Best Buy has man arrested for paying in $2 bills

[Roland99]

I did some searching and didn't see this posted up here in any forum. It's about a month old but....WOW!!

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.olesker08mar08,1,76004.column?coll=bal-local-columnists&ctrack=1&cset=true

PUT YOURSELF in Mike Bolesta's place. On the morning of Feb. 20, he buys a new radio-CD player for his 17-year-old son Christopher's car. He pays the $114 installation charge with 57 crisp new $2 bills, which, when last observed, were still considered legitimate currency in the United States proper. The $2 bills are Bolesta's idea of payment, and his little comic protest, too.
For this, Bolesta, Baltimore County resident, innocent citizen, owner of Capital City Student Tours, finds himself under arrest.

Finds himself, in front of a store full of customers at the Best Buy on York Road in Lutherville, locked into handcuffs and leg irons.

Finds himself transported to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, where he's handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service is called into the case.

Have a nice day, Mike.

:wtf:

[atommom]

1. That's ridiculous! I have an old friend who has been carrying most

of his spending money in twos for years, and he's never gotten any flack.

[Dorian Gray]

66. The train station in my hometown

was famous for their "2 dollar bills!" It was crazy. My dad always had a stack of them from buying his tickets.

Why the heck was this guy arrested, anyhow? They aren't really released in too many places, so perhaps to have as many as he did was suspect. Or did they stop producing them, therefore a stack of new and crisp ones were suspect? Or was the cashier a dumb dumb, and didn't know what $2 bills were?

[kick-ass-bob]

2. I didn't register to read...

but was he arrested for trying to pass counterfeit bills?

If so... :wtf:

[Roland99]

5. No...the clerk took them after hedging they didn't have to.

He was being given the shaft for a series of mix-ups on the part of Best Buy.


BTW, http://www.bugmenot.com :)

[Warpy]

6. Paranoid and ignorant clerk with paranoid and ignorant manager

"A Best Buy manager refused comment last week. But, according to a Baltimore County police arrest report, suspicions were roused when an employee noticed some smearing of ink. So the cops were called in. One officer noticed the bills ran in sequential order."

He apparently got them from his bank to use in his business.

I think he's got a great civil rights case. I sincerely hope he's shopping for a lawyer.

[pnorman]

11. NOT counterfeit. Here's what appears to be the "reason":

>
>
For Baltimore County police, said spokesman Bill Toohey, "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."
>
>

Somewhere, I have the website of that collection of "9-11!!" screamers at the Reptilican Convention. If somebody doesn't beat me to it, I'll try to search it out again.

pnorman

[Roland99]

20. The RNC in 60 seconds

http://www.bushflash.com/quicktime/gop.mov

http://flashconway.com/media/gopconstrm.html

[pnorman]

35. WOW!! That was fast!

THANKS! (I LOVE my DU!!)

pnorman

[Roland99]

36. I have those links on the page at the link in my sig

;)

[pnorman]

98. Thanks once more!

I was going to thank you privately (no need to jack up my posting count), but I took a close look at your web-page again. It is LOADED with valuable links, including several that I "thought" I had saved, but can't find.

I LOVE my DU!!

pnorman

[Zynx]

76. That was about the size of it.

[phylny]

91. FANTASTIC! n/t

[ornotna]

104. Sadly if it wasn't true how these nutbags acted

The first movie would be hilarious.

[rodeodance]

32. stupidity comes to my mind!!

[DS1]

59. If you fold a 2 dollar bill just the right way, you'll have an explosive

paper airplane on your hands, and this guy suddenly wanted to get rid of a lot of cash?

Obviously something's up.

[libhill]

61. Could be -

Maybe our wonderful Government has another 911 in the works, and something about the 2.00 bills made the fucks nervous.

[Melynn]

90. What a lame-o reason

I don't believe that. The cops and the people at Best Buy thought that the 2 dollar bill was counterfeit that's why that guy was busted. Later when it turned out that the bills were legit, the cops came up with "post-9/11 world" B.S.

[leesa]

97. WHY are American people such chickenshits??

This overreaction doesn't happen in other parts of the world and they deal with terrorism all the time. We must be the biggest wimps on the planet.

