Best Buy Has Man Arrested for Using $2 Bills 2088
An anonymous reader writes "Mike Bolesta of Baltimore thought he would protest Best Buy's not-so-great customer service and pay his bill with 57 $2 bills. For his trouble he got to spend some time in the county lock-up." From the article: "..Bolesta was contacted by the store, and was threated with police action if he did not pay the [installation] fee he was told before did not exist. As a sign of protest, Bolesta decided to pay using only $2 bills, which he has an abundance of because he asks his bank for them specifically. Unfortunately for him, the cashier did not seem to understand that the $2 bill is indeed legal US tender, since the bill itself is not often used. After rudely refusing to take the money, the cashier accepted the bills, only to mark them as though they were conterfeit."
It happens a lot (Score:5, Funny)
in a long long time. Same thing with all those $1 coins. However,
people tend to accept strange coin amounts a lot easier then paper
money amounts.
It happens more then you might think. For a funny story about trying
to use a $2 bill at Taco Bell, check this out:
http://www.digiserve.com/eescape/closet/silly/2
However, I see it on the web attributed to at least 3 different
authors, so I doubt it really happened.
It finally happened (Score:5, Funny)
What's next?
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Okay... (Score:2, Funny)
_
Re:9/11? WTF? (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe he installed the radio to listen to terrorist broadcasts.
Maybe he was laundering money for the terrorists.
Maybe he was just distracting the area law enforcement so that a greater scheme could be employed without hinderence.
You just never know, and everyone is a suspect.
Remember, If you spend your two dollar bills, Al-Queda wins.
Laughable, if it wasn't the mindset of the person who spoke it.
Insult to Injury (Score:5, Funny)
Good thing... (Score:5, Funny)
The poor bastard may have been sent to Death Row!
You think that's bad.... (Score:5, Funny)
They don't call the cops, they just beat the crap out of you. Then they trash your car.
Not that I know from, er, personal experience.
So... when's MY turn ? (Score:5, Funny)
Why? Mostly, for the expression I get from the counter staff:
"Two dollar bills? Cool! Oh... damn, where do I put them in the till?"
Sometimes they go into the clerk's pocket, after being replaced with more 'common' bills
bestbuy (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Outrageously exceeding authority (Score:3, Funny)
It's bad enough he was arrested and imprisoned for using legal tender...but locked up in Cockeysville? That, my fellow posters, is torture.
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
You know, that a Best Buy would have such an ignorant cashier (who now claims the bills were "smudged" and so "appeared to be counterfeit") does not surprise me in the least. It happens. Lots of people are stupid.
You should try paying in Susan B. Anthony dollars someplace. Even though coins are struck with "One dollar" right on the face, some people insist that they are quarters. Very annoying.
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:9/11? WTF? (Score:3, Funny)
Not quite arrested, but close (Score:5, Funny)
The first round of fun comes when the teller gives me the money- usually tellers count money very fast, but when they get to the $2 bills, they slow down significanty (it's funny to me, at least). Next comes when you try to spend them at Wal-Mart. Here are my favorite examples:
1) The cashier asks me to pay with "regular" money, as she somehow didn't realize $2 bills are legal tender.
2) Another cashier asks me if they are fake. When I tell her no, they are in fact real, she questions me again, and turns on her blinky-light to signal the manager to come over. The manager tells her they can accept them, but asks me not to use them next time. The manager leaves, and the cashier is confused as to where they put the bills, as there is no slot for them. She puts them with the $20s, instead of under the drawer like she should (probably because they both had "2"s on them).
3) Yet another cashier questions their validity about a week later. He says there are no slots for 2s in the drawer, so he can't take them. I tell him there are no slots for 50s and 100s either, which for some reason upsets him. There goes the blinky light, and over comes the manager. She recognizes me from last week, and asks why I continue to "make trouble." I tell her that $2 bills are legal tender, blah blah blah, yet she insists that I only do it to cause problems (well, she kinda has a point there... but I like $2 bills because they are prime, like $5 dollar bills). Basically, she told me I was not welcome to shop there if I continued to try to use $2 bills there. I called the Wal-Mart customer service number, left a complaint, and suprisingly, was rewarded with a $20 gift card. I later received a letter stating that the manager has been contacted, and there is no reason whatsoever that I shouldn't be allowed to spend $2 bills there. So now, every time I go, I make sure I use at least one of them.
Re:the cashier may have been stupid... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:the cashier may have been stupid... (Score:3, Funny)
I don't care what they do on their own time, but in public?
Think of the children....
Look (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Wrong (Score:5, Funny)
But I notice you don't deny giving Canadian quarters in change...
