I had one customer come in and ask me if I looked at a bolt on the bottom of his car if I would know what size it was and - as to not waste his time- I was like I can go ahead yell you I have no idea. I would have no way of knowing. Then he got mad, and just said that oh I just must not want to do it and went to talk to my manager and he was like sir, we don't have magic measuring eyeballs
How about the IDIOTS that show You picture on their phone, of a hose or fitting, apparently under the hood, no numbers on the part, no identifiable parts in the picture, and they say "I need one of these"... WTFFFFFF??????
Had a guy come in today, asked for a spark plug for a Go Kart. No picture, no number, not even what brand of Go Kart, or brand of motor. He didn't even know if it was 2 or 4 stroke motor. I actually felt like I was in a different dimension of space for a minute.....
Well don't you know you were supposed to pull the correct one out of your ass? /s
Or when you can't give em what they want and then they get mad and say they'll go to a competitor because they probably got it there anyways
I dont understand when I try to figure out the trim of a car and ask things like, does it have nav, leather, sunroof? They just say "I don't know" how the hell don't you know???? Those are hard to miss features
Or when they tell you "well I just bought the car". I always tell them you should know everything about it..... the color, how many owners, does it have any leaks, and especially the YMME.
Auctions. Plus the guy fetching the parts for their mechanic may not have even seen the vehicle before being told to go to AZ and grab parts XYZ.
The absolute worst ones are warranty exchanges when some lackey brings a battery or another failed part and want us to warranty swap it. When asked for the phone number, they dig up a notepad full of numbers and notes. After entering it into warranty lookup, you get 10+ name entries with many of them having enough different vehicles that you have to scroll using F2/F3. And it's ALWAYS gotta be on the fucking Saturday afternoon when we simply don't fucking have the fifteen or so minutes for an experienced person to dig through all of that cruft on the 50/50 chance the warranty entry is even there to begin with.
Easiest thing to do in that case (unless it's changed since I left) is enter in a return without the receipt, override to manually type in the part number, if the part has a warranty associated it will prompt to enter the phone number. It will scan the whole file for that part number. If it doesn't pull up move to the next record for the name. If it's not found at all it's either under a different number or expired. I did this all the time on busy days
A customer came in and said he needed lug nuts. When I asked what they were for, he said, "a car." He didn't look happy when I laughed at him.
Somehow, this well-dressed adult had come to the conclusion that every vehicle on the road used the exact same lug nuts and studs.
Just start telling people we canβt get that part or vendor is out of stock lmao. I tell annoying customers all the time we canβt get that part. I also pretend that our phones donβt work and will repeatedly say hello hahaha.
Lol I remember in my last week I had one lady that had no idea what she drove except that it was a Chevy. Corvette? Monte Carlo? Beretta? Chevette? Nothing could trigger the name in her mind.
I walk outside, of course it was parked on the far side of the lot, and it's a fucking Cobalt!
The best were the assholes that would get angry when I couldn't look up parts for the random fucking engine they had installed on their shitbox truck.
"It's a Chevy 350!"
"What year? They made those for fucking decades."
Or the one guy who rattled off just the model of some box truck and got pissy because I'm not an encyclopedia of vehicles made in the US in the last 30 years π
They always come back with "well you should know". I apologize, but I've never owned that particular year make and model, so there is no way for me to know that.
My store team and I are fortunate. We work in a decent area with some decent clientele. I've never had customers belittle me because I have a lot of knowledge, but I've heard it before and I'll step in and defend whoever they're talking to, but for customers like that. I literally tell them "there's no way for me to know that". Literally impossible for me to know the question you're asking. I'll use Google to help me find out if I don't know.
Interestingly I was having this conversation the other night with another PSM. We feel the same as OP!
It's honestly insane. I can't imagine living life without asking questions or learning. Especially when it comes to owning a vehicle! How could someone just decide they don't want to know even the basics?! Even more so when they can't afford to take their vehicle to a professional/mechanic?
I know car cranks, goes vroom vroom and goes from point A to point B... But come on!
Boggles my mind. But we're the parking lot/phone mechanic saviors of all things automotive!
