Man Arrested for Paying in $2 Bills

[Kire]

He has lots and lots of them.

With his Capital City Student Tours, he arranges class trips for school kids around the country traveling to large East Coast cities, including Baltimore. He's been doing this for the last 18 years. He makes all the arrangements: hotels, meals, entertainment. And it's part of his schtick that, when Bolesta hands out meal money to students, he does it in $2 bills, which he picks up from his regular bank, Sun Trust.

"The kids don't see that many $2 bills, so they think this is the greatest thing in the world," Bolesta says. "They don't want to spend 'em. They want to save 'em. I've been doing this since I started the company. So I'm thinking, 'I'll stage my little comic protest. I'll pay the $114 with $2 bills.'"

At Best Buy, they may have perceived the protest -- but did not sense the comic aspect of 57 $2 bills.

"I'm just here to pay the bill," Bolesta says he told a cashier. "She looked at the $2 bills and told me, 'I don't have to take these if I don't want to.' I said, 'If you don't, I'm leaving. I've tried to pay my bill twice. You don't want these bills, you can sue me.' So she took the money. Like she's doing me a favor."

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

1. usa money os not worth anything n/m

[RawMaterials]

2. its just paper n/m

[Sydnie]

3. Not registerd there but you can't leave me hanging - why

did he get arrested? Last time I checked, $2 were still legal tender. What was their problem with taking them? They do thousands of dollars of business in a day. They could just slip them into their deposit for the day and be done with it. Please tell me why he got arrested. What were the charges?

edit - spelling

[DoctorMyEyes]

4. Use bugmenot

When you want to see something without going thru registering go the bugmenot.com to get a username and password.

This story is WELL worth the trip!

I cannot believe this poor man went through this. Even more I cannot believe that a Baltimore County Police spokesman would try to justify this by invoking 911! Is everyone batshit?

I'm a cashier and I have a space on my till sheet that I have to put a line through when counting out to signify that I have NO $2 bills! In the last year I've received SEVEN two dollar bills - total - and from one customer, at once (I wonder if it was Mr. Bolesta?). But, I know they're legal freakin' tender - and I have to account for them every day - whether I have them or not!

[Sydnie]

8. Thanks for the link

I am amazed that they were so ignorant that they called the police and did this to this man. I hope he can get a nice little settlement from them. I think we all should only spend $2 bills at Best Buy from now on.

[Kire]

6. go to bugmenot for a password

http://www.bugmenot.com

For the record, the Secret Service inspected the bills and the charges were dropped.

[Sydnie]

7. Thanks for the link

I hope he sues Best Buy for false arrest for detaining him, embrassing him and for being so stupid.

I have several $2 bills. I just might have to do this next time I go there!

[Kire]

11. Right?

I suppose you can get as many as you want from the bank if you ask them special. They might look at you funny, but a special order is not an unreasonable request if they don't have any on hand. No?

[lenidog]

9. Yes two dollar bills are still legal tender

actually a couple months ago I read an article stating that the mint was going to print some more since their stockpile had gone down. If its legal tender of the US then they have to accept it.

[DBoon]

5. Americans descend to a new level of stupidity

unable to recognize their own currency

[renoray]

10. Can you pick out all the versions of our currency?

I doubt I could tell the difference between a fake $20 and the various versions of the $20 we have now, much less remember what a $2 looks like. I should probably focus my currency recognizing abilities on figuring out what Euros look like, since they'll wind up being the only currency worth anything.