[Heddi]

3. *I LOVE $2 BILLS!!!*

when I worked in retail or as a waitress, I'd always pocket the $2 bills and replace them with 2 $1's whenever I came across them. THey're so neat.

I checked on Ebay once, and was amazed that $2 bills were being sold for $4 and $5 each...uh, they're ONLY WORTH $2!!!

but I digress.

I've got a huge collection of them, and silver dollars and half dollars--"funny money" that you never see anymore.

I once was really broke and had to spend a $2 for milk once and I got very weird glances from the cashier--she thought it was counterfeit. She called the manager (a boy no older than 17 or so) and HE thought it was counterfeit as well.

I was getting REALLY peeved at this point--I just wanted my milk and my change so I could go home. They would'nt let me use the $2 bill because "There is no such thing as that," the manager said.

Finally, a very nice, sweet older lady at the register next to mine came up and told the young manager that indeed there ARE $2 and they've been in circulation for many years, and that there is nothing counterfeit about them and if he liked, he should call a bank or police department to verify.

The lady also paid for my milk, seeing I had been standing there forever, and so I got to keep one of my $2 that would have otherwise been unappreciated, sitting befuddled in a cashier's drawer.

[FreedomAngel82]

14. That's neat

Only thing like that I have is those quarters where on the back you see a drummer boy. :)

[Heddi]

16. Oh! The Bicentennial Quarters!

I used to 'collect' those when I was younger. THought I was hot shit. Didn't realize until...like 3 years ago that they were mass produced (Every quarter minted in 1976 has that drummer guy on the back).

I'm a fool, but at least I have a huge cache of quarters!

[FreedomAngel82]

86. Hehe

Yeah. But I still think they're neat. Who knows, maybe in the WAY distant future they'll be worth something. ;)

[Ladyhawk]

29. I have a whole SHEET of uncut $2 bills...neener, neener, neener!

See other post. :D

[pansypoo53219]

18. my great aunt would give us them

and when my mom was cleaning out my grandma's room she found an OLD $2. we always got the newer version.
the bank has to treat them as $2, i got an older silver certificate dollar cause the banks has to treat it as nothing special.

[Heddi]

23. I have a few silver certificates

and a few where the seals are printed with red ink instead of green. Not that I would ever try to use those as currency, but I would just IMAGINE the shit I'd get trying to pass a $2 bill (which some people don't even know exist) with RED INK ON IT.

Oh. The scene would be AMAZINGLY hillarious

[Art_from_Ark]

114. Ah, an old "red seal" two-spot

Perfectly good legal tender, but worth more than $2 to a collector (if it's not too ragged).

[Ladyhawk]

28. LOL! My uncle used to be the Director of the Bureau of Engraving...

...and Printing. Really!

When I went to visit him in D.C. as a teenager, he made sure my cousin and I got to see the Treasurer, Katherine Davalos Ortega, who signed our $5 bills. He also let us into the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, Donald Regan, who was away on business. The office was huge and mostly empty except for a desk. I wonder if I could have found some Iran-Contra shit had I gone digging? :evilgrin: There were framed letters and drawings by President Reagan on the wall which read, "To Don, From Ron." One was covered with pictures of cowboys and horses Reagan had drawn and was labeled, "The Most Productive Thing I Did at the Summit Meeting."

Later, Donald Regan signed some bills for my uncle and had them sent to me.

For Christmas several years ago, my uncle sent me a whole uncut sheet of $2 bills with the authentic signature of both the Treasurer and the Secretary of the Treasury. With only the Treasurer and the Secretary of the Treasury above him, my uncle had job security as a non-political appointee.

For a long time, my uncle was a lot more liberal than the rest of the family, but it looks like he is now a neocon. He helped campaign for Rico Oller, a neocon friend of the family, and sent me an e-mail praising our "cowboy" president, George W. Bush. Gack! I nearly hurled a wad. I was hoping that after he retired, my uncle would catch some of the flak coming my direction and that maybe I would find in him someone who wasn't quite like the rest of the family. I was wrong. :( :( :( :( :(

[Lisa]

71. so THAT'S what Reagan used to do at meetings ...

... when he wasn't nodding off! Doodling horsies.

LOL! A hardcore Dem activist I know has the exact same habit. Just wait until she hears about this.

