Parts Store Inexperience

I went in to the parts house the other day and asked for a pair of #63 Jets for a Holley carb. The kid pauses in his cell phone coversation long enough to ask what car I'm working on. I tell him I'm not working on a car, just the carburetor. That's when the major fog closed in. He says what is the carburetor on? I said it's not on anything right now, I'm just kitting it so it will be ready when I'm ready to use it. There are no jets in it and I figure 63 will be a good starting point. He says I can't help you if you don't know what car it's on. So I said, "It's an aftermarket Holley R1850-AAS but just a pair of plain old style large Holley jets in #63, 64 or 65 is all I want." The kid says,"just a minute." and walks around the corner so as not to suffer from cell phone withdrawl. I hear him talking to the person on the other end about the additional horsepower he is getting and how hard it is on his tires....blah, blah, blah. He finally comes back and asks if I remembered what kind of car it is yet?! So, I said it will be going on a 1964 Barracuda but your computer won't list it under that car because it's an aftermarket carb. The kid lays his cell phone on the counter, leans forward like Mr. Bigshot and says, "We don't handle any of the aftermarket stuff here, you'll have to get that from the dealership." As I'm heading out the door trying to refrain from laughing out loud I hear him tell his buddy on the other end of the phone, "I just had another idiot in here who didn't even know what car he was working on!"

Next time talk to his manager and state that this service is "completely unacceptable and it's obvious you want me to take my business elsewhere". Another little trick my father in law uses is immediately calling the person who is serving him by their name. For some reason by using their name, you kind of establish some type of weird hold on said person. Trust me guys, it works. I've seen my father in law get all kinds of special service by using little tricks like this.