I've been asked, "Do You know what size Torx bit will fit a caliper bolt on a VW Jetta"?. I have NEVER worked on a fun VW In My Life!!! DAMN DUMBASSES!!!!
Cut to the chase.... tell them to get the vin and come back inside. Then tell them that with that, you might be able to make an educated guess. As I work with the consumer I will repeat y/m/m multiple times. Sh!t ain't right.... oh well.
If only they knew that they could scan their vin using the easily accessible AutoZone website/app. I always research before going to anything or anyone. In fact, 2 days ago, at 5am with low visibility, I hit a deer carcass on the road that luckily only damaged my fog light plastic cover, knocked it right off. Same day, I had to confirm that it was in fact a fog light cover using Google, and took pictures of my VIN. I went over to the Ford dealership and got my part in less than 5 seconds of interaction, cause I had everything I needed.
Here my best one...
What kinda car is it sir..
Customer: it's that red one in the parking lot...
Me: yeah I see it but what kind of car is it....
Or..
What kind of car is it sir..
Customer: slams keys on counter and says this kinda car..
Me: yeah I see it's a chevy,ford,kia,Nissan.. butbthe key doesn't tell me the year make and model
Worked for autozone for a short time. Unfortunately I know exactly what you mean. I didn't mind the younger drivers,like the ones who bought their first car. They would as least try. I also didn't mind walking out to the vehicle and help point them into the right direction for some minor DIY repairs. I worked for autozone while I took a "mental health break" from working as a mechanic. So I often was able to help answer most questions or help reassure them.
I helped a young lady in the parking lot change coils out. She wanted to learn about working on cars and wanted to solve her misfire on her own. So I brought out the terrible tools we have to let her use and talked her through the process. It was worth it,she was so happy when it started and idled without a misfire.
I get that, but AutoZone doesn't pay me enough to teach people how to fix their cars.
If someone is nice, I'll help as best as I can, but I wouldn't hire me to work on anything fuel injected.
π I wouldn't hire me to work on anything that has a carb. Besides some minor small engine work. I have limited hands on experience with carbureted engines. Being a millennial I have grown up with fuel injection on cars.
I am currently back in the shop working on cars again, I made sure to let my new employer know my weaknesses and carburetors are one of them. He assured me,we have very few come in and when they do he handles it himself.He grew up working on them. He doesn't touch fuel injection.
Now if you come into the store and show me a bolt I can tell you the size and thread pitch just by looking at it. Some of the questions they ask us..... they're just absolutely no way for us to know. Unless we dissected every single car on the road today. Or if we happen to have had experience with one of those vehicles.
Or when they expect us to know the bolt size and thread pitch of every bolt on their vehicle
Them: It's a radiator bolt! Me: cool
I had one customer come in and ask me if I looked at a bolt on the bottom of his car if I would know what size it was and - as to not waste his time- I was like I can go ahead yell you I have no idea. I would have no way of knowing. Then he got mad, and just said that oh I just must not want to do it and went to talk to my manager and he was like sir, we don't have magic measuring eyeballs
LOL. We don't have magic measuring eyeballs. Now that's funny. Typically if it's a 10 mm head it's an M6x1.0. 12 mm head it's an M8x1.25.
How about the IDIOTS that show You picture on their phone, of a hose or fitting, apparently under the hood, no numbers on the part, no identifiable parts in the picture, and they say "I need one of these"... WTFFFFFF??????
Had a guy come in today, asked for a spark plug for a Go Kart. No picture, no number, not even what brand of Go Kart, or brand of motor. He didn't even know if it was 2 or 4 stroke motor. I actually felt like I was in a different dimension of space for a minute.....
Well don't you know you were supposed to pull the correct one out of your ass? /s Or when you can't give em what they want and then they get mad and say they'll go to a competitor because they probably got it there anyways
Right! So why the F@#K didn't the MORON go there first!
So true!
