So a customer calls me on the phone....

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Rick@Laysons

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So a customer calls me on the phone....and asks me if I have a four speed transmission for sale....

I ask him what kind of car he needs it for.....he says "That don't matter..." OK....so do you need an 18 spline or 23 spline tranny...and is this for what kind of body style? He says he would take either one.... Then I ask if the trans he needs uses a slip style yoke or a ball & trunion style....then he hangs up.....

Why would it be so difficult to say EXACTLY what you're needing or looking for????

Signed,
Clair Voyent
 
You're supposed to know those things.
images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcTv92OHkrhsuGyWjsDD2TTaHk64IMyvsEvjLA&usqp=CAU.jpg
 
Rick@Laysons said:
So a customer calls me on the phone....and asks me if I have a four speed transmission for sale....

I ask him what kind of car he needs it for.....he says "That don't matter..." OK....so do you need an 18 spline or 23 spline tranny...and is this for what kind of body style? He says he would take either one.... Then I ask if the trans he needs uses a slip style yoke or a ball & trunion style....then he hangs up.....

Why would it be so difficult to say EXACTLY what you're needing or looking for????

Signed,
Clair Voyent
Click to expand...
At least he didn't have his wife (who knows nothing about cars/trucks etc) call. I used to get those (and the guy who was sitting within ear shot ) was too lazy or too ignorant to find out or know what he needed while barking orders to his wife.
 
I sold auto parts for about 15 years. I can tell you many stories where I was supposed to "know"
"Need a foot valve"

(I'm thinking that valve at the bottom of a well pump suction pipe) "We don't stock many what size?"

"Not sure I think 3/8 might be 1/2"

I'm thinking "that's pretty small"

I go look and all we had was a Grainger 3/4"

I brought it out anyway, told him "Maybe you can bush it down?"

"WHAT is THAT?"

"That's a foot valve"

"I was looking for an AIR BRAKE VALVE"

"That's a treadle valve and they are not all the same, either. We do stock several"

=====================================

Brings in a drill motor, tosses it on the counter. "Need a chuck for that"

"I probably have one, have to remove that one to get the size" (spindle size)

So I take it to the back, not a short walk, bet the chuck off, go up past the stock shelves, pick out a couple that would fit, and carried it all back up front.

"I didn't want the HOLE THING, I just want the CHUCK"

"That's the key, the chuck is this big thing here on the front of the drill"

"Well I call it the thing you tighten it with a chuck"

"Fine but if you keep asking for a chuck, "the whole thing" is what you'll get"
==============================================
Used to have this irritating, snobby SOB ran a "custom car shop."

"Need a clutch for an early Ford."

Hell I have no idea what an "early Ford" is. Model A? 292 Y block? What? And what size?

"Give me some idea? size?"

Yeh, it's an EARLY FORD

Here comes the manager a real by Goawd *** kissin brown nose back stabbin Richard Head. "........................Hi....................Gregg..............How...........ya doin?......................."

Mush mush bla de blish de blah "whatza gots dere?"

So frickin "Gregg" proceeds to tell the manager EXACTLY WHAT HE HAS AND THAT IT's OUT IN THE TRUCK IF WE NEED TO LOOK AT IT

And of course I'm the asshole
 
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The only thing I hate worse than these customers is present day "parts people" who can't get what I want after I tell them.
 
A56 said:
At least he didn't have his wife (who knows nothing about cars/trucks etc) call. I used to get those (and the guy who was sitting within ear shot ) was too lazy or too ignorant to find out or know what he needed while barking orders to his wife.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, sounds like today management. Send me an email to email someone else and what to ask or tell them........why the F don't you just email them yourself!!!!!
 
Hey Rick, I think you might need some new batteries for your crystal ball!
That's what I tell customers who don't provide all of the correct identification information. It usually gets a chuckle and then they provide the needed info.
 
dano said:
Hmmm, sounds like today management. Send me an email to email someone else and what to ask or tell them........why the F don't you just email them yourself!!!!!
Click to expand...

Sounds like you know my idiot boss
 
Duh....It was a yes or no question. Yes....you have one. Let him worry about the rest. LOL
 
Rick@Laysons said:
So a customer calls me on the phone....and asks me if I have a four speed transmission for sale....

I ask him what kind of car he needs it for.....he says "That don't matter..." OK....so do you need an 18 spline or 23 spline tranny...and is this for what kind of body style? He says he would take either one.... Then I ask if the trans he needs uses a slip style yoke or a ball & trunion style....then he hangs up.....

