Idiots at Autozone.

[JustinH]

I'm not saying that everyone that works at autozone is an idiot, but I thought I would post about a parts jockey I talked to today.

I walked in and was looking for a quart of german castrol to top off. The truck isn't low, but it usually uses about a 1/2 a quart every 3-5k miles.

So I'm looking at each bottle of syntec and looking for the red label, and the jockey comes up to me "can I help you?"

I told him I was looking for Syntec made in Germany, it says made in germany on the back of the bottle and the stuff made in North America is a different oil and I don't want it.

He says "oh I never heard of that, are you sure, and starts laughing."

Then he goes on to tell me that "synthetic is synthetic, if it wasn't all the same then it would be something else like transmission fluid or lipstick" Then he went on to tell me that he only runs vavoline in his rot box 305 camero.

Thats a direct quote. For some reason this cocky dude got me sort of steamed. He could at least opened another case for me and let me look around. I just left and he hollers "let me know if you find any, i never heard that one before"

So, then leaving the place I figured I would go to another autozone. There really isn't any near my house, but there is one downtown in a real rough area of town. I went in there and asked the parts jockey if he could help me and he said "sure thing, so you want the made in germany stuff huh?" You are the second guy today who came in looking for that. I'll help you find some. He didn't have any on display, but he took me in the back and started ripping open cases trying to find some more. He found a whole case, and I was originally just going to buy a bottle, but I bought the whole case.

So with a dozen bottles of GC in the reserves I won't need to hunt for it for a while.

I am running it year round in a 98 F150 4.6 and I noticed a gain in gas mileage over Mobil1 5w30, and the motor seems to run smoother and start easier. I'll take a UOA in 5k miles and see how it did.

 

[JustinH]

I meant to say I got two cases, seeing as they are 6 bottle cases.

Nice...

 

[Pick]

Take some back to that other store, and have the last laugh.

 

[Last_Z]

quote:

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Originally posted by Pick:
Take some back to that other store, and have the last laugh.

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.....yes, and smash a quart on that guy's head. The truth is, many of them don't know jack!

 

[JohnBrowning]

I have found that the less I talk to the most of the people at my local AutoZone the better. Nothing more comforting then seeing a person that for the last 4 years has been washing produce at the local market trying to work a parts counter!!

As a Tech. I am not the most tolerant person when it comes to parts guys. When you find one that really knows his stuff it is refreshing. It is too bad that most places will not pay these guys what they are worth. You usualy end up with people that have never touched a wrench to a car working a parts counter.

At my AutoZone they have gotton rid of the most knoldgeable staff and kept the rift rafe. I am sure it has to do with profit margins.

My Carquest and Napa on the other hand have very low turn over rate and have staff that has worked at Garages. Usualy a back injurey side lines them from tech to parts guy.

The only thing I go to Autozone for anymore is Altanators and Starters their lifetime gurantee is worth the hassel.

Circuit City is the same way. All of the 25-35 year old comissioned staff that really knew their products are gone and have been replaced with low wage teenagers that know nothing about the products and do not care about their customer service skills! You can spot them huddled like football players off near the computer section. You have to grab them by the hand and lead them off to their products. Then they give you smart *** non-technical answere's.

 

[Losiho]

They sound like the same kind of idiots at my local auto parts store. I asked them if they had any Castrol SLX 0w30, and he said no, and he wouldn't recommend it, because it was too "thin"

 

[Chris142]

From what I have seen A-Zone doesn't care about their customers.

I worked there for 6 weeks. They don't/wont special order stuff and if it takes more than 2 minutes to find a part they will tell the customer that they cant get it. This is what I was told to do on hard to fund stuff.(Get rid of the customer with the hard to find part and help the $$$ maker inline behind him)

It's also the reason I quit. I like a challenge and handing out GM brake pads and Ford oil filters all day gets old quick.

But in the counter clowns defense they have to deal with alot of idiots too. Not every customer knows how to fix his car, It's broke, he's broke and frustrated by the time he gets to the parts store. They tend to take it out on the counter clown.

I had a guy call. He needed an Alternator for a Chevy truck. I looked it up and put it aside with his name on it. I also told him that I could test his old one.

He shows up with a smog pump and says "Chris said he could test this for me". Now my boss doesn't know whats going on and asks me if I told the guy we could test his smog pump.

I'm like no. There's a guy coming in with an Alternator. Is that him? Sure enough the guy holding the smog pump is the guy that called about an alt. Before it was over I was called every name in the book and the guy called the head honcho and told him I was an idiot.

I bet to this day he thinks that a smog pump is an Alternator

 

[Last_Z]

Sorry!

 

[T-Keith]

Just goes to show you, it's the person behind the counter, not the name on the building that makes a difference.