Neat story, Ladyhawk. Re: Don Regan's office, I've noticed on other occasions that high-ranking Republicans have bland impersonal offices -- for example, before the 2000 election, Biography Magazine published photos of the offices and desks of the two candidates. Dubya's desk was almost bare, and the only thing in the background was a bunch of souvenir baseballs. Gore's office was crammed full of weird historical artifacts, kids' artwork, feathers and bits of driftwood.

[Ladyhawk]

81. She probably won't like being compared with Reagan. :)

He was actually a pretty decent doodler. :) He was at better at art than he was at being prez-nit. I wish I could have taken pictures of Donald Regan's office, but by then I knew that such things were a big no-no.

If I recall correctly, the floor was black-and-white-checkered marble and the desk was in the very center of the room. It was a huge, huge desk and I recall my uncle saying something about a hidden compartment in it. Maybe that's just a recollection of my imaginings at the time. I don't know. I'd have to ask my uncle and I really don't talk with him much anymore.

Most of the "To Don, From Ron" stuff was on right-hand wall as you were facing into the room. I spent a long time looking at the letters and doodles. It was the most interesting thing in the room. By far. :D

[Lisa]

121. Nope! (wicked grin) That's why I'm saving that tidbit ...

... for when I catch her in mid-doodle, next time we're at a conference together!

We used to have an inside joke about this -- we'd rate a particular presentation or seminar by how many horses she could complete. The record was a "five-horse talk", where the speaker was going on about computer software used to generate maps of city infrastructure. (Another audience member nudged us and whispered, "The only two words I understood in the past hour were 'fire hydrant'".)

Conversely, there was one time when she only managed to finish half a horse (or mule). That's the only time when the term "half-assed" was a GOOD thing!

[LiberallyInclined]

52. has everyone seen the new nickels?

with the close up of t. jefferson?

they're pretty cool looking, and have a buffalo on the back.

[burythehatchet]

99. I have several sheets of un-cut real $2 bills. (8 to a page)

What can I get for those?

[MostlyLurks]

4. If It Was Because They Just Didn't Want To Take The Bills...

I think this guy might have quite the lawsuit on his hands against both the store and the municipality that arrested him. I think merchants are legally required to accept all US legal tender. Course, it's another issue entirely if they claim they thought the bills were fakes.

Hell, I paid a $42 traffic fine in unsorted change as a protest once. They weren't happy about it, but they knew they had to accept it.

Mostly

[CornField]

8. I paid $45 in parking fines in loose change

These were parking fines friends and family received while attending a funeral. It pissed me off, so I paid the fines in loose pennies and nickels.

[MostlyLurks]

10. Better reason than me.

I did it just because I was young and a dick.

The worst part is that the woman who ended up having to count it apparently had some sort of allergy or something, and her hands blew up to two or three times their normal size. So I felt bad and just whipped out my check book, then slinked out of there like the punk bastard I was.

Mostly

[Lisa]

73. you'd think that they'd be smarter than to give someone ...

... with an allergy to nickel, a job where she has to act as a cashier. Perhaps they were trying to punish her for some perceived infraction as well!

(This is a real medical condition -- one of my co-workers has it, and cannot wear steel jewellery unless it's nickel-free. Actually, she's a lawyer now ... does some occupational health and safety cases ... and I'm pretty sure that she would place the blame on that woman's supervisor, not on you!)

[Tansy_Gold]

78. Revenge against the machine, 1966 style

The University had screwed up my scholarship paperwork, forcing me to pay $135 that I shouldn't have owed. They told me to take my receipt to the business office and get a refund when the correct paperwork came through a few weeks later.

I did so, but the clerks at the business office refused to give me a refund. They would give me a credit on next semester's tuition (which I didn't need because I had the scholarship), or credit my LOCAL bank (which I didn't have because in those days the campus banks charged outrageous fees and my home-town bank account was free), or a bunch of other lame credits that I didn't want and couldn't use. I continued to demand the refund that was owed to me due to THEIR mistake.

I had two or three clerks trying to get rid of me, when one of them finally came up with a new wrinkle -- they couldn't issue refund checks for over $5.00 -- usually issued to refund lost dorm key fees or library fines. I said, okay, that's cool, give me 27 $5 checks.

I eventually had to confront the University's asst. business mgr or whatever his title was, but I would not back down. It was my money and I wanted it back.