Re:9/11? WTF? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Impressions (Score:1, Funny)
Sweet, I got in terrorism, Tom Delay, morons, low paid employees, and Terri Schiavo in one post. Tell me what I win Johnny!
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:2, Funny)
Isn't a 'Looney' worth US$.50 ?...
= ; ^ ) >
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
A sidebar on coins and currency. When I was a kid, you saw a lot of denominations you no longer see, even though they're still officially in circulation. I believe this is mainly due to the domination of retail by big chains, which don't like to deal with more denominations than will fit easily in a standard cash register. (If you run one cash register, dealing with fifty-cent pieces is a small nuisance. If you run millions of them, dealing with fifty-cent pieces subtracts big bucks from your bottom line.) So they put the "odd" denominations in the bank, and never give them out as change. That's why dollar coins will never catch on, unless and until Congress makes room for them by withdrawing dollar bills.
2-cent, 3-cent and 20-cent coins (Score:5, Funny)
What's the least number of coins needed to make 45 cents? My answer was 2, a quarter and a 20-cent piece. She thought I was just being my normal sarcastic self, until I brought the coin in the next day.
That was pretty fun. We didn't make 'em for long (1875-1878), but we made 'em.
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:the cashier may have been stupid... (Score:3, Funny)
Shouldn't a government employee know of such dominations?
I'm not sure his sex life has much to do with this.
Re:It finally happened (Score:5, Funny)
That's why you see all those signs about not accepting bills over $50, etc... Without the sign, they can't use the denomination as an excuse not to take the money.
At least, that's what the cops concluded when a friend of mine called them from a towing yard after they refused to take $181 in loose pennies as payment to get his car out. After calling it in, the cop basically told the towing guy that since he didn't have a sign, if he didn't take the pennies my friend would own the place after sueing.
Of course, the whole time he whined about being stuck in the office counting pennies instead of being able to make more money by towing more cars.
Since he had towed my friend's car for double-parking in a private parking spot that he had permission to park in, while leaving two cars right next door parked in a red zone (which is actually why he had been called out), we felt really bad for the tow truck guy....
Re:the cashier may have been stupid... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:50 Cent with the Northern Touch (Score:5, Funny)
They seem to be slightly less rare than your $1.00 and $2.00 bills, but i've seen them.
I know I get hassled when I use $1.00/$2.00 Canadian bills in Canada.
Clerk "Where did you get these"
Me "Expo 87"
Clerk "But they say 86 on them"
Me "I imagine they were printed before Expo 87"
Clerk "Why do you have so many"
Me "Well, we can't spend your currency in america, I went with my class and I collected the left over currency from all my classmates, today I bring it back".
[a short time passes as they consult their book to see if it even looks like legal tender]
Clerk "Where do you expect me to put this?"
Me "Under the drawer where you keep your larger bills".
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You think that's bad.... (Score:5, Funny)
It wasn't the $2 bill they objected to - it was the way you kept trying to take a dollar change each time. ;-)
A Foreigner? (Score:3, Funny)
I'm suprised at the trouble with $2 bills when I.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:It finally happened (Score:4, Funny)
Obviously, he's a citizen from the enlightened country of New Mexico!
Re:Not quite arrested, but close (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Not quite arrested, but close (Score:5, Funny)
I also do something like this. a local gas station has signs everywher that they do not accept $50.00 and $100 dollar bills.
Guess what. when I goto fill the RV I use them exclusively. The change I get back is usually 5-6 bucks. so it is not inconviencing them. I forced them to call the cops 3 times in 2 years as in Michigan refusing legal tender payment marks a debt paid in full, so that gas I paid is free if they refuse my money.
every time the cop shows up, after a few minutes of them trying to convince me to pay with something else, they take my large bills, I say thank you and "see you all next week/month!"...
Guess what, the signs stating they do not accept 50's and 100's is gone... I guess I ned to find another gas station to torment.
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
They both _deffinately_ feel like they're worth something.
Sure, they feel like they are worth something, but the truth is that they are only worth one or two Canadian dollars.
(I keed, I keed!)
Count me as one of the people who thought there was nothing wrong with the "Ike" silver dollar.
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
Send A Fruit Basket (Score:3, Funny)
The winnings from the court case against them will provide him with an early retirement
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Broke the Law? (Score:1, Funny)
Knew of a guy who'd do a similar thing. (Score:3, Funny)
He'd buy bunches of new two-dollar notes to get fresh ones with consecutive serial numbers. Then he'd take a piece of cardboard the same size as a bill, put a stack of bills on it, and stick one edge together with "padding compound" - the kind of glue used to stick together notepads (and stacks of food stamps).