Why would it be so difficult to say EXACTLY what you're needing or looking for????

Signed,
Clair Voyent
Click to expand...
Well, do you have one or not?
 
I’ve owned a few parts stores. I always like the bozo that asks for valve cover gaskets for a V8 Dodge. I ask what year car and engine. He says very pissed off and says “ IT DOESN’T MATTER, THEY ARE ALL THE SAME” no problem I kept odd ball VC gaskets for different makes. So I go back and bring out some 426 hemi gaskets. To which he reply’s , that doesn’t look like mine. I said sure it is there all the same.
 
Me to parts monkey: I need a ACDELCO D1906 ign module
Parts monkey: whats it for?
Me: Doesn't matter, need ACDELCO D1906
PM: I need to know the vehicle.
Me: 1964 Plymouth Valiant 170 CID slant six
PM: That car doesn't show up as using that part.
Me: I know that, that's why I gave you the part number.
PM: I need to Know the vehicle before I can find the part.
ME: HUH!!!!!!!
 
After my "parts career" I was working in Spokane for a very small HVAC/R service company. Boss also had a tree farm (he's dead the tree farm still lives) and he bought one of these truck mounted tree transplanters--sight unseen--from the Chitcago area--and had it shipped to Spokane, 20G, sight unseen!!!

Anyhow it was on a long wheelbase Ford ?600? and the boss decided he wanted ME to shorten the frame of the truck. At some point I ended up in a local parts store in Spokane, I told the guy "I need to plug some brake fittings, I need some 3/16 inverted flare unions and some 3/16 inverted flare plugs"

I don't remember "what next" but at some point he came back out with SAE flare

I told him THOSE are NOT inverted flare. "Well" he says "you have to figure out what you want."

"Go get your manager"

I told the manager "I want you to send a brass fittings catalogue home with this guy, so next time somebody asks for inverted flare fittings, he knows WTF the customer is asking for!!"

........Similar to one of these things.............

DSC01007-1-1024x768-circle.jpg
 
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67Dart273 said:
After my "parts career" I was working in Spokane for a very small HVAC/R service company. Boss also had a tree farm (he's dead the tree farm still lives) and he bought one of these truck mounted tree transplanters--sight unseen--from the Chitcago area--and had it shipped to Spokane, 20G, sight unseen!!!

Anyhow it was on a long wheelbase Ford ?600? and the boss decided he wanted ME to shorten the frame of the truck. At some point I ended up in a local parts store in Spokane, I told the guy "I need to plug some brake fittings, I need some 3/16 inverted flare unions and some 3/16 inverted flare plugs"

I don't remember "what next" but at some point he came back out with SAE flare

I told him THOSE are NOT inverted flare. "Well" he says "you have to figure out what you want."

"Go get your manager"

I told the manager "I want you to send a brass fittings catalogue home with this guy, so next time somebody asks for inverted flare fittings, he knows WTF the customer is asking for!!"

........Similar to one of these things.............

DSC01007-1-1024x768-circle.jpg
Click to expand...

After many, many trips to the local car parts store I became friends with the counter people. When I needed fittings I would go past the counter and go thru the back door and help myself to the large display of fitting in 60/70 pull out plastic boxes. The counter people knew very little about fittings and it wouldn't do any good to ask them for help. I would just get what I needed, take it to the counter with the numbers off the plastic box and pay for my fittings. Building many hot rods I did the same thing with radiator hoses. I would simply walk into the back area where all the parts are stored and where hundreds of hoses hang on the wall. I would pick the hose that had the correct shape and diameter to fit the engine outlet and the radiator as well as the correct shape to fit in the engine bay. It would have been impossible to describe to them the picture in my head.
 
Treblig said:
After many, many trips to the local car parts store I became friends with the counter people. When I needed fittings I would go past the counter and go thru the back door and help myself to the large display of fitting in 60/70 pull out plastic boxes. The counter people knew very little about fittings and it wouldn't do any good to ask them for help. I would just get what I needed, take it to the counter with the numbers off the plastic box and pay for my fittings. Building many hot rods I did the same thing with radiator hoses. I would simply walk into the back area where all the parts are stored and where hundreds of hoses hang on the wall. I would pick the hose that had the correct shape and diameter to fit the engine outlet and the radiator as well as the correct shape to fit in the engine bay. It would have been impossible to describe to them the picture in my head.
Click to expand...
Or you go to pick-n-pull and ask where the Mopars are. The guy says, what are those?
 
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