I once met Jason Whitlock. He said he was a sports columnist and a radio talk show host. That really cracked me up.

I've ran across a few working behind an auto parts counter for 17 years. Two that stand out in my mind.

A guy comes in wanting to buy a starter for his car. I'm asking questions to make sure that's what he needs to fix his problem. Turns out the starter is working just fine, spinning the engine over like it should. But the car won't start, so he thinks the problem must be the starter. It turned out to be a fuel pump or something.

Another time I worked at a store that sold auto paint. This guy comes in, he had bought a gallon of paint the week before, and is complaining that the paint we sold him is defective. He has the car outside, so we go out to look at it. Now any of you that have painted cars, or any large object for that matter, probably realize that when painting, you try to keep the paint gun a consistant distance from the surface and NOT move the gun in an arcing motion. This car had THE WORST paint job on it I've ever seen. There were patches of dry looking areas where the gun was too far away and areas that had huge runs where he had the gun too close. He had painted over the chrome trim, door handles, mirrors, and had painted part of the tires when he was spraying around the fender wells. And he thought it was like this because the paint was "defective".

I once convinced a girl that the stop signs with white lines around the perimeter were optional.

She figured it out after the second ticket.

When I was out in Pittsburg I used to date a girl that would constantly get buses and planes mixed up.

No shit! After breaks she would call and say "pick me up at the airport" and she would be at the bus station or visa versa. Eventually I learned the right series of questions to ask.

There's too many to mention but that one always perplexed me the most.

I had no idea you were a parts guy. So am I.

I had a guy call not long ago with an '82 Brigadere. He wanted "the part on the left hand side of the engine at about eye level." I shit you not. I told him I didn't know if he was 4' 7" or 7' 4".

He was calling from Denver, on a Sunday. He went on to tell us he couldn't wait till Monday so that someone local could look at it... yet the truck hadn't been started in 12 years.

I'm sure we could trade stories all day.

I met a cousin of an acquantence once, by far the stupidest person I have ever met. I literally insulted everything the guy said for an hour and half, and he never knew it. His cousin just sat their shaking his head. I have blocked out most of the conversation, but I remember his big dream in life seemed to be finding a broken down car on the side of the road that he could sit in so he could pretend to drive it and how cool that it would be. The kid was already 16 if that says anything.

Have to wonder if him and Russ's ex could have made a good couple.

Classic! I hope she was at least a decent poke? ROFL

I would have to go with the Ditch Pig I sold the automatic Honda to that thought "first gear was for town, second gear was for the highway, third gear was for going over 100 and wasn't sure what 4th gear was for." She then went out on the highway and went several miles in second gear red lined, and blew up the car. As a bonus, she sent her lawyer after me because "I sold her a bad car." :hmmm:

Is this chicken, what I have, or fish?

Although I’ve never been on that side of the parts store counter, I’ve got a couple stories from the other side of it.
Once had a guy argue with me for 20 minutes over what I was just under the hood looking at. For some, if it doesn’t show up on their computer screen it doesn’t exist.
After leaving in frustration, went to another parts store and got the top end gasket kit I needed minus the arguing.
Another time, I was changing u-joints and got tired of having to barrow a press from a friend’s dad so I wanted to get one of my own. Went into the parts store looking for one and had the dumbass behind the counter laugh me out of the store because he didn’t think one existed, “I just use a hammer and chisel to get’em out”. :rolleyes:

Used to be. I got out a few years ago and went to college and got an IT job. Opened my eyes to a whole new world of idiots.

Yeah we could swap stories, I'm sure. My favorite exchange:

"What engine does that have?"
"The big one."

:rolleyes:

Yeah but did you guys ever have any good deals on muffler bearings or blinker fluid? :hmmm:

Oh yeah, it goes both ways... no doubt.

Part of the reason I got out of the business. I learned by opening a catalog and looking up the parts, cross referencing part numbers or sometimes just matching them up by comparison.

Now the stores just hire high school idiots that ask the questions that the computer prompts them to. If you don't follow their "script", expect a blank stare from them. :banghead:

That is no shit, but ya learn who the good ones are and when they aren’t in I just leave.
I like to tinker with mechanical type stuff as a stress relief, no sense messing up that formula by dealing with idiots.

Part of it is the way inventory is handled. We have a 60,000 square foot warehouse... with parts for GMC, Cummins, Mack, Volvo, Cat, Detroit, Ottawa, and several vendors like Truck Lite and Grote.

All that inventory is just randomly stuffed into shelves and drawers. It's impossible to match things up. It makes no sense, but for some reason that's how they do it.

As for the books... we're the only ones in KC who have books on the old Brigs and Generals anymore. From what I understand, you cant buy them. Volvo bought the parts rights from GMC...

They're not in the computers, and yeah... they're a bitch to find parts for...