they only kept 22 cars in stock total.. I bumped it up to 50 then 75 then 100 then 125, etc.. till we got to 200. and they fly , 100+ a week..sold..
    I’d just snickered as I got first dib’s as I checked in the load.. But I’d never be hitting a store every delivery day hunting.. that is flipping nuts..

  3. DanStokes

    In our almost 14 years here in town I’m pretty sure I’ve been in every auto parts store in town. I can’t recall any of them carrying Hot Wheels. Now I know why.

    Dan

  4. Ian

    Hehe, I fill shelves at the local supermarket a couple of nights a week. I always have a quick look at what new hotwheels or matchbox cars we’ve gotten in that week. I’ve managed to snare some decent ones over the years, I’ve actually limited myself to only grabbing TV/Movie/character cars with the odd foray into something that I really dig, like the XB Falcon.
    Although I’ve somehow ended up with 2 each of the 620 pickups and Porsche 934.
    Oh and you want weird, how about guys hunting for the Matchbox 1st gen Xterra? I ended up with 6 of them, and 5 Microbus concepts. They might still be around here somewhere, the kids got them.

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