Three hours after I made my first request, I walked out with 27 $5 checks, all typed (no PCs in 1966) with no typos, which meant they probably typed 35 or so to get 27 perfect (per university regs, not my pickiness) ones.

[A Simple Game]

116. 135 bucks was real money in 1966.

[rodeodance]

33. good for you

[The Flaming Red Head]

120. we counted 2000 pennies once and bought a case of beer

on a saturday afternoon, 3 of us, of course we rolled them.

[Hugin]

9. I refuse to do a search on it...

But, I remember hearing pennies aren't legal tender for
purchases of over $5.00.

Anyone know if that's true?

[Craig3410]

54. Here, on snopes:

http://www.snopes.com/business/money/pennies.asp

[Hugin]

72. Cool!

Thanks for expunging that particular myth from my mind.


I found this interesting:
"The Coinage Acts of 1873 and 1879 made them legal tender for debts up to 25 cents only, while the other fractional coins (dimes, quarters, and half dollars) were legal tender for amounts up to $10. This remained the law until the Coinage Act of 1965 specified that all U.S. coins are legal tender in any amount."

Guess that explains the origin of that particular idea. It used
to be true! That's why my folks told me about it. When they were
kids it was the law of the land.

Thanks.

:)

[Lisa]

75. there are some local bylaws restricting payments in change ...

In my hometown, there was a bylaw that limited the number of pennies used in a transaction to (I think) 300.

Of course, there are lots of peculiar bylaws out there that never get enforced.

[Art_from_Ark]

115. This is what the Treasury Dept. has to say:

Question: I thought that United States currency was legal tender for all debts. Some businesses or governmental agencies say that they will only accept checks, money orders or credit cards as payment, and others will only accept currency notes in denominations of $20 or smaller. Isn't this illegal?


Answer: The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 102. This is now found in section 392 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The law says that: "All coins and currencies of the United States, regardless of when coined or issued, shall be legal-tender for all debts, public and private, public charges, taxes, duties and dues."

This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.

http://www.treas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.shtml

[ryan_cats]

79. Interesting read, Thanks

[DoNotRefill]

85. Heh....

I recall a case where a guy was highly enraged by something (I think it was a parking ticket) and tried to pay the fine with "dirty money"....the money was real, he had just used it to wipe his ass before he mailed it to them. IIRC, he ended up in jail over it....

[ryan_cats]

89. That's pretty nasty.

[DerBeppo]

58. merchants aren't required by law to accept anything

they don't have to take 2's if they don't want to deal with them. that's their right to do business on their own terms.

if it was illegal to refuse a 2 dollar bill, then what of all the fast food places or convenience stores that refuse to accept bills over 20?

[GiovanniC]

67. In That Case, They Would Need to Post a Sign

Saying, "Please, no $2 bills. Thanks!" Or something to that effect.

[Spider Jerusalem]

74. Yes, they are.

Says so right on the money: "This note is LEGAL TENDER for ALL DEBTS, public and private".

[DerBeppo]

84. yes, it's legal tender

but that means absolutely nothing in terms of what a business chooses to accept as payment.

I can open a business that only accepted beads as currency and refused all forms of cash, credit or checks with no problem.

now, that's be insane unless i was able to in turn cover my overhead with those beads, but the point is, money is voluntary, not compulsory.

In your world, you could walk into a taco bell with a 100 dollar bill, buy the absolute cheapest item they had, and expect them to comply under penalty of law. that's a complete misunderstanding of business and law.

the same goes for posting a sign saying "no $2 bills please." That's not a law either, that's a convenience. The reason you see so many no bill over 20 signs is because i'd bet that it is much, much more common for people to try and pay with bills over 20 dollars than it is for people to pay with 2 dollar bills.

people do not have the right to convenience.

[MostlyLurks]

96. Snopes confirms you.

I misunderstood the "All debts..." statement on currency and didn't think about not accepting large bills.

My bad.

Mostly

[Spider Jerusalem]

101. But there's a difference.

It's understandable that a business may ask that its customers not tender bills larger than $20...this is done because they keep a minimum amount of cash in the till, and thus don't have the ability to provide change for large bills. However, there IS no problem in providing change for a $2 bill. If a business is going to accept tens, fives, and ones, it's pretty damned stupid for them to balk at accepting a $2 bill.