I've had bad experiences with every place in town. When I need transmission fluid, I called and visited over a dozen stores and not one had even heard of manual transmission fluid.

-T

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by T-Keith:
Just goes to show you, it's the person behind the counter, not the name on the building that makes a difference.

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The name on the building makes a big difference. Some places specialize in hiring incompetents, you are far more likely to find one there.

 

[T-Keith]

It may have a small effect, different places offer different amounts of training or different hiring standards. But I think sometimes i hurts almost as much as it helps.

Alot of times a person that doesn't know anything can be more helpful than a person that thinks he knows everything.

-T

 

[M_Minnick]

I work at Autozone on the weekends, so I can definately relate to some of your complaints. I helped open the store that I work at, and none of the managers they hired knew a thing about cars. They all had management/sales experience and that's why they were hired.

 

[Bob Woods]

Before I retired I worked on Medical Xray equipment, most of the managers hired in the last 20 years were hired because of an MBA, its common in most fields today. Their belief is they don't need anything more than an MBA to run anything. Can't wait for that to hit the airline pilot field.

 

[tom slick]

minimum wage only buys so much. you can't ask much from a discount auto parts store.

 

[brianl703]

quote:

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Originally posted by XS650:
The name on the building makes a big difference. Some places specialize in hiring incompetents, you are far more likely to find one there.

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I think location has a bit to do with it too. An autozone located in a rural area is probably more likely to have a competent person behind the counter than an autozone located in an urban area.

 

[SteveD2]

There's a big chain in Oregon and Washington called GI Joe's, which sells auto parts and sports equipment. Last night I heard a commercial on the radio for them, "Come in and let our well trained employees find what you need!". I had to pull over the car I was laughing so hard. I know almost the entire staff of the local store, and well, most of them don't know an alternator from a smog pump...

 

[ALS]

quote:

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Originally posted by QuadDriver:

Conversely, the NAPA I have an acct at is a bunch of agravating idiots.

they sit behind what HAS to be the worst designed system on the planet (given the 10 minutes or so it takes to look up $%#$ intake gaskets), wont let you see the screen or books, and meander lazily behind the shelves once they get a hit, only to return with the wrong part. and a friend who works there asks why I dont use the account often....

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The NAPA by me has some pretty sharp guys working there. Never really pushed the guys at Advance for anything hard. The one Advance I did go to made me laugh. I wanted a O2 sensor. And the computer showed 4 different units that would work.
Problem was they didn't have a single one in stock or at their warehouse. The counter guy even called the warehouse to see when they would have one in and they couldn't tell him. Ended up ordering it from an internet parts company ($50 cheaper than dealer) and had it three days later. I didn't try the NAPA store because they are about 5 miles away.

 

[T-Keith]

quote:

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Originally posted by M_Minnick:
I work at Autozone on the weekends, so I can definately relate to some of your complaints. I helped open the store that I work at, and none of the managers they hired knew a thing about cars. They all had management/sales experience and that's why they were hired.

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Thank you for the unique perspective. I have a feeling it's like this at alot of places.

-T

 

[QuadDriver]

In this town I live in there is an autozone and an advance across the street.

both places have people I am friends with, that know what they are doing, but the 'filler' employees are most often those that have the skills to fill out an application and leave it at that.

Since both places also have websites with hooks into actual inventory, and since I have free calling in the US, I look up what I need, then make a call, and then get it on the delivery truck or go pick it up.

Conversely, the NAPA I have an acct at is a bunch of agravating idiots.

they sit behind what HAS to be the worst designed system on the planet (given the 10 minutes or so it takes to look up $%#$ intake gaskets), wont let you see the screen or books, and meander lazily behind the shelves once they get a hit, only to return with the wrong part. and a friend who works there asks why I dont use the account often....

 

[alloy]

Ok, well I'll jump in the middle of this. I'm sure I'll regret it later.

I'm a manager at an auto zone, and yes it's difficult to hire good people. No matter what wage you pay them. I owned a machine shop for 14 years and just got fed up with it and the customers. Now I have a stable job, and nice working conditions. I have over 30 years twisting a wrench, and I do my best to help people out with there problems. But, when you sell a guy an ignition module for an astro van, and an hour later he brings you the entire distributor in including the cap, and wants to borrow a tool to change the module out, what do you tell him? This guy had no clue what he had just done. Then rufused to admit there was a problem. This guy needed a sign.

If you go to an auto zone, try to find a person in a gray shirt. They are managers. They generally have more experience and are full time employess and not part time like the red shirts are. Now I'm not sying there aren't good red shirts, but usually the gray shirts have been there longer and have more experience. And yes, it does come down to the individual person and not the name on the front of the store.