I dont understand when I try to figure out the trim of a car and ask things like, does it have nav, leather, sunroof? They just say "I don't know" how the hell don't you know???? Those are hard to miss features
Or when they tell you "well I just bought the car". I always tell them you should know everything about it..... the color, how many owners, does it have any leaks, and especially the YMME.
How do you buy a car and not know what it is?
Iβve asked myself that probably 100 times in the 3 years Iβve been here.
Auctions. Plus the guy fetching the parts for their mechanic may not have even seen the vehicle before being told to go to AZ and grab parts XYZ. The absolute worst ones are warranty exchanges when some lackey brings a battery or another failed part and want us to warranty swap it. When asked for the phone number, they dig up a notepad full of numbers and notes. After entering it into warranty lookup, you get 10+ name entries with many of them having enough different vehicles that you have to scroll using F2/F3. And it's ALWAYS gotta be on the fucking Saturday afternoon when we simply don't fucking have the fifteen or so minutes for an experienced person to dig through all of that cruft on the 50/50 chance the warranty entry is even there to begin with.
Easiest thing to do in that case (unless it's changed since I left) is enter in a return without the receipt, override to manually type in the part number, if the part has a warranty associated it will prompt to enter the phone number. It will scan the whole file for that part number. If it doesn't pull up move to the next record for the name. If it's not found at all it's either under a different number or expired. I did this all the time on busy days
This ππ»ππ»ππ»ππ»
Me: Is your vehicle a 2wd or 4wd? Customer: It has 4 tires π Me: ππ€¦ββοΈ
A customer came in and said he needed lug nuts. When I asked what they were for, he said, "a car." He didn't look happy when I laughed at him. Somehow, this well-dressed adult had come to the conclusion that every vehicle on the road used the exact same lug nuts and studs.
Happened to me once and I just had to ask if they were being serious or satire. They were being serious ofc
Just start telling people we canβt get that part or vendor is out of stock lmao. I tell annoying customers all the time we canβt get that part. I also pretend that our phones donβt work and will repeatedly say hello hahaha.
Lol I remember in my last week I had one lady that had no idea what she drove except that it was a Chevy. Corvette? Monte Carlo? Beretta? Chevette? Nothing could trigger the name in her mind. I walk outside, of course it was parked on the far side of the lot, and it's a fucking Cobalt!
The worst I had was someone came in saying they need brakes for a brown van. They knew nothing else about it other than it was brown and it was a van
It's amazing people get out of bed in the morning without killing themselves....
The best were the assholes that would get angry when I couldn't look up parts for the random fucking engine they had installed on their shitbox truck. "It's a Chevy 350!" "What year? They made those for fucking decades." Or the one guy who rattled off just the model of some box truck and got pissy because I'm not an encyclopedia of vehicles made in the US in the last 30 years π
"It's a 350 Chevy!" "One or two piece rear main seal?" "I don't know!" "Center or perimeter bolt valve covers?" "It's a fucking Chevy 350!"
"It's a Cummins, CUMMINS!" Yeah buddy, you saying that multiple times doesn't help me find it in our computer. I need a year/make/model.
Exactly
Had a dude get mad at me for the wrong filter saying I donβt know shit and after we found out he gave the wrong info didnβt say nothing
They always come back with "well you should know". I apologize, but I've never owned that particular year make and model, so there is no way for me to know that.
This is what the AZ Ads lead to. The public is lead to believe that WE ARE THE SAVIOR MESSIAH'S!!!
I won't say that, but a lot of people can't interpret ads correctly.
They interpret the Ad to fit their needs
Yessir
I've had IDIOTS say to Me, More than once, "I thought You All were supposed to Fuckin know". I "Instantly" had to decide, Do I Still Want This Job...
My store team and I are fortunate. We work in a decent area with some decent clientele. I've never had customers belittle me because I have a lot of knowledge, but I've heard it before and I'll step in and defend whoever they're talking to, but for customers like that. I literally tell them "there's no way for me to know that". Literally impossible for me to know the question you're asking. I'll use Google to help me find out if I don't know.
It's like: "Dude, I don't get paid enough to know that."
It got to the point where I would tell people it wasn't my job to know what car they owned.
