[COBALT]

mikep: I know what you're saying. I worked in a ma-and-pa hardware store for minimum wage while I was in highschool. I go there now when I'm visiting my folks 12 years later and they remember me because I was a good worker. Doing a good job and being considered dependable meant more than the money I was making. You see, they remember me because I was dependable. What I was asked to do I did it better than they expected. In the long run I knew the knowledge and contacts would come in handy some day, and they have.

This situation is different. This store pays its people well, and their a neighborhood store. There isn't a bunch of useless punks working there. They're also a very good store, and NAPA stuff is great. They've been a NAPA for about a billion years with a connected machine shop, and I use their machine shop services all the time. The manager I'm talking about manages the machine shop. He drives me nuts, and I think he rubs off on everyone else. It's this arrogant "you have to make me like you before I'll be a good parts guy" thing that pisses me off. Just look up the damn part number for cryin' out loud! I don't need any of this personality crap that seems to be a requirement before I can get what I came to get. Now, I'm polite and stuff, but I'm not going to kiss anyone's a$$ just to get a decent heater core.

I order all of my big stuff online, and I can wait for that stuff, but for small jobs, or missing hardware or parts you need while you're in the middle of a job you need a place to go. My concern is they know they're a reliable source to go to, so they exploit that a little bit and make people play their games....it's stupid. I think I'll have better luck at a different NAPA, or I'll just go to the warehouse.