$2 Bill Rescued

An exact same thing happened to a friend on mine earlier this week here in SE CT.

In order to educate the masses (young ones) she has a strap of chcu $2's that she is going to go shopping with this weekend.

Before my friendly teller gal moved out of my city I use to get $2 bills and the gold coins from her all the time. Would then use them for tips, lunch, etc. A large number of times the worker would be "is this real?" and I'm like yep. I did have one waitress track me down as I was leaving the place after dinner to ask me if I had any more $1 coins. She was impressed with them and loved the different presidents.

When I worked as a Detective we had a rather unusual call one day. Normally they would not have called us but we were having lunch next door and the responding officer did not know what to do. You see a man ordered a meal, ate it, and then when presented with the check he tendered enough $2 bills to cover the amount presented. Management at that Restaurant refused to accept the money; at which point the customer attempted to exit the restaurant. The Manager and another employee detained the Customer and called the Police.

The officer was not sure how to handle this as he was not sure that a law had been broken.

I was fairly sure the Customer was in the right, but just to make sure I contacted an Assistant District Attorney. She ordered me to let the man go immediately. You see if service has been rendered and legal tender offered and subsequently refused by the service provider/merchant; then the service provider/merchant has no recourse against the Customer. Barring signage against large bills, which are a potential public safety issue. The safety issue in those cases are the holding of sufficient cash to make change.

We also had a case where a person purchased exactly $50 in Fuel from a Gas Station with a sign that said "we do not accept bills larger than $20". The person submitted a $50 bill to cover the $50 dollar debt. When it was refused the person drove off. The Police were called and, using a description and plate number, made an arrest. What should have been a simple ticket citation and release on own recognizance turned into a trip downtown. The SGT on duty threw this in my lap. I released the person on the spot, and then called the DA's office. They informed me that status of the signage is a real legal grey area. Its purpose is to deter theft, by limiting the amount of change. Therefore cash tendered for the amount of purchase is not in violation of that signage. Refusal to accept legal tender for reasons other than public safety are generally not allowed. Note that anyone can refuse legal tender. It is just that the law does not allow any legal recourse by the entity refusing legal tender.

And please, don't try that! I am NOT a lawyer. It is just what the ADA told me 18 years ago. I just thought it interesting.