“AutoZone you need to…”
Sometimes, everyone needs a hero. More surprising is when that hero emerges at one of the most unlikely places of all: the auto parts store.
Recently, one Oregon woman got a little help just when she needed it. It’s been a tough time for Cat Diaz (@banana_cakes93), her car was giving her trouble, her ex-partner has been sending her mean messages, and her beloved dog Daisy has gone missing.
The sober mom is working on becoming a content creator and earning enough money to purchase her son a drum set. Because she says he’s recently beat cancer. So it’s easy to imagine that Diaz walked into her local AutoZone feeling apprehensive and a little defeated. Car parts are probably the last thing she wanted to spend money on.
Diaz needed a new rotor and caliper, and Joseph, an AutoZone employee “handed her” over $300 to help her solve a repair problem. But it is unclear how that money was delivered (refund, comped parts, or warranty override). So she took to TikTok to offer him public thanks.
“AutoZone, you need to honor this guy,” she wrote in a text overlay.
Over 514,000 viewed the video, and 350 people felt compelled to comment.
Among the comments that praised Joseph, or speculated on his job-retention prospects, was one explaining where the $300 possibly came from. “Those are lifetime warranty so he probably just did an override warranty swap at no charge with a manager code and got you your money back,” wrote Skytownfalls.
Other users were distracted by the price tag. “Problem is the most she would ‘really need’ to at least get back on the road is $30-50 in parts (some of you know),” asserted Jon Cascioli.
But another user adds his own story of an AutoZone employee to the rescue: “I was moving with my wife and 3 year old daughter from Arizona to Indiana in the middle of winter in a 1987 Mazda 323 [and the] heater didn’t work. [We] stopped at [an] AutoZone to get a thermostat, I started to install and [an] AutoZone employee came out, finished the install, told us he didn’t want to see us sleeping in the car that night, [so] he paid for a hotel room for us, will never forget,” recalled James Johnson.
Corporate culture is one of those things that is hard to quantifiably measure. A corporate office will say one thing, ex-employees another. But on AutoZone’s website, there’s a public statement that the company always puts its customers first, and strives for exceptional performance.
The company also encourages employees to always go the extra mile (be a G.E.M). But Indeed tells a more mixed story. With former employees describing tension between management and public-facing workers. “Workers carry the company, while management tries to trip them up,” wrote one commenter.
However, there were individuals who appreciated the opportunity to learn, and others who thought it was a “great place to start” a career.
Motor1 reached out to Diaz via email and with a TikTok direct message and to AutoZone via email. We will update this if either replies to us.
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