[DerBeppo]

110. not stupid

not if their tray's aren't set up for it. 2 dollar bills are very rare. i can predict with fair confidence that no company would ever lose customers because they didn't accept 2 dollar bills.

even in this case, it wasn't just because he used a odd bill, but because he used a whole bunch of sequential, odd bills.

like i said, no one has the right to convenience so it is ridiculous to say that best buy did something illegal or actionable. the people who think it is have some other, deeper problems.

[geomon666]

7. I see

Finally, Secret Service agent Leigh Turner arrived, examined the bills and said they were legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes ink on money can smear."

This will be important news to all concerned.

For Baltimore County police, said spokesman Bill Toohey, "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."


Cause you never know when a $2 bill might explode in your face.

I'm just wondering why they bothered with the handcuffs. Why didn't they just tazer him down like a dog? They do it to everybody else, hell, even kids.

[Toucano]

12. Yeah. What the fuck?

How do $2 bills connect to 9/11?

Ridiculous.

[Andy_Stephenson]

21. Easy...didn't the terrarists pay

for their plane tickets with 2 dollar bills?

[ashmanonar]

93. ok, do you read scary-go-round?

because john allison refers to them as terrarists all the time!

[BiggJawn]

26. It's the catch-all one-size-fits-most phrase..

Like a fundy shouting "BLOOD OF JEEZHUS!" when he's losing a debate.

Translated from "First-Responder-ese" it means "Hoo-boy, we sure danced all over our dicks this time...heh-heh...PLEASE don't sue us, OK?"

[FreedomAngel82]

15. That was their reasoning?

LOL! How funny. Blame 9/11 for everything now. I'm surprised they didn't try to blame Clinton! LOL! Sometimes people can be so funny.

[Bethany Rockafella]

50. Actually they did blame Clinton.

They always blame Clinton.

[Threedifferentones]

53. But don't you remeber Clinton is the one responsible for 9/11?

Which means he's responsible for this as well.

[fishwax]

25. great logic there

sheez :eyes:

[havocmom]

13. Decades ago, if merchants in Navy port towns would get ornery about

how they treated guys in uniform, the base C.O. would sometimes instruct the paymaster to pay the enlisted with $2 bills. It was a very pointed lesson to rude locals just how big of an impact those men in uniform had on the economy. I heard there was much better customer relations for long periods after such an exercise. ;)

[tsuki]

100. My father always brought home $2 bills. Made his navy pay look

larger.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[geomon666]

19. Yup........looks like a WMD to me.

*Tazers psychopomp*



I warned him.

[LoZoccolo]

22. Sue 'em all! n/t

[Walt Starr]

24. I don't know how this guy feels, but I'd be calling my wife

She's an attorney.

[liberalhistorian]

107. I'd sue their asses off if I were him, and

then sue them some more! Imagine the humiliation and fear this guy had to endure because of ignorant, dumbass, chickenshit clerks, managers, and cops. Sheesh, is there ANYTHING they won't blame on 9/11? I'm sick of that being used as a catch-all excuse, and everybody's just supposed to accept it all the time.

[Goathead]

27. I wish I was that guy.

That case is lawsuit city!

[rodeodance]

30. cuffs in 'leg irons" --my god!!!!

[Wilber_Stool]

31. Not to mention that

it would take quite a while to make a fortune counterfeiting two dollar bills.

[PA Democrat]

34. LOL! Yeah, if you were a counterfeiter, $2 bills would surely be your

first choice. I mean, paying with 50 plus $2 bills would raise NO attention, given how "common" they are!

[SoCalDem]

57. Years ago there was a little old man in Chicago

He became ill and went to the hospital. While he was there the pipes in his basement froze, and the neighbor let a plumber in to fix them.. In the basement they found a press for $1 bills. It seems the old guy had been churning them out since 1940 something. No one ever checks the ones :)

he was about 80 and had cancer, so they did not prosecute him.. just took the press away and he went to a nursing home..

[sasquatch]

108. I take offense to your sig line

x(

[SoCalDem]

112. Errrr..ummmm...uhhhh

sorry :)

Cloning accidents DO occur sometimes.. The DNA *² got, may have been missing a few strands :)

[kimchi]

37. I think I need to visit the bank.

I always did like to make a point. Cross your fingers I don't land in jail. Prolly not--the employees at the store all know me.

