Man arrested for paying with 2$ bills.

[Neonanocyborgasm]

What would've really pissed off the store was if the guy simply refused to pay the installation cost and argued that he was told it was free. The store cannot call the police out of a debt. That was just bluffing. You cannot be arrested in the United States for failing to pay a debt. At best, you can be sued in civil court. You could call the police if someone takes an item from the store without paying, and call that robbery, but in this case, the guy could've easily produced a receipt of the purchase, so it would've been his word against the store's for the installation fee. (again, requiring a court appearance)

Believe me, I have dealt with fraudulent bills on myself many times. I usually call the source of the debt and argue that I don't owe it, and that if they keep trying to charge me, I won't pay. They usually desist after a couple of months.

 

[M37]

Well he did;nt break the law but did'nt he consider that paying with 57 $2 bills would look suspicious? Could'nt he have just paid in 20's? Reminds me of local stores that refuse to accept a 50 dolar bill becuse of fear of counterfiting. Legaly they have to accept legal money. - heck for a while th $10 bill was almost useless here in Canada with tons of stores refusing to take them. Now every bill larger than $5 is subjected to UV light.

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

But they don't, eyeri. If you took a jar of pennies in to pay for software, they could tell you to get out.

If you don't want to change certain bills, I think you have to put up a sign that says, "we don't change 100 dollar bills, or 2 dollar bills" or something like that.

But for the record, I would be quite suspicious too. Sequential order, with smeared ink? It would seem smart to check it out.

What irks me, is that they told him the installation was free, and then called him saying they would call the cops if he didn't pay for the installation.

 

[amadeus]

That would irk me too, but I'd go to the store and talk to the manager.

This guy, instead of doing that (and saving himself over $100) tries to do some juvenile stunt to "protest" something, which we don't even know what he's talking about.

Really, what is he protesting? He's protesting a mix-up at a store? What good would that do? You can't do everything right all of the time.

As for the signs, it's suggested that you put one up, but you don't have to.

 

[Yom]

As for the signs, it's suggested that you put one up, but you don't have to.

Where did you see this?

 

[amadeus]

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

However, even in cases where legal tender has been agreed to as a form of payment, private businesses are still free to specify which forms of legal tender they will accept.

And later in the paragraph:

(but, as mentioned earlier, they should specify their payment policies before entering into transactions with buyers)

 

[Yom]

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

However, even in cases where legal tender has been agreed to as a form of payment, private businesses are still free to specify which forms of legal tender they will accept.

And later in the paragraph:

(but, as mentioned earlier, they should specify their payment policies before entering into transactions with buyers)

I saw that earlier, but it's pretty flimsy proof. I don't have time to search for the actual law right now, but I would appreciate it if someone found it out.

 

[Stegyre]

Eyrei and others along the same line: If you work the register in a New Jersey convenience store/ market for about a week, you would have a completely different opinion. Large bills and rare currency are harder to deal with. Large bills take away all the registers change. Rare currency is practically useless as many people do not want them in change.

I was under the impression that convenience stores and gas stations refused large bills for security reasons: "Do you have change for $100?" "Yes." "Great, I'll just take it all."
Life ain't easy being the criminal element's ATM.

@Yom: bless you, for finding and posting links.

 

[Stile]

Why does everyone keep remarking that sequential bills are suspicious? That's how the treasury department prints them and how banks and ATM's usually hand them out. There's nothing unusual about sequential bills. Identical numbers? Sure, then I start paying attention. I would think someone with a wad of new currency that wasn't sequential would be suspicious. I think the police said that to defend irrational actions, and everyone who brought it up in this thread was duped by it.

 

[Zarn]

I was under the impression that convenience stores and gas stations refused large bills for security reasons: "Do you have change for $100?" "Yes." "Great, I'll just take it all."
Life ain't easy being the criminal element's ATM.

@Yom: bless you, for finding and posting links.

There is a security reason as well. I remember having to drop all bills 20 or greater. You also are not suppose to keep 50 cent pieces and 2 dollar bills in your drawer.

Of course, everyone insists on giving you a 20.

 

[Moss]

Rm...what's wrong with paying for gas with a hundred dollar bill?

I've done it many times before, many people do it, in fact.

 

[IglooDame]

Rm...what's wrong with paying for gas with a hundred dollar bill?

I've done it many times before, many people do it, in fact.

Well now that it costs $95 to fill your tank, it's a different thing entirely.

 

[Moss]

Well...if you drive a suburban or SUV that has a 40 gallon gas tank....

Even now that I have a car, I still fill it up and have paid with 50's every now and then. A lot of times I do it because I have no other form of money and need the change.

 

[IglooDame]

Why does everyone keep remarking that sequential bills are suspicious? That's how the treasury department prints them and how banks and ATM's usually hand them out. There's nothing unusual about sequential bills. Identical numbers? Sure, then I start paying attention. I would think someone with a wad of new currency that wasn't sequential would be suspicious. I think the police said that to defend irrational actions, and everyone who brought it up in this thread was duped by it.

If someone is going to go to the trouble to counterfeit $2 and have them be good counterfeits (and changing the serial number would qualify), then how stupid would they have to be to raise attention about their giving fifty of them to a cashier, even more so for an installation into a car for which there is probably a record of the car make/model/owner and probably license plate?

I just don't get it - great counterfeits distributed by the biggest moron in town? Occam's Razor says emphatically that the man is just a dork, not a criminal.

 

[Goober]

Sounds kinda silly to me. A grand waste of everybody's time over some bloody money. That's why everybody should use plastic.

Gosh, I remember when us Canadians had $2 Bills . . . all those years back . . . now we have coins instead.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

The fact is he broke no laws so he shouldn't have been detained. The fact that he used legit currency kind of overides the excuse that his payment was suspicious. If they were wrong they should have to compensate him.

 

[Syterion]

Who would counterfeit $2 bills? They don't even print them anymore.

As for the smearing, I'm surprised no one know that real bills smear (EDIT: Jawz II beat me). The sequentiality and 57 is wierd.

 

[Yom]

Who would counterfeit $2 bills? They don't even print them anymore.

As for the smearing, I'm surprised no one know that real bills smear (EDIT: Jawz II beat me). The sequentiality and 57 is wierd.

Well, why would he use more or less? It only cost $114.

 

[Syterion]

I meant happening to have such a high number of such a rare bill.

 

[CIVPhilzilla]

Poor guy. I also have a lot of these bills, my one paper route customers pays with them all the time.

"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."

Technically, couldn't he have gotten out of paying legally. If someone refuses to accept legal tender bills as payment, they forfit any type of payment.