The $2.00 Bill

[kyreb1862]

Everyone should start carrying $2 bills!

I am STILL laughing!! I think we need to quit saving our $2 bills and bring them out
in public. The younger generation doesn't even know they exist.

On my way home from work, I stopped at Taco Bell for a quick bite to eat. In my
billfold are a $50 bill and a $2 bill.
I figure that with a $2 bill, I can get something to eat and not have to worry about
anyone getting irritated at me for trying to break a $50 bill.

Me: 'Hi, I'd like one seven-layer burrito please, to go.'

Server: 'That'll be $1.04. Eat in?'

Me: 'No, it's to go.' At this point, I open my billfold and hand him the $2
bill. He looks at it kind of funny.

Server: 'Uh, hang on a sec, I'll be right back.'

He goes to talk to his manager, who is still within my earshot. The
following conversation occurs between the two of them:

Server: 'Hey, you ever see a $2 bill?'

Manager: 'No. A what?'

Server: 'A $2 bill. This guy just gave it to me.'

Manager: 'Ask for something else There's no such thing as a $2 bill.'

Server: 'Yeah, thought so.' He comes back to me and says, 'We don't take
these. Do you have anything else?'

Me: 'Just this fifty. You don't take $2 bills? Why?'

Server: 'I don't know.'

Me: 'See here where it says legal tender?'

Server: 'Yeah.'

Me: 'So, why won't you take it?'

Server: 'Well, hang on a sec.'

He goes back to his manager, who has been watching me like I'm a shoplifter, and
says to him, 'He says I have to take it.'

Manager: 'Doesn't he have anything else?'

Server: 'Yeah, a fifty. I'll get it and you can open the safe and get change.

Manager: 'I'm not opening the safe with him in here.'

Server: 'What should I do?'

Manager: 'Tell him to come back later when he has real money.'

Server: 'I can't tell him that! You tell him.'

Manager: 'Just tell him.'

Server: 'No way! This is weird. I'm going in back.

The manager approaches me and says, 'I'm sorry, but we don't take big bills
this time of night.'

Me: 'It's only seven o'clock! Well then, here's a two dollar bill'

Manager: 'We don't take those, either.'

Me: 'Why not?'

Manager: 'I think you know why.'

Me: 'No really, tell me why.'

Manager: 'Please leave before I call mall security.'

Me: 'Excuse me?'

Manager: 'Please leave before I call mall security.'

Me: 'What on earth for?'

Manager: 'Please, sir.'

Me: 'Uh, go ahead, call them.'

Manager: 'Would you please just leave?'

Me: 'No.'

Manager: 'Fine -- have it your way then.'

Me: 'Hey, that's Burger King, isn't it?'

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.

Guard: 'Yeah, Mike, what's up?'

Manager (whispering): 'This guy is trying to give me some (pause) funny
money.'

Guard: 'No kidding! What?'

Manager: 'Get this. A two dollar bill.'

Guard (incredulous): 'Why would a guy fake a two dollar bill?'

Manager: 'I don't know. He's kinda weird. He says the only other thing he
has is a fifty.'

Guard: 'Oh, so the fifty's fake!'

Manager: 'No, the two dollar bill is.'

Guard: 'Why would he fake a two dollar bill?'

Manager: 'I don't know! Can you talk to him, and get him out of here?'

Guard: 'Yeah.'

Security Guard walks over to me and......

Guard: 'Mike here tells me you have some fake bills you're trying to use.'

Me: 'Uh, no.'

Guard: 'Lemme see 'em.'

Me: 'Why?'

Guard: 'Do you want me to get the cops in here?'

At this point I am ready to say, 'Sure, please!' but I want to eat, so I
say, 'I'm just trying to buy a burrito and pay for it with this two dollar
bill. I put the bill up near his face and he flinches like I 'm taking a
swing at him. He takes the bill, turns it over a few times in his hands,
and he says, 'Hey, Mike, what's wrong with this bill?'

Manager: 'It's fake.'

