From the Baltimore Sun

PUT YOURSELF in Mike Bolesta's place. On the morning of Feb. 20, he buys a new radio-CD player for his 17-year-old son Christopher's car. He pays the $114 installation charge with 57 crisp new $2 bills, which, when last observed, were still considered legitimate currency in the United States proper. The $2 bills are Bolesta's idea of payment, and his little comic protest, too.

For this, Bolesta, Baltimore County resident, innocent citizen, owner of Capital City Student Tours, finds himself under arrest.

Finds himself, in front of a store full of customers at the Best Buy on York Road in Lutherville, locked into handcuffs and leg irons.

Finds himself transported to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, where he's handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service is called into the case.

Have a nice day, Mike.

"Humiliating," the 57-year old Bolesta was saying now. "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."

What we have here, besides humiliation, is a sense of caution resulting in screw-ups all around.

"When I bought the stereo player," Bolesta explains, "the technician said it'd fit perfectly into my son's dashboard. But it didn't. So they called back and said they had another model that would fit perfectly, and it was cheaper. We got a $67 refund, which was fine. As long as it fit, that's all.

"So we go back and pay for it, and they tell us to go around front with our receipt and pick up the difference in the cost. I ask about installation charges. They said, 'No installation charge, because of the mix-up. Our mistake, no charge.' Swell.

"But then, the next day, I get a call at home. They're telling me, 'If you don't come in and pay the installation fee, we're calling the police.' Jeez, where did we go from them admitting a mistake to suddenly calling the police? So I say, 'Fine, I'll be in tomorrow.' But, overnight, I'm starting to steam a little. It's not the money -- it's the threat. So I thought, I'll count out a few $2 bills."

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."

He remembers the cashier marking each bill with a pen. Then other store personnel began to gather, a few of them asking, "Are these real?"

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

A Best Buy manager refused comment last week. But, according to a Baltimore County police arrest report, suspicions were roused when an employee noticed some smearing of ink. So the cops were called in. One officer noticed the bills ran in sequential order.

"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,'" Bolesta says. "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 then taken to the county police lockup in Cockeysville, where he sat handcuffed to a pole and in leg irons while the Secret Service was called in.

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

Finally, Secret Service agent Leigh Turner arrived, examined the bills and said they were legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes ink on money can smear."

This will be important news to all concerned.

For Baltimore County police, said spokesman Bill Toohey, "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

The other day, one of Bolesta's sons needed a few bucks. Bolesta pulled out his wallet and "whipped out a couple of $2 bills. But my son turned away. He said he doesn't want 'em any more."

He's seen where such money can lead.

********

I had a friend who had almost the same thing happen at a Taco Bell. The manager of TB called the police, who arrived, inspected the $2 and asked what the problem was.

Taco Bell Manager: "She's trying to pay with that $2 bill"
Cop: "And what's the problem"
TBM: "It's a 2 dollar bill!"
Cop: "And..."
TBM: "Aren't you going to arrest her?"
Cop: "No."
TBM: "What?"
Cop: "This is legal tender"
TBM: "Here's your free burrito, some cinnamon crisps, and a few gift certificates."

I fed over 250 5cent coins into this machine at the uni library to recharge my photocopy card. So that's like over $12.50. It took like a hour an a bit, which was fine cos it wasn't really during the main semester and the place was deserted.

When I came back from the holidays, they've changed the machine to one that doesn't accept 5 cent coins.

That is a pretty funny story. In Dallas, there is this great burger joint called Goff's. The owner has a giant statue of Lenin out front taken from when the Soviet Union collapsed. Anyway, the guy is a complete ass hole and kicked a Japanese friend of mine out of his restaurant just for being Japanese. I have been going there for ten plus years, and he still gives out the 50 cent coins for change. This of course is a big pain in the ass because everytime you try to pay some 18 year old at such and such store with 50 cent coins, they have no fucking clue what they are. I am still curious how this guy has so many of these damn things.

The man who kicked him out is no better than the Japanese authorities! You do realise it's illegal, was anything done?

I'm not sure that it is technically illegal, most private business owners have the right to refuse service to anyone they want. As for anything being done, no nothing was done, the world did not resort to nazism, and most of us got on with our lives.

Does America not have race relations laws?

There are laws relating to race, but as I understand it, and any of the lawyers in the house can correct me, a private bussiness has the right to choose their clients based on whatever criteria they choose. As far as being a worker though, I think it is illegal to discriminate based on age, sex, race.

Ours only takes $1 & $2 coins. Once I had to give it a $10 to pay. It was a sad day.

I motherfucking hate best buy, I bought a videocard there once and went to return it and the fucking serial number on the card didnt match the box, so they tried the whole well you have the wrong card, I was like no this is the only card id ever owned...anyways couldnt get my money back....chances are she went to the back and switched the sticker with the serial number on the card, bitch

The Best Buy story is in the Balitmore Sun, I have to give you that, but I'm calling Urban Legend on the Taco Bell story. I heard that in Ohio when I was in high school.

Also, can I say ... Best Buy: WORST customer service in the entire consumer electronics industry. Circuit City isn't much better, but where else are you going to get CDs the day they're released for $10??

Wow, so that just makes "The sum of all fears" that much more scary.

Thanks Baltimore police and local teens. In the "post 911" world we should fear people who pay with 2 dollar bills.

Best Buy is one of the worst run corporations in the country. I applyed for a job there in my college days. The store to which I applyed had Shrink figures on the wall. They had lost $297,000 in shrink for one month.

Yeah, I walked out. The inmates are running that asylum.

Tweeter is a much better electronics company. Maybe because their salesmen get paid on commission and they know thier shit.

i would hazzard a guess and think they are meaning counterfiting

Yeah I got that. Still, paranoid much?

if you were a counterfitter would you make 2 dollar bills or 20 dollar bills?

well they just busted a semi large $20 bill counterfit ring around here, $2 might be a bit easier

indeed. the Jr. Counterfitters league. Duh we uh, couldn't find the 0 for our print boss so we just made 10 times as many twos.

I just thought it was kind of extreme. I mean, no problem with having this guy who wasn't doing anything wrong arrested, but no one makes a phone call to a bank and asks if $2's were legal tender.

What's a "shrink figure"??

the profit margin on counterfiet $2 bills would be tiny. It wouldn't be worth the effort.

theft. shoplifting theft, employee theft, etc. It's a retail term, sorry. I should have clarified.

Oh shit! That's a lot!

That certainly wouldn't have happened at Circuit City .