He'd go out to a restaurant or what have you and, after the meal, would whip out the pad of fresh bills and ask "Do you take Federal Reserve Notes?".
Of course the typical response would be "Is that money?". To this he'd reply "No, but the government says you HAVE to take it."
(What he was alluding to was that, since the switch from Silver Certificates to Federal Reserve Notes, US currency is now unbacked. It is no longer "money" - actual precious metal or a certificate redemable for some - but now "fiat currency" - a promise by the government to use force to make people accept it for payment of debts as if it actually WAS money.)
(As I understand the federal law, if you have a debt and offer Fed notes for payment, if they refuse to take them as payment, your debt is paid AND you get to keep the notes - and you can enforce this in federal court, even if a state court then tries to make you pay again, pay with something else, or sieze your property to pay the debt. {There is a limit, however, on how big a debt you can pay with coins - so don't bring in a barrel of pennies.} But IANAL so don't take that as gospel.)
Re:9/11? WTF? (Score:3, Funny)
... Dear lord, what have we done....
Quick, everyone overuse it now so it goes away like the Korea one. Start calling it "old meme." This is not a drill, people.
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:9/11? WTF? (Score:3, Funny)
Developer: Sorry, but in this post 9/11 world, WinFS and Avalon just don't seem like that high a priority.
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
Greatest part about two doller bills: (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
I think I'm going the exact opposite way. I don't buy much at Best Buy anyway but next time I do, I'm stopping by my bank and getting a bunch of $2 bills to do it with.
Have you heard? (Score:0, Funny)
< )
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8====D
http://smoke.rotten.com/bird/
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
Am I the only one who expected to see that followed by "walk into a bar"?
Re:Have you heard? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
i got you all beat (Score:2, Funny)
still working on it (Score:3, Funny)
Re:You think that's bad.... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:4, Funny)
Wait a second, we're missing an important point here:
You go to a bar where you can buy a beer for a buck? Where is this little slice of heaven?
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
"You've made a small mistake," I said - I swear, that's verbatim what I said, and the verbatim reply I got was
"NO. I don't make mistakes."
Being, in some situations, a slow learner, I repeated my assertion; "No, really, there's been a little mistake made." (Note the regression into passive speech - I was really, really trying to avoid assigning blame here.)
Nope. About six degrees Kelvin comes the reply, "I told you, I don't make mistakes."
"Fine," I replied, walking away, "at the end of the day, when you're adding up, remember that the mistake you didn't make was a $30 mistake."
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:2, Funny)
Copyright 1993 Captain Sarcastic (kkoller@nox.cs.du.edu)
On my way home from the second job I've taken for the extra holiday cash I need, I stopped at Taco Bell for a quick bite to eat. In my billfold is a $50 bill and a $2 bill. That is all of the cash I have on my person. I figure that with a $2 bill, I can get something to eat and not have to worry about people getting pissed at me.
At this point I open my billfold and hand him the $2 bill. He looks at it kind of funny and says,
He goes to talk to his manager, who is still within earshot. The following conversation occurs between the two of them.
He comes back to me and says,
He goes back to his manager who is watching me like I'm going to shoplift, and
The manager approaches me and says,
At this point he backs away from me and calls mall security on the phone around the corner. I have two people staring at me from the dining area, and I begin laughing out loud, just for effect.
A few minutes later, this 45-year-oldish guy comes in and says at the other end of counter, in a whisper:
Security guard walks over to me and says
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
"That's the Ambassador from Mali, ma'am."
"What country is that?"
"Well, it's...Mali, ma'am."
"Well, where the hell is that?"
Whereupon the cop remembered urgent business elsewhere. I leaned over and said "It's on the Canadian border between Vermont and Manitoba. We depend on them for ball bearings."
She went away obviously satisfied.
rj
Re:9/11?! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:3, Funny)
ObBushBash: Or they could put Dubya on it and call it a "loonie".
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:4, Funny)
Wow, and whoever said there's never a cop around when you need one?
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:4, Funny)
Homer: "When you've got a bum ticker like we do, you need all the friends you can get. And Moe's is the friendliest place in the Rum District."
Homer opens the door. Moe is pointing a shotgun across the bar at the guy with the hunting cap.
Moe: "Get out and take your Sacajawea dollars witch ya. I'll give you till three" (he cocks the shotgun as the guy starts to run). "One." (he pulls the trigger).
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:3, Funny)
But seriously, why are you going to GRCC instead of GVSU? The only valid excuse would be culinary arts...
