vatozone all time lows
 

i know there may be some members here that work there, which i think is a good thing, they need the help. but i thought i would start a thread of the all time lows, like if anybody had any experiences with them that were just unbelievably stupid.

today i went to go order the exhaust flange gasket. and i put my turbo without the compressor housing on the desk. and the guy asked what it is?!!!???

so i said its a turbo, the thing that bolts up to the exhaust manifold, which is why i need the gasket.

and he stands there behind the counter just lookin at the turbo, his face looking so curious and confused. and he says "So that's a turbo huh?"

i thought it was pretty sad. like its coo if you dont know much about cars. i really dont know that much (which you all know already) but if you work at an auto parts store, c'mon now.

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

lmao :P

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

hah, yea....you'll have that

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

well at least he's heard of one before. lots of people hear about things and never actually see them. kinda like hotrex and -----. >:D

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

actually vatozone came thru like a gangsta for me ONCE.

i was working on a 85 accord that needed a new oil pan, i ordered teh pan from honda but forgot the new gasket. well when i take everything apart teh gasket was wasted. it was about 2 minutes before vatozone closed and it was a 10min drive to get there. i called them just to see if they had the gasket so i could pick it up in the morning and finish the car before work. well the mother fuckers had the gasket and waited for me to come pick it up. O0


that was the only time they were of use to me.

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

^ whoa!!!

just one question tho. what makes waiting for someone to pick up a part considered coming through for you like gangstas?

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

Last weekend:
Me: "Is there any chance that you guys can get ARP headstuds?"
Manager: "What the hell is an ARP?"
Me: **Shake my head as I turn around and walk out the door**

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

actually went in tehre today to rent a pickle fork for the lower ball joints and asked for a pickle fork and he stodd there staring at me for a few seconds. So I said a ball joint serperator. AGAIN stares at me for a few seconds. and he says "oh a tuning fork?" as I'm walkin over to the pictures of ---- they rent out. and he brings it up... ::)

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

Why would you expect someone that is paid probably minimum wage to be a car expert? There is a reason they are working at an autozone and not a garage or somethign. Why would you expect them to carry ARP headstuds... they arent a performance store... its like expecting a gourmet meal from McDonalds. They are really nice to me... when they cant find what I need they let me walk around the back area till I do (they didnt know what an exhaust donut gasket was, but then again I wasnt expecting them to). Free tool rental is a plus. They also let you use the code scanners to. I dont work for autozone but I do use them for replacement parts like starters as they are usually much cheaper then Pepboys. And the lifetime warauntee (sp) on axles is pretty sweet.

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

i own a rotary car and when i walk in there i look and i see ---- that would just boggle the mind of any guy working at cato zone.

i was like.. wheres the simple green?
Simple green? whats that? we got some green stuff.
i just walk out.

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

hahah, I sold one of my old civics to one of my hot ex girlfriends. Well she was at vatozone picking something up. She couldn't get the car started cause the alarm "kill switch" was acting up. The fat guy that worked at autozone tried to show her "new man" up that he could fix it. Both of them didn't have a clue, so she calls up el hefe and I come down there, unplug the alarm, and then go home thinking of how fun it used to be to ---- her.



Damn them autozone guys. ;D

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

Damn she was good. I got drunk tonight. Everyone with a classifieds post.....brace yourself. ^-^

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

You all need to go into autozone and ask them for rx-7 piston rings. O0

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

autozone > pepboys imo....

pepboys told me they couldnt even order a valve cover gasket....

everytime i went to autozone they had what i needed, simple ---- that u would expect but they always helped me in getting it nike like pep boys they send u away before u ask the question....

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

I worked at vatozone for one week and the guys that worked there blew my mind on how little they knew. I saw the tip of the iceberg and that was enough started on a monday and never showed up on saturday. They wanted me to close that sunday by myself because the general manager didn't want to work cause there was a Packers game on. Ok, ahhh I started like on monday and still getting the hang of the cash registers and doing returns and ---- and you want me to close up the store and everything when you've never even showed me how to do that yet? He's like. If you got any problems I'll have the phone by me watching the game. >:( That was enough for me and have never been to that store yet since I quit over 7 months ago.

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

its not hard to learn, before i started working in the parts dept at a VW dealer i used to be a lotboy.and at this point i knw very little about how cars actually worked. i asked me manager what i can do to make some more money and he started me out stocking shelves. it tooks me about 2 months to get up to speed. now 2 years later i make just as much, if not more,than a vato zone manager

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

Vatozone pays complete ---- for their managers. I was a manager and got chump change of 9 an hour. >:( McDonalds probably pays more for their managers and we have to clean up the shitter too.

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

Autozone in bloomington MN has a manager who owns a turbo prelude. there is another guy there who has a turbo civic hatch. Mabey I just got lucky with the workers at the autozone that is near me?

