Man Goes To AutoZone. Then They Refuse To Check Him Out—And Call The Police: ‘O’Reilly’s Would Take Care Of You’

Most people enter the auto shop hoping to leave with the part they needed. This guy left with his needed parts—followed by the police.

According to TikTok user @imperialautophx, he visited AutoZone location #2732 in Phoenix, Arizona, at 11:30 p.m. on a Tuesday. The store’s website states that it closes at midnight.

He says that while the transaction initially seemed to go OK, things changed when he informed an employee that he was a commercial customer.

“She told me that wasn’t an option an commercial is closed and that I can pay DIY (walk in customer cost) or come back tomorrow or go elsewhere (the 24 hr autozone 20 minutes opposite of where i needed to be),” he details in the description of a video he took documenting the aftermath of their interaction.

What Does He Say Happened Next?

Across two other videos, the TikToker documents his continued interactions with a woman whose nametag identifies her as Liz, though she later identifies herself to police as Mary.

In one video, Liz insists that the commercial section of the store is closed. While she does not dispute that she could process the transaction herself, she declares that “commercial is not open right "now"—and thus, she will not be processing the transaction. 

“I'm not doing commercial 30 minutes to closing,” she declares.

“What? What does the time matter?” the TikToker asks in response. “I have a business that I work 24 hours a day, and it requires you to be here. My business requires you to do your [expletive] job.”

A similar argument continues into the second video. The TikToker insists he should be able to make a commercial order; the employee refuses to process any commercial order, and the TikToker repeatedly states that he will wait for the police. It’s unclear if the police ever actually arrived. 

Does AutoZone Have Commercial Hours?

AutoZone has not provided any official documentation listing commercial hours compared with normal hours. This means that, while stores may have different closing times for their commercial departments and the rest of the store, it does not seem to be universal across the country. The specific store mentioned in this video does not list a closing time for its commercial department.

Still, AutoZone employees say that workers are expected to handle commercial orders, even after the commercial window has technically closed.

“As far as AutoZone is concerned commercial never closes. And you as the gray shirt should be trained to handle it,” reads one Reddit comment.

“COMMERICAL NEVER CLOSES! Always help the comm customers,” echoed another.

Some users in this thread claimed that they were not trained to process commercial orders. In response, some said that they should be trained to do so or that they should seek the help of an employee trained to process commercial orders.

However, in a phone call, an AutoZone employee from the store stated that it is not always the case that employees are cross-trained across both departments. The employee also stated that there are efforts amongst some workers in the job to strengthen the separation between these roles, as they involve taking on additional tasks and workloads without changes to pay.

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Why Is Commercial Processing So Hard?

The woman in the video appears to be a Part Sales Manager (PSM). In AutoZone’s career description for this role on its website, the company says that part of the job involves assisting in “managing commercial and hub departments to support timely deliveries and customer needs.” This seems to say that a PSM will occasionally have to work with commercial clients to meet customer needs.

Given this, some may wonder while watching this video why the worker was so hesitant to process a commercial order.

Even if the employee knows how to process a commercial order, it’s a fairly different process from a typical DIY order. Commercial orders are processed differently—specifically, in a way that can mean more work for an employee. This can involve looking up each part in the DIY section, then switching to Commercial before generating an invoice.

One employee describes it thusly: “The transactions are more complicated. The commercial side of znet is very different than DIY. It takes some getting used to. There's a lot of quirks and weirdness to it. Traps and pitfalls.”

Still, the online consensus is that PSMs should be trained to process commercial orders, no matter how complicated the commercial order processing software is.

‘Why Is She Fighting So Hard NOT To Assist A Customer?’

In the comments section, customers as well as current and former employees affirmed that the TikToker should have been able to complete his order.

“As a store manager for Autozone, yes commercial accounts get served regardless of time of day. If it was my employee they would be written up if not fired,” stated a commenter. “However her saying she’s not trained on it makes me wonder if the store manager is the issue.”

“If the store is open… commercial is open,” offered another. “Commercial is just the account type. It operates the same hours as the store hours. Autozone is the worst with training their employees correctly and this proves it.”

“So she’s not trained to do it. Then she should have contacted someone that is or could guide her to get it done,” shared a third. “How odd to get aggressive towards a customer especially commercial.”

In a phone call, a store #2732 AutoZone employee said that management had reprimanded the worker in the video.

Motor1 reached out to AutoZone via email and @imperialautophx via TikTok and Instagram direct messages. We will update this story if they respond.

 

 

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