Quote: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.


Copyright © 2005, The Baltimore Sun

jahcs,Apr 6 2005, 04:38 PM Wrote:My grandmother used to give us $2 bills as presents, I still have a few somewhere...

I'm suprised 9/11 was brought into the event. (or maybe not, EVERYTHING has to do with 9/11 - didn't you know?)

If it was me and I ever went back, I'd pay in $1 coins and I'd make sure I spent at least $200.00.
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Archon_Wing,Apr 6 2005, 04:42 PM Wrote:I  would prefer pennies. Some people just have to make your life more complicated than it already is.
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Zafarium,Apr 6 2005, 08:26 PM Wrote:So what that article is basically saying...  The guy got arrested for paying with out of the ordinary bills?  Wow. 

I only have one response to that:  OMGWTFBBQ!!!
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Quote: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.

Munkay,Apr 6 2005, 09:43 PM Wrote:What can I say, bestbuy has yet to live up to its name, and this article surely proved it.  :P
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LochnarITB,Apr 6 2005, 07:26 PM Wrote:(When spell checking this, it found I typed "wored" for "worked" and it suggested "whored".  More than just a spell checker??  :blink:  )
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DeeBye,Apr 6 2005, 05:56 PM Wrote:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal...ack=1&cset=true

Registration required, so here's the text of it.
Boy oh boy, I don't even know where to start.
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jahcs,Apr 6 2005, 08:38 PM Wrote:I'm suprised 9/11 was brought into the event. (or maybe not, EVERYTHING has to do with 9/11 - didn't you know?)
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Occhidiangela,Apr 7 2005, 12:25 AM Wrote:So, did they arrest that little twit who defaced US currency by writing on it?  Cops missed a trick there.
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Occhidiangela,Apr 6 2005, 11:25 PM Wrote:  When some jackanape tells me US dollars ain't good here, in a store in the US, I take it as a personal affront.

"My money's no good here?  F you, pal."  On Mr B's behalf, Best Buy can suck a fart.  Crap like this really chaps my arse.


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DeeBye,Apr 6 2005, 06:56 PM Wrote: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.
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Treesh,Apr 7 2005, 09:16 AM Wrote:Along with an orange for some reason.  I thought the orange was just something that mom did, but then I heard some complete stranger (I think it may have been part of a comic's routine, but don't remember for sure anymore) mention oranges as a Christmas stocking stuffer.
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Quote:"It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

[wcip Wrote:Angel,Apr 7 2005, 06:17 PM]What really annoys *me* (in addition to what's been said in this topic already), is their lame-ass way of trying to weasel out of accepting responsibility and admitting they made a huge mistake. What the HELL does September 11th have to do with this? Did the highjackers pay the airplane ticket with $2-dollar bills? Did Osama Bin Laden invent the $2-dollar bill? What huge conspiracy is this? Using a national catastrophe such as 9/11, where thousands of people died and millions were affected, as a means of justifying acting like retards is an insult to everyone who died on that day (and their families!)
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