[Roland99]

38. Great idea!

I have a $20 gift card left over to use, still. I think I'll get some $2 bills and pay whatever is leftover with them! :D

[THUNDER HANDS]

39. I'm a cashier, I would have been suspicious too!

Who pays in $2 bills anyway, let alone 57 of them. If you're a cashier and you've never seen a $2 bill before (and I've only seen one once) then I'd think they were fake too.

[slackmaster]

42. During World War II the Navy used to pay sailors in $2 bills

It was a way of showing the public how much Navy people contributed to their local economies.

[Pepperbelly]

92. race tracks ...

:D

[MUSTANG_2004]

113. Not to mention the ink was smeared

It sounds like it wasn't so much the unusual denomination as that the ink was smeared that made them call the police.

Really, the store being suspicious was reasonable. It was the police who arrested him that were wildly over-reacting.

[H2O Man]

40. Years ago

when I was a student at Herkimer County Community College in NYS, our student union urged the use of $2 bills to pay rent, groceries, etc, in order to bring attention to the economic impact we had on the sometimes hostile village. People get mighty worked up by the $2 bill.

[KansDem]

41. "Taco Hell" from Snopes...

A Taco Bell employee refuses a $2 bill because he thinks it's not real.

Status: Undetermined.

http://www.snopes.com/humor/business/tacobell.htm

Be sure to read Additonal Information at the bottome of the page about other "Currency Recognition Glitches..."

Examples:

Your Taco Bell/$2 bill piece intrigues me, because I saw it (or an incident very much like it) happen. It was about 1990 and I was in the Navy in New London, Connecticut. I went down to the mall with my roommate, , and we stopped at Taco Bell. He tried to pay for his dinner with a couple of bills that included a $2 bill, and the guy did ask the manager about it, and the manager did refuse it. My memory is fuzzy, but I seem to recall that we both just shook our heads and paid for dinner with a $20, but I could be mistaken.

Haven't spoken to in almost a decade, I wonder if he's Captain Sarcastic. Anyway, just wanted to fill you in.
________

Thank you so much for the piece you posted about the $2 bill at Taco Bell. I had the same experience at a Burger King.

In addition, I had a McDonalds employee AND manager refuse to accept a Susan B. Anthony dollar coin. The amazing thing in this instance was that the McDonalds was right across the street from Penn Station in New York City. The automated ticket machines routinely dispense dollar coins (SB Anthony's and Sacagawea) as change.

________

I had a similar experience to the $2 bill at Taco Bell. I was working in a sporting goods store with a high school kid. He called me to the register, freaked out that he had done something wrong. He showed me an old-style $20 bill (you know, one of those that's about 5 years old, with the smaller picture of Jackson), and asked "Is this real? I didn't look at it closely when I took it."

Scary. Utterly scary.
________

I don't know if the story about the $2 bill at the Taco Bell is true or not, but this one is absolutely true. When the Sacajawea dollar coin was first issued (January 2000), a friend gave me a few. I didn't want to spend them, but one night going home late, I found it was the only money I had on me to pay the toll on Georgia 400. The tollkeeper, a woman, wouldn't take it. I insisted it was perfectly good, a new dollar coin. She insisted equally firmly that it was not a coin and she would not take it. I told her to call her supervisor, and listened amused as she described the funny money. I don't know how many supervisors she had to go through, but she eventually allowed me to pay the toll with the dollar coin.

More...

[fob]

43. What a bunch of idiots. I used to live where we would get Canadian

coins in change all the time and no one treated them any differently. About 6 or 7 years ago I was in an Arby's in California and happened to have a Canadian PENNY and the cashier refused to take it! I asked if she was serious and she said "Yes, she was, they're not worth the same". Luckily I had another US penny to replace it and also noted to her that the Canadian penny was actually real copper and the US penny was the copper coted zinc kind and in real value was worth LESS than the Canadian one.

I shudder to think what could happen post-9/11 with idiots like the best buy numbskulls around.

[CarefullyLiberal]

44. Better link

This link might work a little better.

Baltimore Sun $2 bill story

Peace,

Fergus

[bif]

45. I had a cashier refuse to take a $1 coin

at my library. She actually said, "We don't take those here." After I had her see the head librarian, she was convinced it was okay.