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

One On 120 in St. Paul has some cool guys there. One is a ricer. The other has a LS Turbo in a 5th Gen civic. They are pretty good with parts.

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

yea an i know i shouldnt expect much of them, i mean i already know they are not experts or anything. its just that when the guy was standin there, just starin at the turbo on the counter, the confused look on his face was almost indescribable.

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

wow, thats shitty. i got paid $9/hr to stock shelves

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

----, I woulda looked at him in teh face and said, "j00 NoOB!"

but then again, maybe he was wondering if those were pieces of SSAUTO turbo u had there. :D

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

If you buy anything behind the counter at autozone be ready to replace again about 50 times. Autozone has the worst quality everrrr. Even for fluids walmart is cheaper :X. My order of aftermarket shops is Carquest->Oreilly->Dealer

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

dude, you piss me off so much.... simple green ------- sucks man... my parents sell that ----... theres a million better products out there.

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

advance always tries to give me the wrong parts!!!

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

ya'll must not have NAPA in your citys. Ours have 40+ year old men behind the counter that have been building cars for god knows how long. If you know your ---- they like you, if you ask stupid questions they all laugh at you, it's pretty cool.

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

NAPA is the way to go I used to work for them you gotta know a little something to work there at least the ones in my area some even have machine shops in them too port and polish heads for pretty cheap

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

yea I've got 2 NAPA auto parts stores within 30 mins of my house, they just always close much earlier. like when i went to autozone the other night it was like 6:30, and i think NAPA had been closed since 2:30 in the afternoon.

but yeah, they do know their stuff tho. (i actually went this morning to get my O-ring for the compressor side.) they didnt have one tho. but they knew exacty what i was talkin about.

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

ditto. i always have to go back to that ------- place because they gave me the wrong ----.

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

yea, advanced auto is worse than autozone, but the quality once you get what you need, is usually better.

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

I had the exact opposite experience. I checked two Autozone stores in Nashville for a master cylinder for my CRX (how hard can that be? come on) and I needed it replaced like that day. Neither one of the Autozone stores had what I needed and they wanted me to go to their hub and get it from there. Instead we went down the street to Advance Auto and they had like 10 different master cylinders in stock, new, remanufactured, etc.

The local autozone here isn't too bad with having parts in stock and knowing their stuff though. I know the employees pretty good and one of them teaches the automechanics and autobody classes at the highschool.

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And when you walk in there they treat you like ---- because you look young... even when you know exactly what you want and its them being the dumbasses....

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

its a known fact that i pull some descent -----

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

i know this one mexican dude that works at VATOZONE that drives a Turbo Flat black 4 door..oh wait thats me.

The other 2 guys that work there are pretty young and naive. One drives an IS300 and can barely make the payments let alone fill it up with gas. The other swears up and down that Nissan is the ----. Oh and the one with a 2nd gen GSX thinks his stock car is the fastest thing on earth. God i work with morons. There is however Andrew, hes pretty mellow and knows his stuff. I think he and i are the only ones who actually know our ---- and do our own wrenching. The store manager has no clue as to how the charging system works. its great. ::)

oh and they already askemd me to be a PSM. im like oh no...whats the payrate for that? Store manager says ..its dependant on a percentage. Im like WTF?????????what the hell does that mea?

To tell you the truth though, i really enjoy working there. I learn something new everyday ;D

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

it means commision, and its the way to go. the more parts get sold the more $$$ you make.
i get paid salary and comm, its the only way to go. i get two decent checks a month for salary and a one fatty check on the 10th every month for my comm. my commision check pretty much covers all my monthly bills so the bi-weekly ones are for ------- off

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

i love simple green. works great for me.

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

Unless your store employees have IQ's totalling less than 100.

Off topic but anyone looking for a good Christmas seasonal job (that pays based on commission) should check out Radioshack. Yea you have to wear a tie and put up with alot of corporate bullshit but in November and December I was pulling in ~$18 an hour on commission and I wasnt even trying... I hated pestering people like the company wants you to... and theres something entertaining about selling suckers gold plated wiring and any product from Verizon...

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

2 of the guys i work with each have 15+years exp w/ VW and the other guys are pretty knowledgable about cars in general

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

No surprise. What do you expect when they pay $4 an hour? It is like hardware stores. If I know what I need and want it cheap, I will just go to home depot and grab it. If I need help with something and need to ask for advice I find the local ACE where the guys actually know what they are talking about.

Chris

Re: vatozone all time lows
 

although i loved simple green in the past, i have a new love called castrol super cleaner. It's purple and will eat oil right off any floor and have black driveways bleached white if you let it sit overnight (have to clean after old jackasses who dont know what a oil catch is :x).