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March 15, 2011
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All:
I went into an Alexandria Autozone yesterday and posed a simple question to the cashier: do you have any spark plug gapping tools and where can I find them? He pointed me to the electrical section. Looking all over the place, I couldn't find them. There was another employee stocking some of the shelves. I asked her the same question. She looked at me like I was some bizarre alien from Mars and didn't know what the flub I was talking about. Eventually, a customer pointed me in the right direction where I finally found the gap tool. Needless to say, I was teed off. Let me ask you folks a question: am I being too unreasonable for expecting personnel at an auto-parts store to know where common automotive related tools are displayed? Or, am I being too harsh, asking a fairly technical and complicated question regarding a spark plug gap tool? Maybe times have changed where the employee isn't required to know basic things like this. 
Thanks. DW41F.
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March 27, 2009
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I stoped useing AZ, seems like every part ever brought home was the wrong one! Good thing you didn't need points and condencer! Not the same world of the old time parts counter where lies were swapped and parts were sold!
May 3, 2011
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I have the same problem too with those places. I guess they figure you will look through the whole store and maybe find something else you need.
December 26, 2010
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Gary, no you are not being unreasonable and it isn't even that technical a question. Anybody with some common sense and some idea of customer support would have been able to help you.
Let me guess, both employees were younger and probably never did more than change wiper blades or an air freshener on a car. (Heaven knows if they know the difference between wax and polish.) My point is it is probably just a paycheck to them and management probably has the same attitude as they obviously have a poor attitude.
Good luck finding a store where there are better attitudes and more knowledge.
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November 17, 2008
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Amen, You should have went to a parts store instead of a glorified day care center.
I guess "some" of the chain stores probably have good staff, but my experiences have been about like yours. I try to go the the parts store with a weathered looking guy with dirty fingernails who when you ask for a part he spouts off the top of head, "that's a BR549" walks to the shelf picks it up and hands it to you across the counter, and it's the right part. But that kind of knowledge and service is quickly fading away.
LB
Wisdom is merely the realization of how little one knows, therefore I am wise.
May 17, 2010
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BR549.... seems that was the number on Heehaw...did you really think we wouldn't catch that????
I still have one such store left... I go there 99% of the time. The old guy really knows his stuff ( got me the correct brass/bronze nuts for the exhaust on my '65 tbird)...
PS: not all spark plug feelers are flat, as the plugs tend to pit so they use a round wire. Instead you want a feeler guage for setting points,, which generally ARE flat. Dont even ask Autozone kiddies about points.
Damn I am old.... I blame LB. 
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July 7, 2011
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Yes that seems to be common with the national chain stores. I do all my business with a local chain of parts stores because I know when I talk to the counter person they will know what I'm talking about and get me the right part!
January 8, 2011
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I shop at a local parts store with good success. I bought a battery there and the guy volunteered to install it for me at no cost. Also when I needed a roll pin for one of my DWs he went right to it and just gave it to me at no charge, smiled and said come back to see me. Of course this is a small town where "everybody knows your name."
Hossman 
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February 9, 2009
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Good thread here. My experience at Autozones is much the same as DW41Fan's, the only reason I ever go in these chain auto stores is because my son's impatience drives him there when the local stores are closed. I personally do all my auto store business with the local NAPA where everybody does know your name and most of the guys there do have their BR549's memorized. I think we are witnessing another generational shift here too. The me and now generation, my son's age bracket, do not seem to personalize much of anything or anybody. To this generation the autozone's of the world are just a toolbox and the people that work at them are tools within the toolbox to get what you want, you never ask their name and frankly don't care.
Just my view of the autoparts business and some philosophy for the day...
SMF
A man cannot have too many SuperMags
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February 28, 2009
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That seems to be the prevailing attitude in all retailing today. Went to the Sears tool dept to buy a ball-joint puller. The guy didn't know what I wanted, so I had to go searching through all their stuff until I found it.
-Mike
May 10, 2011
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Ball joint puller? I always just backed the nut off til it was covering the top threads and beat it with a hammer!
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April 20, 2010
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Well my daughter went to Pep Boys recently, and actually remarked how helpful the guys were in helping her find what she was looking for. (Could be because she's female, 18 and cute though).
-Lonwolf
"The lion and the tiger may be more powerful, but the Wolf does not perform in the circus"
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January 24, 2009
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Having spent 14 years in the auto parts biz, I could really go off on a rant on this subject.
Fortunately, I don't have the time this morning, so you guys are spared.
In a nutshell, yes, places like Auto Zone, Checker/Kragen, Pep Boys, etc. hire cheap employees with little-to-no real knowledge. You get what you pay for, when hiring people. The only thing those stores are good for, is buying oil on sale. I always use a "real" parts store like NAPA, or a smaller family business, for 90% of my parts purchases & I normally get the right part the first time.
DW41F, you probably should have just asked for a flat feeler gauge. I think the spark plug part really taxed their limited brainpower a little too much.
February 11, 2010
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Had to buy a three postion on-on-off Honeywell switch the other day,
Old guy at Napa didn't try to look it up or try to cross it, just went in
the back and came out with two cardboard tray's of switches ....
I like old school 
-Blacktop
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February 28, 2009
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formula73 said:
Ball joint puller? I always just backed the nut off til it was covering the top threads and beat it with a hammer!
That sometimes works, however, on a car that uses pinch-bolt's to secure the ball joints, not so much.
-Mike
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