Man arrested at Best Buy for using $2 bills

[DeeBye]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal...ack=1&cset=true

Registration required, so here's the text of it.

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

Boy oh boy, I don't even know where to start.

[Zafarium]

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!!!

[jahcs]

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.

[Archon_Wing]

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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I would prefer pennies. Some people just have to make your life more complicated than it already is.

[SetBuilder]

I  would prefer pennies. Some people just have to make your life more complicated than it already is.
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Unmarked. :P

[jahcs]

With $200.00 worth of pennies I might injure my back :P

Also they would be more likely to refuse service to you with 20,000 pennies than 200 sacagawea dollars.

[DeeBye]

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!!!
[right][snapback]73249[/snapback][/right]

The thing that really starts my motor is that not only did Best Buy think the $2 bills were fake (they're a bunch of knobs so this is sorta understandable), but the POLICE thought they were fake. They cuffed him and called the secret service.

I can only imagine the secret service guy's reaction when they were shown the alleged fake bills.


Baltimore Police: "As you can see, we have this suspected counterfeiter cuffed so he doesn't run away. Look, leg shackles and everything!"

Secret Service: "Where is the alleged counterfeit money?"

Baltimore Police: "Here it is! Look, 57 sequential $2 bills! Who was this lousy counterfeiter trying to fool?"

Secret Service: "Umm, these are real. You're all a bunch of idiots. I'm going back to Washington and pretend I'm not affiliated with your branch of law-enforcement."

[Munkay]

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.

Welp, things were always just a bit off in Cockeyed-ville. :w00t:

I bought a cd player a few years back and got insurance on it (the first and only time I did). I was young and killed a few cheap cd players from them took a beating in my bag.

After three weeks it died (only it was a genuine unit malfunction) and I returned it through the replacement policy.

I received a never expiring 150$ gift certificate.

It's been over 4 years, and I still have it. I've been to best buy maybe 20 times in that span, and to this day I've yet to find anything worthy of investing in. I think its the over jacked prices and dimwitted sales associates (maybe that is only particular to the store I go to though).

What can I say, bestbuy has yet to live up to its name, and this article surely proved it. :P

Thanks for the post DeeBye,

Cheers,

Munk

[LochnarITB]

What can I say, bestbuy has yet to live up to its name, and this article surely proved it.  :P
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It amazes me to see the Frankenstein's Monster that Best Buy has become. Best Buy started as a few Sound of Music stores here in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. They started as small stores selling stereo systems and doing car stereo installations. In my early twenties, I spent many hours in the stores. My best friend was an assistant manager of a couple different stores and we often did "component testing" after hours. I knew several of the people now listed as officers of the company and even met Dick Schulze, now a billionaire from his little enterprise.

The weirdest thing about what it has become is that it was the result of a tornado. A tornado destroyed the store where I spent most of my time and system dollars. They were selling from a trailer in the parking lot of the Roseville (St. Paul, MN suburb) store that got blown away. They came up with the idea of a sale at the nearby state fairgrounds to make up for lost sales. It snowballed into mass amounts of product being brought in to be sold at "blow out" prices. I and several of our friends worked at the sale as temporary sales and checkout people. Looking back on it, the sale was set up with a feel remarkably like the warehouse setting you see in the stores now. The sale did so well, they made it into an annual event which eventually morphed into today's warehouse stores. I wonder what would have become of them if the storm hadn't blown through that day.

(When spell checking this, it found I typed "wored" for "worked" and it suggested "whored". More than just a spell checker?? :blink: )

[jahcs]

(When spell checking this, it found I typed "wored" for "worked" and it suggested "whored".  More than just a spell checker??  :blink:  )
[right][snapback]73268[/snapback][/right]

Maybe it had some extra $2 bills?

[Occhidiangela]

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.
[right][snapback]73248[/snapback][/right]

So, did they arrest that little twit who defaced US currency by writing on it? Cops missed a trick there.

Best Buy. They have been on my jagov list for the last year. If this story is true, they will never see another dollar of mine. 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.

Vote with your dollars, folks, and boycott Best Buy. They need a wakeup call. Do not let them get away with the excuse "oh, 9-11 stuff makes us jumpy." Use yer stinking heads, people!

Occhi

[DeeBye]

I'm suprised 9/11 was brought into the event. (or maybe not, EVERYTHING has to do with 9/11 - didn't you know?)
[right][snapback]73250[/snapback][/right]

I just farted. It smelled bad. OMG 911 conspiracy fart!

[Urza-DSF]

So, did they arrest that little twit who defaced US currency by writing on it?  Cops missed a trick there.
[right][snapback]73277[/snapback][/right]

Actually that was probally a counterfeit-checking marker. Most cashiers (at least down here in FL, dunno about anyplace else) get them in order to make sure high-value bills aren't actually counterfeit. If it marks in brown on the bill then its real, but if it marks black then its a fake.

Regardless, the cashier there is still a complete tool, and moron.

[ShadowHM]

  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.


[right][snapback]73277[/snapback][/right]

I had an experience like that in a restaurant in Niagara Falls, CANADA. After an overpriced meal, I went to pay and was told that the bill was in U.S. dollars !

After a discussion at the cash register that went on long enough for the line-up behind me to grow long and full of interested listeners, they decided to see it my way. But I will never return.

[Treesh]

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.
[right][snapback]73248[/snapback][/right]

And one of life's simple joys has been stolen from the poor kid. When I was little at Christmas, my folks always gave us quarters or half-dollars that were made during my sister's birth year and my birth year*. It was a neat thing for me because mine were the bicentennial designs and my sister's were just plain ones. I didn't really care about the money, just that it was different. And now that poor kid gets told in yet another way that being different is bad. Bleh.


* No, that wasn't all we got for presents on Christmas. They were just part of all the stocking stuffers. 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.

[jahcs]

Nectarines usually found their way into my stocking.

[Munkay]

This reminds me of a question I had about BestBuy.

Their website requires Cookies just to browse it. Now can anyone explain to me, why in the world do I need to accept cookies from a website I am merely using to browse prices of products on? Who thought this was a good idea?

Now I would understand if I were buying products and checking out, but cookies required to browse? Pfft.

Cheers,

Munk

[ShadowHM]

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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I think this tradition stems from the days when fresh fruit was very hard to come by in winter. An orange would have been a very special treat.

[[wcip]Angel]

"It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

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!)

[Alrin]

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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9/11 have been bastardized into excuses to take your/peoples freedom away. And they gladly give it too, just so the "terrorist wont win". In this case, a hard working american who apparently behaved in a terrorist-ish manner and paid with obviously false money.
<end sarcasm mode>

<sigh> You have NO idea how glad I am to -not- live in your country.
Pleasantries and good people aside, your country is run by cretins that have forced the thought that everything out of the ordinary must be terrorist activity down peoples throats. <shrug>