Using a $2 bill can put you in jail.....

[Bob Hubbard]

From the "Moron Dept"

"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."

Links:
http://web.morons.org/article.jsp?sectionid=8&id=6131
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/08/2213237&tid=98&tid=123&tid=103




This reminds me of a story I heard a while back where some guy tried to pay for his tacos with $2 bills, the clerk called the cops and the cops had to let the clerk know he wasn't too swift.

 

[Satt]

That is so awesome!!! I have a stack of those. I should try to spend a few and see what happens.

%-}

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I have fun with the dollar coins. I tried paying for food at a McD once with em... the pimple popper behind the counter told me they didn't take Canadian. I said "Thats nice, but I paid in US$". Kid insisted it must be Canadia because the US "never made dollar coins"
Manager was called, kid insisted I was trying to rip em off by passing Canadian money as US.
I asked the kid why would Canada print United States on their loonies?
Manager asked the kid for the money, looked at it, showed it to the kid and asked "Cant you read?"
Meal was free.

Best part.... I worked there at the time. I brought in a batch, traded them around and a whole shift paid for their food in Susan B and Saq dollar coins. Poor kid, took alot of ribbing over it.

 

[Satt]

Oh my God. That is classic!!! I love the dollar coins. I just hate how they haven't really cought on at all. Nobody seems to use them. I just wanna fill a room with them and swim around like Scrouge Mcduck did back on that cartoon Ducktales. LOL.

 

[Seig]

Reminds me of a story I saw on 60 minutes when I was a kid. A farmer got a tax bill from the IRS he thought was unfair. I forget the details, this was almost 30 years ago. He showed up to pay his bill with 5 wheel barrel loads of pennies to pay his bill.....

 

[Dr. Kenpo]

Reminds me of a story I saw on 60 minutes when I was a kid. A farmer got a tax bill from the IRS he thought was unfair. I forget the details, this was almost 30 years ago. He showed up to pay his bill with 5 wheel barrel loads of pennies to pay his bill.....

That works in Arizona.

 

[michaeledward]

I'm pretty sure all U.S. Paper money states it is 'Legal Tender for all debts, Public and Private' and backed by the U.S. Treasury. It's amazing how few people who collect money for a living realize what that statement means.


But, This is Best Buy ... where they hire some of the most lame brained people on the planet.

A couple of years ago, we were ready to part with about $1,500.00 for a television. The sales kid told us that we really, really, really should buy an extended warranty, because they don't make TV's the way the used to, and this new Sony TV was sure to break down at some point in the next 5 years.

The poor kid did not realize, even after I pointed it out to him a couple of times, that spending 15 hundred bucks on something that is going to break down is something no reasonable person would do.

We left the store with our cash. And told the manager on the way out the door. I will never again spend a penny at that idiotic store.

Mike

 

[arnisador]

I give the dollar coins to my kids. It's too much effort to spend them--they're worth much less than $1 to me.

 

[Ping898]

I love using the dollar coins for tolls that don't take EZ Pass, confuses the toll booth operators, specially when the toll is only a $1, like the NH toll, and you hand them one and begin to drive off. The look of bewilderment on their face for a second is very amusing.

 

[Dronak]

Sheesh. Maybe people who work in cashier-type positions should be better informed as to what money is legal. The $2 bills are legal and AFAIK they're still printed, too. They're just not in common circulation. I think you normally need to request them from a bank if you want them. I have a couple saved, not in great condition or anything like that, they're just to have. I don't have a problem with $2 bills though and would probably use them if I had them. I just don't feel like specifically going to the bank and requesting them. They should just push them into normal ciruclation. (Just kidding, I know that might not go over well).

The $1 coins I never liked. I carry my money in a wallet in my pants. Coins are heavier and bulkier than bills. I don't want $1 coins when I can have $1 bills. In undergrad, the subway machines would give dollar coins in change -- I'd always go to a teller in the station and ask for bills in exchange. My parents said the only way they could get dollar coins to work would be to pull all the dollar bills and force people to use the coins. *shrug*

 

[Flatlander]

I have an American $2 bill in my collection - I would never dream of spending it.