[tammywammy]

46. That is really messed up

My first job was at an amusement park. During our beginning training, we were taught about the security features of money, and specifically knew that the $2 was real. (First, I had seen them as a kid, so I already knew that). One day the entrance got backed up, so along with myself a few other people from customer service went and walked the lanes taking the money and giving the parking receipts. Parking was $8, so all people working the toll booths and lanes had a big stack of $2 bills. It just made sense.

The only thing about Susan B Anthony coins, is that they look like quarters at a quick glance.

I can't imagine someone not accepting these bills or coins.

I think we should get rid of the dollar bill and just use the coin anyways.

[pilgrimsoul]

47. It would be so cool if

there was a customer backlash against Best Buy in which people paid for their purchases with nothing but $2 bills!

[morgan2]

48. this is all part of the new

"Arrest first, dodge questions later" culture in the United States. He may have been a trrist!!!@#@!#!#@!

[iconoclastNYC]

49. Legal tender or weapon of mass destruction?

[LiberallyInclined]

51. he should demand that his settlement be paid in $2 bills

he should be getting a pretty healthy one, i'd bet.

[Snotcicles]

55. I used to be a very good customer of best buy.

I have been looking for a good reason stop my credit account with them. If I buy anything from them in the future, I will ask if they accept two dollar bills first.

[CarefullyLiberal]

65. Huh?

Snotcicles, you used to like shopping at Best Buy and now you don't based on what a dumb-ass clerk and a dumb-ass manager did?

It's just one incident, at least I think it is. However, I understand your line of reasoning. I won't eat at Cracker Barrel because they treat African Americans poorly. Cracker Barrel has mistreated minorities many times at many different locations which leads me to believe that it's a company attitude rather than an isolated incident. In my opinion the Cracker Barrel upper management are racists and I won't eat there because of it. Cracker Barrel vs. NAACP

The real bad guy here is a police officer that arrested him for passing bad bills. He/she should have been a little bit more informed about legal tender paper.

I question the whole leg irons thing too. It's either not true or there is more to the story.

Peace,

Fergus

[lectrobyte]

56. Best Buy... The last time I was in one, I was buying a cable or

something like that, a $4 or $5 purchase, and pulled out a $10 bill to pay for it. The guy behind the cash register says, I can't take cash, can you use a credit card? What's up with that?

[DerBeppo]

60. you got in the wrong line

they separate plastic from cash.

[lectrobyte]

64. probably. nothing seemed to indicate it one way or the other, though.

[DerBeppo]

83. yeah...

they're supposed to have someone sorting the line, but when it's not busy they usually put up a handmade sign. At least that's how it was at the one i worked at.

[LeftyMom]

105. He didn't have a drawer in his register.

Were you paying at a department register rather than the front lanes? I can't imagine why a cashier wouldn't have one but sometimes when I'd come in for an evening shift the morning person hadn't got our department's register a drawer, so I couldn't take cash until a manager brought me one (or I ran over to the office to get one, if my dept was empty.)

[sleipnir]

62. After the lawsuit, he'll be able to get a whole lot of $2 bills.

Mike probably just secured himself a nice lifetime supply of his favorite bills, courtesy of the people who refused to take them.

The irony is too much, I'm going to have to leave and laugh manically.

[movie_girl99]

63. I bought stamps from a post office vending machine

and used a $20 bill and i got my change in Susan B Anthony coins. Almost every time i used them i got either odd looks from folks who hadn't seen them in awhile or youngsters who had never seen them.
We give our kids $2 bills in the x-mas stockings every year. They have loads of them but maybe i should cash them in for more recognizable currency.

[Occulus]

70. we get 20 of those from the change machine at work

I work in a- surprise!- USPS plant. Our change machine dispenses them and the gold Sacagawea (sp?) dollar coins, mixed together.

Clerks like to buy them from their stores.

