Originally Posted By: Hethaerto
Originally Posted By: pzev
I was a manager at a big name auto parts chain. I'm not lying when I say we hired the bottom of the barrel. People with absolutely no experience, let alone parts experience. They don't receive any training either...its all left to the computer now. Mind you, these people were payed minimum wage, so experience wasn't expected. The managers have usually worked on a car at some point, but are still limited in their knowledge.
Absolutely no one I have ever encountered while working for a big parts chain knew a [censored] thing about motor oil, aside from the ignorant drivel you'll typically hear from shadetree mechanics (pennzoil causes sludge, 0w-30 runs like water, etc).
But what's more important is that most people don't care. We typically sold whatever oil was on sale, and nothing else. The only exceptions were the house brand oils which sold steadily all the time because they were the cheapest. The only brand that seemed to garner any sort of loyalty was Castrol GTX, typically in the heavier weights (20w-50 and 10w-40). I'd imagine it was for older german cars.
Its been years since I worked the parts counter, but when I was doing it 10w-30 was still the most common oil purchased and stocked...at least at my store (in an area with lots of older cars and DIY types). We did sell 5w-20 for newer cars, along with 5w-30 for various GM's. But the heavier weights sold like hot cakes. I always cringed when I saw people walking out of the store with straight 50w. I remember one guy staring at the oil shelf for at least 10 minutes...when I finally got clear of customers I went over and asked him if he needed help. He was holding two quarts of oil, one 50w, and one 20w-50. He was trying to determine if the 20w-50 would be too thin for his truck...he had been using 50w before. I asked him what type of truck it was, he said a chevy 350, with 305k miles. I asked if that was all with the 50w, and he said yes...so I told him to keep using what works lol. Wasn't going to try and explain something that might turn this guys world upside down, not when his current choices seem to be working well.
Anyways, I'm rambling. Moral of the story...don't ask parts counter guys for oil advice, because only about .01% of them will have any sort of knowledge.
I didn't ask her for any advice, she figured I didn't know anything about cars. I guess I look stupid?
I don't know how many times I've had my head in the engine bay looking around and some redneck walks up and starts lecturing me on how to take care of my engine, just assuming I have no idea about anything in this world. And they always say the exact same thing about synthetic oil, word for word, as if they'd memorized a passage from the redneck bible: "Once you switch to syn-thay-tic, you cain't never go back".
Then I always refute that with "Well, how come you can buy blends?"
Their eyes roll back in their heads, they start shaking, then they explode leaving blood and guts all over me and my previously immaculate engine.
Didn't mean to imply you asked for advice. But I'm really chuckling about the fact that "SHE" offered you advice about engine oil lol. Not to be sexist or to offend any female readers, but the most inexperienced people we hired were always young women. And by inexperienced, I mean they have never even looked in an engine bay. One of the girls always called the little packets of syl-glide "brake butter". No clue what it was, or what it was used for, just knew that if she sold enough of it she got 4 stars on her weekly sales report. I'd try to train the new employees as best I could, but they always found it easier to just ask for my help and then when I stepped in to handle whatever it was they were doing, they'd pop off to the back for a smoke, etc. You can imagine that turnover in the parts world is pretty high.
Anyways, I get ya OP. Motor oil is one of those subjects that everyone seems to be an expert on because their dads uncles cousin once told them how it is...
Originally Posted By: pzev
I was a manager at a big name auto parts chain. I'm not lying when I say we hired the bottom of the barrel. People with absolutely no experience, let alone parts experience. They don't receive any training either...its all left to the computer now. Mind you, these people were payed minimum wage, so experience wasn't expected. The managers have usually worked on a car at some point, but are still limited in their knowledge.
Absolutely no one I have ever encountered while working for a big parts chain knew a [censored] thing about motor oil, aside from the ignorant drivel you'll typically hear from shadetree mechanics (pennzoil causes sludge, 0w-30 runs like water, etc).
But what's more important is that most people don't care. We typically sold whatever oil was on sale, and nothing else. The only exceptions were the house brand oils which sold steadily all the time because they were the cheapest. The only brand that seemed to garner any sort of loyalty was Castrol GTX, typically in the heavier weights (20w-50 and 10w-40). I'd imagine it was for older german cars.
Its been years since I worked the parts counter, but when I was doing it 10w-30 was still the most common oil purchased and stocked...at least at my store (in an area with lots of older cars and DIY types). We did sell 5w-20 for newer cars, along with 5w-30 for various GM's. But the heavier weights sold like hot cakes. I always cringed when I saw people walking out of the store with straight 50w. I remember one guy staring at the oil shelf for at least 10 minutes...when I finally got clear of customers I went over and asked him if he needed help. He was holding two quarts of oil, one 50w, and one 20w-50. He was trying to determine if the 20w-50 would be too thin for his truck...he had been using 50w before. I asked him what type of truck it was, he said a chevy 350, with 305k miles. I asked if that was all with the 50w, and he said yes...so I told him to keep using what works lol. Wasn't going to try and explain something that might turn this guys world upside down, not when his current choices seem to be working well.
Anyways, I'm rambling. Moral of the story...don't ask parts counter guys for oil advice, because only about .01% of them will have any sort of knowledge.
I didn't ask her for any advice, she figured I didn't know anything about cars. I guess I look stupid?
I don't know how many times I've had my head in the engine bay looking around and some redneck walks up and starts lecturing me on how to take care of my engine, just assuming I have no idea about anything in this world. And they always say the exact same thing about synthetic oil, word for word, as if they'd memorized a passage from the redneck bible: "Once you switch to syn-thay-tic, you cain't never go back".
Then I always refute that with "Well, how come you can buy blends?"
Their eyes roll back in their heads, they start shaking, then they explode leaving blood and guts all over me and my previously immaculate engine.
Didn't mean to imply you asked for advice. But I'm really chuckling about the fact that "SHE" offered you advice about engine oil lol. Not to be sexist or to offend any female readers, but the most inexperienced people we hired were always young women. And by inexperienced, I mean they have never even looked in an engine bay. One of the girls always called the little packets of syl-glide "brake butter". No clue what it was, or what it was used for, just knew that if she sold enough of it she got 4 stars on her weekly sales report. I'd try to train the new employees as best I could, but they always found it easier to just ask for my help and then when I stepped in to handle whatever it was they were doing, they'd pop off to the back for a smoke, etc. You can imagine that turnover in the parts world is pretty high.
Anyways, I get ya OP. Motor oil is one of those subjects that everyone seems to be an expert on because their dads uncles cousin once told them how it is...
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