Guard: 'It doesn't look fake to me.'

Manager: 'But it's a two dollar bill.'

Guard: 'Yeah? '

Manager: 'Well, there's no such thing, is there?'

The security guard and I both look at him like he's an idiot, and it dawns
on the guy that he has no clue.

So, it turns out that my burrito was free, and he threw in a small drink and
some of those cinnamon thingies, too. Made me want to get a whole stack of
two dollar bills just to see what happens when I try to buy stuff. If I got
the right group of people, I could probably end up in jail. You get free
food there, too.

Just think...those two will be voting soon..

 

[tony barnhill]

hehehehe...I put a $2-bill in the ash tray of every car I own to keep people from using them...got a stack in my safe also....have a friend who takes them on trips out of the country to use as tips for cabbies, baggage handlers, etc.

 

[waltesefalcon]

I have a big ole stack of them, probably close to a hundred bucks worth. Maybe I ought to start using them instead of saving them; might be fun.

 

[longbridgehealey]

When my son and daughter were around 10 and 12 they went to visit some old family friends for a week. I gave them each $50.00 in spending money, in two dollar bills. They came back with all of it, because they didn't want to spend it - they thought it was too rare...

 

[JamesWilson]

I wonder... I've been out of the country soooo long.

Do they still have dollar coins?

 

[waltesefalcon]

We now have presidental dollar coins James very fancy. I guess they are going to make dollar coin with each presidents mug on the obverse.

 

[JamesWilson]

The last one I remember is Susan B. Anthony.... what an ugly mug that was. I'd think it was counterfeit too if someone passed me one... (Who the heck was SHE???? I know, I know, a suffragette, but still fairly obscure even when it was issued)

 

[Scott_Hower]

There's the infamous Sakagawea dollar coin...

 

[swift6]

There's the infamous Sakagawea dollar coin...

I see those quite a bit. There is a manual car wash that I use often that changes bigger bills to those coins.

I have a bunch of those $2 bills too. Great story, might use one once n a while and see what happens. :thumbsup:

 

[martx-5]

I use $2 bills all the time. I always have a few in my wallet. They always get a comment when I use them, but I've never had anyone say there's no such thing! On several occasions I've had the store clerk ask if I had anymore that he could buy from me. With the way inflation has gone, the time for the $2 bill is really here, and ones should all be coins. Dollar bills generally last only about a year in circulation, whereas a coin is good for about 25 years. There are alot of topless joints that now give all their change in $2 bills, so you can stuff the garters with them now instead of singles! :laugh:

I have to order the bills from the bank, as the usually don't have many on hand. I get fifty at a clip. I don't know what the reluctance is concerning the two dollar bill, but I would like to see it in more general circulation...and let's get rid of the single. I think there is only one country in Europe that uses a one Euro bill, so we should be able to handle $1 coins.

 

[DART]

I carry 3 or 4 dollar coins all the time; the gold ones are better recognized. Now you've got me ready to start with the 2$ bills too. Our light rail system uses the coins as change in the automated ticket machines.

 

[MadRiver]

I love it! A few years back, I went to the bank and got a bunch of $2 bills to give to the kids as allowance or payment for special chores. They think they're really cool!

 

[Stewart]

Forgive me on the wnd link but it was the easiest one to find. I love using the 2 dollar bill along with the susan B anthony or the huge 50 cent pieces. Its sad people just a few years younger than me have never seen them.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Man arrested, cuffed after using $2 bills
Best Buy customer on being jailed:
'At this point, I'm a mass murderer'


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: April 07, 2005
5:12 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com



A man trying to pay a fee using $2 bills was arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail after clerks at a Best Buy store questioned the currency's legitimacy and called police.
According to an account in the Baltimore Sun, 57-year-old Mike Bolesta was shocked to find himself taken to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, Md., where he was handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service was called to weigh in on the case.


