I worked at a Pep Boys in high school, behind the parts counter with retired rail road guys who customers would approached first at the other end of the counter, then the rail road guys would walk over and ask me. An old lady (must have been 30 something) came in asking about a plug that goes in the radiator. I flipped through (we had a rack of books back then) and mentioned the pet **** but kept looking. I looked up and she was gone (long walk to the front door. Must have ran away). Her husband shows up shouting from the front doors. I ask him to come back and I will show him in the book. He shouts less loudly then also runs away. Must have been the shame.
I’m getting old
- Thread starter SFBay‘72Duster
- Start date
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MDchanic
Connoisseur d'Junque
MDchanic
Connoisseur d'Junque
mopar head
DoD Alien/Squatch slayer
When I was in my early 20`s I had a 53 Ford truck, a friend looked at my engine and said "man that thing`s got a Hemi" lol
Ahoey
Well-Known Member
Do I detect a hint of sarcasm there.
Ahoey
Well-Known Member
Or a rooster
MDchanic
Connoisseur d'Junque
Cockadoodledoo!!
joel d. snyder
Well-Known Member
i did have a '56 ford truck with a 283 chevy in it.
mopar head
DoD Alien/Squatch slayer
53 was their 50th anniversary, it had a really cool horn button stating that.
56 is sought after now cause of the wrap around windshield and last of that generation. I`d wouldn`t mind a nice example of either one.
diymirage
HP@idle > hondaHP@redline
We have a store in town, called ABC warehouse
They sell mostly electronics, but their gimmic is the haggling (which isn't my Forte anyway)
Well, I go in there one day to buy a TV
I find one and ask him what the price is
He goes 350
Ok, ill give you 275 for it
He goes, these go for 400 at Walmart
Hey, if I were shopping at Walmart I'd gladly pay sticker because that's their business model, but not paying sticker here
He goes, well the TV is 350
So I say out the door right?
No, he says, you gotta ad sales tax
So I explain to him I'm not paying sticker and I surely ain't paying his sales tax because he's the one making a sale not me
Well then he started yelling and what not, so I just left
But he followed me out into the parking lot, still yelling, going on and on about how I don't understand how the business works and that I'm trying to take food of of his families table
I just got in my car and flicked the safety off, but he decided to leave it at that
palani
Member
i try to turn it into a game. i go thru all their questions, one at a time. when they say they dont have , cant get ,etc, then itsd time to start over with another model/vehicle that also uses the same part. takes time but they dont question me to much now. but i do get frustrated with the prices. 15 for a dist rotor ( and had to explain what it does/is)
1WildRT
Well-Known Member
Anyone else miss the days when this was the computer? We have a store in town that still uses them...
mopowers
Well-Known Member
I can't remember the last part I bought at any of the local parts stores.
abdywgn
dismantler
when the evening was slow or Sunday during football games, I'd look thru them to see what all a company carried or went down to the performance rack and dreamed about which parts to order.
My local still uses this method instead of the computer most of the time, they also stock parts that fit my 70 model Val where our local big chain mob no longer stock parts for cars over 7 to 9 years old
Same here. Slow nights, rainy/snowy days, early mornings...anytime it was slow. Made the time go by faster, and I got to learn the books better, which was a win-win for me., as we couldn't look things up on a computer back then.
And I hate to come-off as bragging, but I got pretty damn good at it!
I kinda miss those days sometimes.
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Dartswinger70
Well-Known Member
Mostly all the "service industry " workers are now fast food worker types. "Fries with that?" is about all you'll get for expertise... 
Ahoey
Well-Known Member
We are lucky to have a shop in town that repairs alt. Gen. starters etc. Generator in my Model A ford blew up, took to that shop, I’m friends with the owner. He puts the armature on the growler and says it’s fubar. Then says wait a minute and we went to his parts room. He walks way in the back roots around for a bit then he pulls this thing out and blows a inch of dust off it and says I think this is it. Sure enough $65 later I was back on the road. I never laughed so hard as when he blew the dust off, thing must have been there for 50 years LOL
Good person to be friends with!
We no longer have anyone in Tallahassee who can rebuild generators or starters or even (I think) alternators. Or radiators. Used to have a guy who could rebuild clutches, including race clutches. But he is gone now, too.
Ahoey
Well-Known Member
Ya I know r+r no repair anymore
1WildRT
Well-Known Member
Use to be a clutch & brake rebuilder in practically every town... Speedometer & Gauge calibration, most towns.. Radiator shops that would repair or re-core, not just sell you a new Chinese radiator or heater core... Generators/starters/alternators/distributors rebuilders... All gone...
Parts store dummies are nothing new.
Back around 1990 or so I had an Opel GT. Fun driving car, but what a piece of crap! Anyway, I needed something simple like points or something, can't remember, but went to a parts store and asked for this whatever part for an Opel GT. So the guy (young, of course) looks in the parts book for maybe 30 seconds and said, "we don't have a listing for that." Now, I could maybe understand not having the part in stock, but I knew his parts book would have a listing for it. So I looked at what he was looking at, and he was looking at Buick. I told him to look under Opel. So he started arguing with me - they were sold at Buick dealers, etc. So I say well, just look under Opel. He would not do so. Finally I had had enough and walked around behind the counter, went to his parts book and looked up Opel. The book not only had a listing for the part I needed, but the parts store had it in stock.
Another time, not too many years later, I went to a parts store and asked for a set of spark plugs for my 49 Dodge. "49 Dodge!" he said, "I know we don't have anything for a car that old!" So I said, well, just look it up. He tried, said well our listings don't go back that far. I said look in the antique section. He argued with me, wouldn't even look for an antique section. Same as with the Opel, I went around the counter to the parts book (and he knew better than try to stop me), looked in the back part for listings for antique cars, found the listing for 49 Dodge spark plugs and, again, they not only had a listing in the book for them, but had a set in stock.
I just don't bother with local auto parts stores anymore. I can find whatever I need online. And I can do that anytime day or night.
Back around 1990 or so I had an Opel GT. Fun driving car, but what a piece of crap! Anyway, I needed something simple like points or something, can't remember, but went to a parts store and asked for this whatever part for an Opel GT. So the guy (young, of course) looks in the parts book for maybe 30 seconds and said, "we don't have a listing for that." Now, I could maybe understand not having the part in stock, but I knew his parts book would have a listing for it. So I looked at what he was looking at, and he was looking at Buick. I told him to look under Opel. So he started arguing with me - they were sold at Buick dealers, etc. So I say well, just look under Opel. He would not do so. Finally I had had enough and walked around behind the counter, went to his parts book and looked up Opel. The book not only had a listing for the part I needed, but the parts store had it in stock.
Another time, not too many years later, I went to a parts store and asked for a set of spark plugs for my 49 Dodge. "49 Dodge!" he said, "I know we don't have anything for a car that old!" So I said, well, just look it up. He tried, said well our listings don't go back that far. I said look in the antique section. He argued with me, wouldn't even look for an antique section. Same as with the Opel, I went around the counter to the parts book (and he knew better than try to stop me), looked in the back part for listings for antique cars, found the listing for 49 Dodge spark plugs and, again, they not only had a listing in the book for them, but had a set in stock.
I just don't bother with local auto parts stores anymore. I can find whatever I need online. And I can do that anytime day or night.
Ahoey
Well-Known Member
Yup Chinesium weakest metal known to man
Ahoey
Well-Known Member
Agreed however as much of a pain in the *** they are they still stock parts. And right now is still better than 2 weeks
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