Originally Posted By: addyguy
This is a reply thread to 'Auto parts store idiots' thread. I work as a parts-counter person at a Canadian Tire store, and have for five years now.
To start with, you are somewhat right; there are a lot of people hired by stores like ours that shouldn't be there. Low-bidder thinking does get you people who are just there as a body, and don't know or care. But there are people, such as myself (if I may brag a bit) who do care about the job, know a thing or two, and do learn as we go.
One big problem is that there is a divide - 'retail' parts places, like ours, are married to a system that is 'year, make, model' to look up parts...you don't go by knowing parts, cross references or stuff like that. It is a system that is designed for speed, to people in and out as quick as possible. Smaller 'garage' parts places go by old-school guys who KNOW parts from working with them. They take their time looking up cross-references or diagrams to find parts...they are in no hurry. Some retail systems have no functionality to look up by parts numbers..just year, make, model.
As my title suggests, there is also a problem with customers who have no clue! You would no believe how many times a day I have someone come in and ask for parts, and they have no idea what year their car is, or what engine it has! Sometimes it does not matter, but a lot of times, it does! The real kicker is these people often get mad at me because 'all parts are the same, just go get it'. I try to help people, and say 'when you bought it, what engine did you get'? I usually get an incredulous laugh, and 'I bought the blue one!'
Another one we get is people who want to fix something on their car because they are too cheap to have a shop do it, but they don't know how to do it, and just expect we will tell them exactly how to do it. Yes, a lot of ex-mechanics can do it, but as said above, most of us in a retail setting aren't techs. If you are coming to buy parts at a parts desk, and are doing it yourself, you should know what you are doing. But no, these customers come in and want you to walk them through exactly how to do some complex repair, and get mad when you don't know all the steps, specs, and tools they need!
The other one that really fries me is the number of lazy jerks who send their wife in to pick up parts, when they know even less about cars. Sure, some women do know a lot and are fine, but honestly most don't. To top it off, they think if you can't help them, if they 'threaten' you, it will work - 'If my husband has to come in because you gave me the wrong part, he will be very upset'
So there is a flip side to this!
One question: Do you understand that it's about 100 times more wrong for the professional business to be incompetent and ignorant than it is for the customer to be that way?
There is complete expectation for a business to know there business, and absolutely none for the customer.
If I caught one of my guys getting on the phone and literally every statement he made regarding product and system was false, he would be done on the spot.
My business is the marine business. 80% of my customers can identify one component on the boat: The boat itself. We wouldn't last another week if we could be compared to our customers in terms of knowledge and professionalism.