Bolesta told the Sun: "I am 6 feet 5 inches tall, and I felt like 8 inches high. To be handcuffed, to have all those people looking on, to be cuffed to a pole – and to know you haven't done anything wrong. And me, with a brother, Joe, who spent 33 years on the city police force. It was humiliating."

After Best Buy personnel reportedly told Bolesta he would not be charged for the installation of a stereo in his son's car, he received a call from the store saying it was in fact charging him the fee. As a means of protest, Bolesta decided to pay the $114 bill using 57 crisp, new $2 bills.

As the owner of Capital City Student Tours, the Baltimore resident has a hearty supply of the uncommon currency. He often gives the bills to students who take his tours for meal money.

"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.'"

Bolesta explained what happened when he presented the bills to the cashier at Best Buy Feb. 20.

"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."

Bolesta says the cashier marked each bill with a pen. Other store employees began to gather, a few of them asking, "Are these real?"

"Of course they are," Bolesta said. "They're legal tender."

According to the Sun report, the police arrest report noted one employee noticed some smearing of ink on the bills. That's when the cops were called. One officer reportedly noticed the bills ran in sequential order.

Said Bolesta: "I told them, 'I'm a tour operator. I've got thousands of these bills. I get them from my bank. You got a problem, call the bank.' I'm sitting there in a chair. The store's full of people watching this. All of a sudden, he's standing me up and handcuffing me behind my back, telling me, 'We have to do this until we get it straightened out.'

"Meanwhile, everybody's looking at me. I've lived here 18 years. I'm hoping my kids don't walk in and see this. And I'm saying, 'I can't believe you're doing this. I'm paying with legal American money.'"

Bolesta was taken to the lockup, where he sat handcuffed to a pole and in leg irons while the Secret Service was called.

"At this point," he says, "I'm a mass murderer."

Secret Service agent Leigh Turner eventually arrived and declared the bills legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes ink on money can smear."

Commenting on the incident, Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey told the Sun: "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

[/QUOTE]

 

[kennypinkerton]

We have several $2 bills, also some $5 silver certificates. We even have a few United States Reserve bills. They really look kinda fake, because the treasury seal isn't green on them. Good one though.

 

[DART]

Guess I'll be OK as long as I don't use the Timonium Best Buy.

 

[swift6]

Yesterday I was in downtown Denver and one of the parking lot machines returned change with Gold Dollar coins, Andrew Jackson Dollar coins. First I've seen personally of the Presidential Dollar coins. About the same size as a quarter.

 

[William]

I have to admit, about the only people you see using $2 bills and $1 coins are: people my folks' age (i.e., Vietnam Vets and older) and little kids.

Part of the problem with converting is the fact that cash registers aren't really set up for their use. Two dollar bills would be easier, as they'd be directly replacing the single and would just take it's spot. But there's not enough space to keep a good number of one dollar coins. Think about how much space ten bucks in dollar coins takes up compared to ten singles, or five twos. Get five customers in a row who buy cheap items with a bunch of one dollar coins and you have a problem. People often suggest that getting rid of the penny would free up an extra coin tray in the register drawers, giving you two for the dollar coins, but then manufacturers and retailers will have to adjust prices to always end in a five or a zero, regardless of the tax rate in the town where the store is.

-Wm.

 

[DrEntropy]

I've a friend who's got a printing business... He and a number of his fellow printers were attending a "confab" in Chicago a while back, and "prepared" by going to the bank and getting $100 BLOCKS of one dollar bills with consecutive numbers.

You KNOW what happens next, right??

They GLUE-stripped the left end of their "piles" of dollars like note-pads, and tried to use 'em for dinner and tips, etc...


You can imagine th' CHAOS! :smirk:

Do that with $2 bills and you'd be carted off every time you pull'd the "pad" out!!! :laugh:

 

[Silverghost]

C'mon now, THAT's FUNNY!!! I had a friend in college who ran a print shop, so I am familiar with the padding glue. Totally legal tender and not defacing in any way!

 

[DrEntropy]

yup.

There were places refusing to accept it as payment, too.