[fluffyslayer]

109. susan b anthonys

I received a bunch of Susan B. Anthony dollars from my dad once. When I tried to spend them at Target, the cashier looked at me and asked "Are those, like, pesos or something?" :eyes:

[CitySky]

118. Hi, fluffyslayer!

Welcome to DU! :toast:

[Solon]

68. That's ridiculous...

First its EASY to verify if such bills are counterfeit or not. Look at it in a light, see if the "USA 2" strip is there, if it is then it ain't normal paper, that much is sure. I work as an ice cream man, and the only bills I don't accept are completely foriegn(Don't know the exchange rate, Canadian and even Euros are fine by me). Hell I had I kid try to give me Honduran currency once, his dad went on a business trip there and the kid was given the bill from his dad as a souvenir, I simply said, keep the bill please, I had no clue how much it was worth in American dollars to begin with. Had another kid who had a bagful of JFK half dollars and older Eisenhower and Susan B. Anthony dollar coins that he would pay with every day for ice cream. I get handed odd bills and coinage all the time, I accept them all, knowing how to verify most, and not caring if a 2 dollar bill is fake, really, it only 2 bucks.

I get 2 dollar bills as well, believe me, its easy to collect odd coins as the ice cream man, I'm the guy everyone unloads there odd change on. No 50 dollar bills please, half the time, can't break them, and also, I don't really want customers to know how much money I actually carry on the truck. I remember a few days ago when I turned the money in at home base at the end of the day, they checked a fiver because it was in bad shape, I already verified it, it was a "new" one, but went through the washer and dryer. I told the money lady that that was what happened, she just wanted to make sure(Marked it).

[Occulus]

69. interesting story

Once not too long ago my hubby went to a gas station with a $100 bill. It was all we had in cash without going to the bank (cashed a check and got like $200 or so) and he tried to pay for $20 in gas with it.

The clerk refused, at which point he told her he was then leaving without paying. She threatened to call the police, which he invited her to do.

She did, and when the cop got there (my man requested she call the state police), he heard the story, turned to her, and said, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but he offered to pay and you refused. Since you don't have anything posted on the door or at the pump stating you don't take $100 bills, I can't arrest him, because you refused payment."

Dummy. She should have simply took his $100 bill.

[Rob H.]

77. A friend of mine tried to pay for a beer with $2 bills once

The waitress (22 years old, iirc) took one look at them, laughed and said, "Oh, come on! These aren't real!"

In fairness, though, she really isn't all that smart. (We've gotten to know her a bit since then.)

[A Simple Game]

117. I had a friend that owned a bar in the '70s

He hated the 2 dollar bills, too easy to mistake for a 5 in the dim lighting they had.

[Hardrada]

80. When I turned 50 my brother gave me 50 one dollar bills.

When he turned 50 I gave him 25 two dollar bills and he had no problem spending them!!

[Feron]

82. Any place like Best Buy should have a currency marker...

that can tell the difference between counterfeit and real money. I don't know the official name ,but when you mark the currency the mark is yellow if the bill is genuine. A simple mark would have nipped the whole thing in the bud.

[ahem]

88. The article says that they did use a currency marker and

they still called the police.

[ridgerunner]

87. Two dollar bills are not unique

"The $2 bill remains one of our circulating currency denominations. According to BEP statistics, 590,720,000 Series 1976 $2 bills were printed and as of February 28, 1999, there was $1,166,091,458 worth of $2 bills in circulation worldwide."

http://www.treas.gov/education/faq/currency/denominations.shtml#q5

It amazes me that people think they are rare. You can go to almost any bank and ask for them and they will have them.

[Deja Q]

94. I know $2 bills USED to be printed. But STILL?!

[Kingofalldems]

95. I was told years ago

that $2 bills were instituted at the behest of race track owners for their convenience, typical bet was $2. Around the turn of the century race track betting was huge in the US.

[Danmel]

102. Maybe it's a Best Buy Thing

I went into Best Buy and asked for Turbo Tax and they directed me to the video games!

[WoodrowFan]

103. Hawaiian Money

when I was in High School (1970s) we used to ask clerks if they accepted Hawaiian money. A lot of them didn't know that Hawaii was part of the US so they'd say "no"


Note: I am aware of the WWII stamped "Hawaii" bills, but I'm not refering to those. :)

[Kimber Scott]

106. I hope he gets a good lawyer. There's more than a couple bucks here. nt

[BuyingThyme]

111. If you give a 50-cent piece to a young cashier,

there's a good chance you'll get change for a dollar.

[Roland99]

119. heh...got a $2 bill from the bank yesterday...

heading to Best Buy later today. ;)