Adventures at the parts counter

[BADRACR1]

Got a call a couple of days ago. Very fractured English. After a couple of excuse me's, what's, and I don't understand what you are saying he asks do you speak Spanish. My Spanish is very little, just a few words, and generally not conducive to polite conversation so I replied no. With a little indignation in his voice he asked why not. I replied, "Because this is America." He hung up.

Yesterday this guy comes in, sit a rubber boot on the counter and says, "Nissan Pathfinder". I asked what year and he just shrugs. I asked if it was off a steering rack or shock/strut. He shrugs and again says Nissan Pathfinder. I replied I understood that but needed a little more info. He gets out his phone and tries to call someone and the voice mail is in some foreign language. He hung up, looked at me and again says "Nissan Pathfinder". I asked if he knew English. He shook his head no. Great. He knows two words - Nissan Pathfinder. When he mumbled a few words it sounded maybe Russian. I asked if he knew Spanish. He nodded yes and made the sign with his fingers for a little. I remembered how to say what year and he used his fingers to show 2 0 1 1. All right, a little progress. I pulled up the diagram of the suspension and he nodded no and made the gesture for steering. Okay. I pulled up the rack picture and pointed to the inner boot and he nodded yes. Progress! We didn't have it so I printed him a quote. I remembered how to say I didn't have it, one day. He took the quote, thanked me with a nod yes and left. That one worked out because he was there in front of me.

One more, not a language barrier but a common sense one. Lady and he husband comes in. He says her car died a couple of days before and they determined the 84 month battery he bought from us was bad. I asked for a receipt and he says no but they bought it "about three years ago". I explained that we would have to test the battery and if it was bad we could pro rate the warranty if we could find out when it was purchased. He then said, "Oh, we don't have the battery. We had to buy another one at the parts store so we had to give them that one for a trade in. We just wanted to get a refund on the remaining warranty".
WTF? So they have no receipt, no battery, and want us to give them a refund for something they no longer have and can't even prove they ever had? The adviser explained that the way the warranty worked was to discount the new battery and credit the remaining share of the warranty off the price of the new one but would need the old one and a proof of purchase. They kept saying they had a new one, didn't need two, and wanted a refund for the difference. This went several rounds before they finally accepted that and left.

Is it too much to ask for folks to speak English (at least a little) and have a little brains?

[Milton Fox]

What brands of blinker fluid do you stock?

[DAB]

I need some blue exhaust smoke condensate. Or 5w30 oil. Same thing.

[BADRACR1]

Originally Posted by Milton Fox

What brands of blinker fluid do you stock?

Only the OEM stuff but I can order Edelbrock, Holley, and Cam 2.



Anyone remember Cam 2 oil?

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by BADRACR1

Only the OEM stuff but I can order Edelbrock, Holley, and Cam 2.



Anyone remember Cam 2 oil?

Remember Arco graphite oil? Worked great but made any engine leak oil

[MrPeabody]

Don't people understand that warranties on batteries and tires are just meant to be a way to make them have to buy the next one from the same place where they bought the failed one?

[boracayjohnny]

You're a better man than me for dealing with John/Jane Q Public. Plenty of times, I'm just a witness to the stupid while at X business.

[Wathen1955]

[LilRedCorvette]

Here in the NoVa/DC area, it's the other way around...the customer speaks English/knows more about cars than the mouth-breathers staffed behind the counter.

I shit you not, I had one winner trying to look up parts for me and actually asked me if Corvette was a Ford product. And he was not joking.

[Milton Fox]

Wait, there not aFORDs?

[Sea Six]

Originally Posted by Milton Fox

Wait, there not aFORDs?

There not

[86RAG]

*Thay aint

[Sea Six]

Yuh huh

[MikeB]

Originally Posted by BADRACR1

Is it too much to ask for folks to speak English (at least a little) and have a little brains?

My niece, an RN, replied to my question on why she was moving from Miami to Denver;
After serving her tour in the US Army (which helped pay for her education), she traveled across the US, working in the private sector of numerous hospitals.

While working as an emergency room nurse in Miami, she did not speak fluent Spanish.
One day, a relative of a patient berated her quite hardily because of her lack of
speaking Spanish. My niece couldn't understand what the patient was complaining about, so the relative said something to the effect of "If you want to work here, you need to speak the language!"
"I speak English" was my niece's reply.
Cuban broad didn't like that response, and continued here tirade for quite a while.
That was the final assault of many similar attacks that made her decide to leave paradise.

[Black94lt1]

Originally Posted by MrPeabody

Don't people understand that warranties on batteries and tires are just meant to be a way to make them have to buy the next one from the same place where they bought the failed one?

I had to explain that to a coworker who bought 80,000 mile tires but wasn’t happy how they handled the first winter (roughly 15,000 miles on them) and couldn’t understand why she couldn’t just return them under the warranty

[69camfrk]

Originally Posted by boracayjohnny

You're a better man than me for dealing with John/Jane Q Public. Plenty of times, I'm just a witness to the stupid while at X business.

What Johnny said....

[VITE1]

You know you've come back to America when the people working in the airport can't speak English.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by BADRACR1

Only the OEM stuff but I can order Edelbrock, Holley, and Cam 2.



Anyone remember Cam 2 oil?

Can you get Slick 50? How about the Vornado for my carb? I used to get 100 mpg back in the day with that stuff.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by VITE1

You know you've come back to America when the people working in the airport can't speak English.

I imagine airports get a voice sample of each of their employees. The one with the worst English skills, heaviest accent and is hardest to understand automatically gets the job of making announcements on the PA system.

[BADRACR1]

Originally Posted by Black94lt1

I had to explain that to a coworker who bought 80,000 mile tires but wasn’t happy how they handled the first winter (roughly 15,000 miles on them) and couldn’t understand why she couldn’t just return them under the warranty

Yeah, that's another one. People don't understand that a tire with 50,000 mile warranty doesn't mean it will last 50,000 miles. The warranty is against defects, not tread life.