In Canada, we have $1 and $2 coins, and they were considering minting a $5 coin as well. I don't mind the coins, I wouldn't mind a 5er either. I rarely use cash as it is, so for me it really isn't that much of an inconvenience.

I also have a story to relate. When I used to manage the pizzaria, one of my drivers who was an immigrant from Europe called me up from a delivery once, relating that the customer wanted to pay with a $100 bill, but that he'd never seen one like this and wasn't sure if he should accept it, as there are constantly alerts out for counterfeit $50's and $100's. Well, I asked him what year was printed on the bill and he told me 1954. I told him to take the bill, and that I would purchase it from him when he returned.

It now resides in my collection as the centerpiece. Had it been one particular issue of 1954, it could have possibly been worth more than $1500. Unfortunately, it wasn't, but its still neat to have, because they're still not often seen. Good story, eh?

 

[Cryozombie]

Yeah, its much like the "Silver Certificates" we occasionally used to see when i worked retail... they are rare and dont look QUITE right.

 

[Tgace]

I dunno...you'd have to be a pretty big bumb *** to counterfiet $2 bills and an even bigger one to try and pass 57 fake bills at the same time.

 

[arnisador]

"Silver Certificates"

What are these?

 

[michaeledward]

I dunno...you'd have to be a pretty big bumb *** to counterfiet $2 bills and an even bigger one to try and pass 57 fake bills at the same time.

CNN dot com had a story about a 6th grader making phony $1.00 bills to pass in the school cafeteria. I don't think he realized the feds would be after him.

I got a chuckle from the story.

 

[Tgace]

Big scam I find in my area is fake Canadian $20's. We are close enough to the border for Canadian money to be a common occurance. But most people have little knowledge of the bill and its security features, so its easy to sneak past.

 

[Cryozombie]

What are these?

Never seen one? Its like a Dollar that you can, in theory, trade into the Government for a dollar in silver...

here... check this:

http://ingrimayne.saintjoe.edu/econ/Banking/Silver.html

 

[BrandiJo]

i used to work retail, and at my store it was the cashier who got chewed when they actuly did take a counterfit bill and not relise it, so i can almost understand the guy checking up, but two dollar bills thats just stupid! but it went a bit to far...do people really not have brains anymore?

 

[Lisa]

I have an American $2 bill in my collection - I would never dream of spending it.

In Canada, we have $1 and $2 coins, and they were considering minting a $5 coin as well. I don't mind the coins, I wouldn't mind a 5er either. I rarely use cash as it is, so for me it really isn't that much of an inconvenience.

I also have a story to relate. When I used to manage the pizzaria, one of my drivers who was an immigrant from Europe called me up from a delivery once, relating that the customer wanted to pay with a $100 bill, but that he'd never seen one like this and wasn't sure if he should accept it, as there are constantly alerts out for counterfeit $50's and $100's. Well, I asked him what year was printed on the bill and he told me 1954. I told him to take the bill, and that I would purchase it from him when he returned.

It now resides in my collection as the centerpiece. Had it been one particular issue of 1954, it could have possibly been worth more than $1500. Unfortunately, it wasn't, but its still neat to have, because they're still not often seen. Good story, eh?

Cool story, Dan.

Where I work we recieve donations and every once in a while someone will send cash through the mail, especially the seniors. The other day we received an old $20 bill that was in pristine condition. (sp?) It looked like it had never been used. My boss told me that lots of the older folk still literally hid money in their mattresses etc. because they do not trust the banks because of what happened during the depression. I bought the $20 for myself.

I am really bad for throwing all my change in the bottom of my purse and about once a week if I scoop it out I sometimes realise I have $20 or $30 that I never knew was there! LOL! It is like a pleasant surprise, especially a day or two before payday, so I am rather fond of our $1 and $2 coins.

 

[arnisador]

http://ingrimayne.saintjoe.edu/econ/Banking/Silver.html

Neat! I've never heard of this!