<VV> Brake shoes

[N. Joseph Potts]

I agree with Padgett. There is NO good reason why a counterman should
interpose his presuppositions over what the database "knows" just in order
to look personally knowledgeable. Intelligence today is a matter of
NAVIGATING and EVALUATING information, not retaining and regurgitating it.
     I've been standing IN FRONT of parts counters for about 45 years, and
at one point could read the (GM) parts books (they were books back then)
UPSIDE DOWN better than the countermen could (eventually I bought my own -
turns out I can read them even BETTER right-side-up). And they were NOT
young squirts - they were (at the time) considerably older than I was.
     Some years ago, I ordered a taillight for my Brand X, and was surprised
to be asked, "two-door" or "four-door." The question was required, of
course. Just last week, a counterman almost neglected to ask me whether the
(other) Brand X I was buying brake pads for was a police option (it was).
Yes, it made a difference - and not just lining material - the non-police
part would NOT fit. The computer knows - a counterman trying to outsmart the
computer (and/or the customer) is just John Henry going up against the steam
hammer. Only it's the customer who gets it in the ear, not the counterman.

Joe Potts
Miami, Florida USA
1966 Corsa coupe 140hp 4-speed with A/C

-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org]On Behalf Of Padgett
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2005 12:58 PM
To: kaczmarek at charter.net; virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> Brake shoes



> >His  question was based on the choices in the dropdown and had nothing
> to do
> > with knowlege or lack thereof.
>
>Allow me to respectfully disagree.

To me the question sounds reasonable - a car with a Turbo might well have
different brakes than its N/A counterpart. Remember that while we only have
to keep track of three or four models, at Pep Boyz or Advance or AZ they
are liable to get parts requests for just about anything.

So I stand by my original statement: the act of asking the question does
not say anything about general knowlege or intelligence & was just a drop
down.

Padgett