(yes I can take the karma hit)
Re:You think that's bad.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Not quite arrested, but close (Score:3, Funny)
I called the Wal-Mart customer service number, left a complaint, and suprisingly, was rewarded with a $20 gift card.
>>>
Did you try to exchange it for ten $2 gift cards?
*sigh* (Score:3, Funny)
Jesus, I should be posting as AC.
Please don't mod me up!
And no smartass comments about how my sig is ironic.
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:9/11? WTF? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:2, Funny)
Only our chicks are much hotter.
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:3, Funny)
God forbid you ask her out...
Old joke. (Score:1, Funny)
Two underworld figures meet on the street. One of them looks exceptionally wealthy, good clothes, nice watch, the show. The other asks: "How do you do that ?"
The first one tells him: I print money.
But that's illegal !
Well, I print 18 guilder notes.
What can you do with 18 guilder notes ?
Well, change them for something else - try it, you'll agree.
Second person goes off with some 18 guilder notes and enters the first store he comes across.
"I want to change some money" - and shows the 18 guilder note.
Cashier: That's OK - do you want 2 of 9 or 3 of 6 ?
The Woz and $2 bills (Score:2, Funny)
About 3 years ago I took my daughter, Sara, to Las Vegas for a gymnastics regional that she was in. During the lengthy warmups my wife and I walked down to the Hard Rock Casino and played slot machines. While generously feeding these machines I tipped the waitress a couple of $2 bills. Waitresses in casinos and other places often exclaim at how much they like getting these and how their kids love them. I have tons of $2 bill stories that will make a whole chapter in my book someday. My $2 bills are real and legit but unusual.
A short while later a casino security manager sat down next to me. He was very quiet and showed no emotion about anything. He was 30-ish and acted like a dedicated security man who knew everything about every type of cash situation ever. This man asked me where I'd gotten the bills and I started a little BS about buying them from a guy that hawked basketball tickets. I sometimes say this to peak the interest in people that wonder if these bills are real or not. I said that I thought the bills were good and acted like I didn't know what was going on, just enough to seem evasive. This man told me that they had tested the bills with their testing pen and that the bills were good.
Then he calmly said that they don't make them like this. I sat for a long time silent and he repeated his statement. I said "you mean, on sheets?" These two $2 bills were attached to each other and perforated. You can purchase $1, $2, and now $5 bills from the Bureau of Printing and Engraving on sheets. The sheets come in sizes of 4, 16, and 32 bills each. I buy such sheets of $2 bills. I carry large sheets, folded in my pocket, and sometimes pull out scissors and cut a few off to pay for something in a store. It's just for comedy, as the $2 bills cost nearly $3 each when purchased on sheets. They cost even more at coin stores.
I take the sheets of 4 bills and have a printer, located through friends, gum them into pads, like stationery pads. The printer then perforates them between the bills, so that I can tear a bill or two away. The bills that I'd tipped the waitress came from such a pad.
Well, the casino security guy kept rubbing the perforation between the two bills but he still showed no emotion at all. He was strictly professional. When he said that they don't make bills like this I asked "They don't?" as though I thought it was quite normal to have sheets. My answer was also so emotionless as to confuse him about me, and to make me seem even more evasive. This, again, I do for a comedic effect. The gentleman then said "they don't make them with perforations." I again asked "they don't"", acting a little like maybe I got ripped off by the person that sold them to me. The security guy kept rubbing the perforation slowly.
Every currency bill has to have a different serial number. We all know that. But for the bills on a sheet, the serial number ends with the last digits the same, and the starting digits the same. It's harder to detect that an inner digit is changing when you look at the serial numbers on a sheet of bills.
So I next said to the casino security guy "you'd think that the serial numbers would be sequential." I normally say "the serial numbers are all the same" but I knew that he'd catch this falsehood more quickly than most people that I use it on. I also sensed a serious tone, based on his attitude, and didn't want to lie outright. Well, this emotionless guy looked slowly down at the two bills and his jaw jerked open. Even his head stayed still and no other signs of emotion showed, but his jaw jerked. I'm sure that he thought for an instant that he had captured Al Capone, counterfeiting $2 bills.
He remained motionless and expressionless for a few seconds and obviously must have discovered that the serial numbers changed in the middle. He calmly raised his head and acted as though nothing had happened, a
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:1, Funny)
Sounds more like medieval Iceland...
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... (Score:1, Funny)
If it was Taco Bell, perhaps they weren't smearing 'stuff' at all. Perhaps the stuff was actually exploding all over the bathroom!
Re:Your Signature (Score:3, Funny)
This post was brought to you by Ken Burns - and viewers like you.