I just had to share...

Yeah, call and talk if you have weird demands for wheels and tires. They know their stuff and their database lets them search much better than the website. BTW, Flyin' Miata has been a Tire Rack dealer forever (we're the only one they'll drop-ship for) and I asked about getting access to the "good" database. Not accessible, darn it.

My wife knows an LS1 is, and that an LS3 is bigger and faster. But that's because she listens to me much more than you might expect. I doubt she'd be able to identify an LQ9 or whatever some of those other engines are. Quite a few Miata guys have been surprised when the cute blonde pipes up with an opinion of turbocharging vs supercharging on the track...

I suppose that you could read the conversation and assume that I was being a dick, but I think in actuality I was more surprised than superior!

His response wasn't "I am sorry, I don't understand what you want Mr. Valued Customer, could you please elaborate?" It was "that doesn't mean anything to me!" If you are going to try to read a tone of superiority into my statements, try reading that line with significant condescension, and assumption that I should know the extent of his knowledge or what it might say on his computer!

To me this was like walking into McDonald's, and ordering a Big Mac, only to have the counter guy tell me he didn't know what a Big Mac was. I was surprised to say the least. I understand that there are a ton of alphabet soup engines out there, and I certainly don't pretend to know them all, but I didn't get a warm and fuzzy feeling, that this guy was going to be the expert that I needed to help me.

For what it is worth I have developed some pretty good working relationships with most of the local part store guys and gals, all of whom know what an LS1 is, and several have had a pretty good laugh at the dealership's expense over this one.

In reply to Keith:

The funny part is that he was wrong anyways. The code is BPD for the gtr motor.

In reply to corytate:

If I look up tires by application for my xterra, I get a fairly short list, if I look up by size, suddenly there are twice as many choices

Back to the GM catalog. GM's EPC is not directly searchable by RPO. You can bring up everything with that RPO by using the advanced search, but even that is not a silver bullett. Half the time you'll get tons of unrelated garbage.

It basically works just like everyone else's. You enter make, then model year, then model, then the group, etc. until you find your part.

DrBoost wrote: Unless maybe your the porter or the receptionist.

I washed cars in a GM dealer, and I know what an LS1 is.

But I can see the other side, too. He's just some dude working for what's probably a crappy wage and an shiny happy person boss. Try to make his day a little easier.

As I said above, he was gruff with me first! All I did was use a term that I thought was generic.

It isn't my job to make sure that HE has a good experience with our transaction, it is his job to make sure that the CUSTOMER (me) is happy with the experience. I realize that being a "dick" doesn't help anyone, so regardless of what he thought of my response, he should have responded politely.

OK, now that I am off of my original intent for this thread... I am sick and tired of people in service industries not being polite! Whether it be from apathy, ignorance or rudeness, it is their job to serve the customer. What ever happened to... " Thank you for coming to our business, how may I help you?" and "thank you for your business, please come again!" ? No matter how nicely you say.... "have a nice day!" ....it doesn't mean the same thing as "Thank you"! "Here you go" is just plain rude if it isn't followed by "thank you!" I don't care if THANK YOU is painted on the parking lot, I still want to hear someone say it!

Having finished that rant, I have to say that recently I have made a couple of trips to the south, and you southerners have done a much better job of teaching manners to your youth than those of us up north! I don't care if the politeness is sincere or not...I still want to hear it!

Keith wrote: Quite a few Miata guys have been surprised when the cute blonde pipes up with an opinion of turbocharging vs supercharging on the track...

Sounds like she should be friends with Carol Vorderman.