I'm beginning to understand a bit better why so many folks on this and other sites request part# info. It seems when you go to a parts store--of ANY type, its luck of the draw as to whether the guy on the other side of the counter has a clue what you are looking for. Here is yesterdays story.
I was at TSC and called dad to see if we needed anything, he told me to run next door to NAPA and grab a filter for the 2072. I walk in, get in line, and wouldn't you know it, I got one of the kids. Told him I needed an oil filter for a Kohler M20. I got the biggest blank stare, you'd think I was asking for parts for a spaceship we have hidden away in Area 51.
He asked did I know the part #, which I didn't. Decided he would ask another guy, who gave him a number. He pulls the filter and brings it to me and asks does it look right. Tell him I don't know. I ask why he doesn't just look it up, as this store is a REAL KOHLER DEALER. He says he can't, he needs the model. I tell him its an M20, he says no that's not the model, I need the # off the tag. I tell him that is the model, at least that is how my Kohler parts book labels it. I then ask can he look it up by manufacturer, thinking with this being a remote filter maybe its an actual Cadet part. Nope, can't look up anything by manufacturer. This store is also a STENS dealer, how in the heck do you sell aftermarket stuff if you can't look up something so simple as an oil filter? Anyway, I told him I would get the old # and come back. Go out to my truck and call the Cadet dealer a few miles away. For some reason he couldn't find a filter for a 2072.
I said try an 1811, he says yep got it, I said I'll be there in 10 min.
Here is a positive parts counter story. I bought an aftermarket $500 radiator for a Deere farm tractor. It came with a piece of crap drain installed--Could not get it to break loose, handle finally broke. Dad stuck the new one in his pocket and decided to go by Oreileys to get one. They couldn't match it up with anything they had a listing on. Sales guy wanted to know what it fit, dad told him. Guy pull out his smartphone, logs on to Deere's website, get the part number, then proceeds to cross it over. Turns out he had one in stock all along. Guy went to a lot of work to sell a few $ item, but he demonstrated great customer service.
Guess I just hold parts guys to a higher standard, seeing that was what my dad did for the majority of the time he worked for IH--in the pre computer days where everything was literally dug out of the parts books. If they were a dealer for it, they did not rest until they found your part. They would not waste time on stuff they did not sell, but they carried several lines very well. I spent a few years there working part time as well so I understand its not always cut and dry searching for parts. Their parts books had tons of notes scribbled inside them whenever something was confusing, or if a particular customer had an oddball version not as common as most machines (ser # break).