[Spridgets] Was "Car Hauler Tires" now generalized bitch thread.

[Frank]

chris_west wrote:
>
> --        
> OK group, this is where I feel I have to chime in.  I have worked in the
> auto parts aftermarket for 35+ years and can share a few opinions. 
> First, "you get what you pay for."  
That is a fact. And I will gladly pay for real parts.
>
> Third, I resent the statement that I and my coworkers have "no interest
> in doing our jobs well."  
I truly didn't mean this against anyone personally. But I did have a 
list of about 10 items to buy last weekend only coming home with 2 
because the rest were all chinese
And I did mention it to each cashier at the 3 different stores. THEY did 
not give a crap but they were major chains.
I do deal with Paul, Peter and sometimes Ed and I am extremely glad they 
are the way they are because they know the score.
If it's only available in crap, they tell me. I have only asked Peter 
for a  price maybe 3 times in over 10 years of dealing with him.
And only because I had no clue as to whether it was $100 or $400. I 
mostly just say "send it"
When I ask Paul for stuff, he gives me a price out of habit, I don't 
care, I just wanted it.

I should not have been so general in my bitching.
I do deal with Ma and Pa shops when ever possible and go out of my way 
to do so.
I also pay Ma or Pa in cash most of the time.
If I go to a major chain, I use a credit card because it bites them in 
the ass.
Tires, glass, lumber, dry wall, mill work, hardware, auto parts, auto 
paint supplies, machine shop, upholstery shop,
donut shop, bagel shop, ALL are independent shops.
I do not shop at AA, AZ, or PB, in fact when Manny, Moe, and Jack came 
off the store front, I asked the numbnutz at the counter when they were
putting up ching, chang, & wang because there was nothing in the store I 
would buy except oil. '
Everything else was chinese.

It is true, we are all looking for price but some of us are looking for 
quality but that is because when I was young, I could shop around and 
save a buck
or 2 on a part but all the parts were made here (or in England if it was 
for my Sprite)
I sold Foreign car parts in the mid seventies. I WAS the man behind the 
counter and I too cared about what you were doing.
Yes there were a few customers that may have always been right, but they 
were still a holes.
Today some kid who doesn't know what a brake shoe is is behind the 
counter, he hands you a box with made in china on it.
It's brakes kid, who in their right mind would put chinese brakes on 
ANYTHING?
I really miss my local NAPA store, the other chains put them out. I 
would go there on a Saturday with coffee and donuts from a family owned 
shop and I would get to look in the aisles for parts that I could adapt 
to a Sprite. And I adapted many because I could see the part. Those guys 
have been gone for 7 or 8 years now because they could not compete.

I am sure YOU have interest in customers and I am sorry I generalized 
the statement but the bitch at K-Ma-Part has no interest.
So what if your chinese made alarm clock quit after 2 weeks, we can't 
take it back because you don't have the original box.
Who the F keeps an alarm clock box?  Oh they got it back, I smashed it 
in front of the manager all over the floor.
I did not get a refund but I sure felt good telling them just how I felt 
on my way out.
Opened Christmas day, plugged in 12/27, no more beep beep 1/7.  And my 
wife still had the receipt, but not the box.
They wanted the box so they can restock it and sell it to some other 
sucker. I wanted to shove it down the throat of the *man* who made it but
k-ma-part would not supply that *man* so I could finish *his* job.
I will ask the people where they loose my dollars for lack of sale to 
tell their boss that the sale was lost because the crap was made in china.
Do you think it will do any good? it hasn't so far.

And now that I wrote my heart out for 15 minutes, I re-read the email 
and it was Billy who made the statement.
But he did say "most".
Still I was guilty too and I do apologize.


-- 
Frank Clarici
Toms River, NJ
buy American, the job you save will be your kin's