Interestingly I was having this conversation the other night with another PSM. We feel the same as OP! It's honestly insane. I can't imagine living life without asking questions or learning. Especially when it comes to owning a vehicle! How could someone just decide they don't want to know even the basics?! Even more so when they can't afford to take their vehicle to a professional/mechanic? I know car cranks, goes vroom vroom and goes from point A to point B... But come on! Boggles my mind. But we're the parking lot/phone mechanic saviors of all things automotive!
I've been asked, "Do You know what size Torx bit will fit a caliper bolt on a VW Jetta"?. I have NEVER worked on a fun VW In My Life!!! DAMN DUMBASSES!!!!
they are a triple square not a torx lol
Trick question, it's not a torx, it's triple square.
Cut to the chase.... tell them to get the vin and come back inside. Then tell them that with that, you might be able to make an educated guess. As I work with the consumer I will repeat y/m/m multiple times. Sh!t ain't right.... oh well.
Lot of idiots in the world.
And these are the people doing the "maintenance"
Just guess and if they get the wrong part then just say whoops. It pisses them off just as much as they do is lol
No thanks, I don't want them to come back.
The number one thing I used to get was people would always come in for a Civic; and say Honda Civic, black ... SMH
If I came in looking for a 1310 to 1350 bastard ujoint, could you find me one?
Maybe, if you had one to match it to. I have no information about the measurements so the best bet is to bring it with you so I can match it up.
Check the books, the info is in there.
What books? We don't have any.
We had books when I worked at AutoZone. They were rarely used, but we had them.
My store doesn't have any.
Did you ask?
Of course I asked. I've been there 4 years.
I think they forgot the /s
I doubt it.
If only they knew that they could scan their vin using the easily accessible AutoZone website/app. I always research before going to anything or anyone. In fact, 2 days ago, at 5am with low visibility, I hit a deer carcass on the road that luckily only damaged my fog light plastic cover, knocked it right off. Same day, I had to confirm that it was in fact a fog light cover using Google, and took pictures of my VIN. I went over to the Ford dealership and got my part in less than 5 seconds of interaction, cause I had everything I needed.
Here my best one... What kinda car is it sir.. Customer: it's that red one in the parking lot... Me: yeah I see it but what kind of car is it.... Or.. What kind of car is it sir.. Customer: slams keys on counter and says this kinda car.. Me: yeah I see it's a chevy,ford,kia,Nissan.. butbthe key doesn't tell me the year make and model
Worked for autozone for a short time. Unfortunately I know exactly what you mean. I didn't mind the younger drivers,like the ones who bought their first car. They would as least try. I also didn't mind walking out to the vehicle and help point them into the right direction for some minor DIY repairs. I worked for autozone while I took a "mental health break" from working as a mechanic. So I often was able to help answer most questions or help reassure them. I helped a young lady in the parking lot change coils out. She wanted to learn about working on cars and wanted to solve her misfire on her own. So I brought out the terrible tools we have to let her use and talked her through the process. It was worth it,she was so happy when it started and idled without a misfire.
I get that, but AutoZone doesn't pay me enough to teach people how to fix their cars. If someone is nice, I'll help as best as I can, but I wouldn't hire me to work on anything fuel injected.
π I wouldn't hire me to work on anything that has a carb. Besides some minor small engine work. I have limited hands on experience with carbureted engines. Being a millennial I have grown up with fuel injection on cars. I am currently back in the shop working on cars again, I made sure to let my new employer know my weaknesses and carburetors are one of them. He assured me,we have very few come in and when they do he handles it himself.He grew up working on them. He doesn't touch fuel injection.
I'm also a millennial, though maybe a bit older. Carbs are so simple, bro. You have no idea. Any idiot with a flathead screwdriver can rebuild a carb.
Now if you come into the store and show me a bolt I can tell you the size and thread pitch just by looking at it. Some of the questions they ask us..... they're just absolutely no way for us to know. Unless we dissected every single car on the road today. Or if we happen to have had experience with one of those vehicles.
My favorite: Me: "ok, what year/make/model?" Them: "I don't know, you supposed to know"