I received this little story in an e-mail, don't know if it's an actual account, but it's a funny one. Story- The $2 Bill. Everyone should start carrying them! I am STILL laughing!! Many of today's youth are terribly challenged without a computer to tell them what to do!! The story is funny. Lack of education is not funny!! 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 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!
As a matter of fact, I almost fell off my chair laughing the first time someone sent me that story in an email claiming it happened to him - sometime back in the late 20th Century.
Wow, I've never heard of someone not knowing of a 2 Dollar Bill... My nine year old daughter know what they are, she collects them... On a side note, I have a friend that owed me 20.00... Satuarday, he paid me in Crisp 2 Dollar Bills, Series 1976 I think... All crisp, never folded. He got them out of an envelope... He said his grandma gave them to him, but he doesn't collect money so he doesn't care... I gave them to my g/f as she is more into paper and I'm more into coins...
They used to tell this story on KQRS radio here in Minneapolis for years when I listened back in the early 90's. It's a classic. .
hmmm, really? I read it out loud to my daughter and it took about 4 minutes (4:07 to be exact). If you've heard it a trillion times then that means that you've spent the past 7.8 million years listening to this story over and over non-stop. (To be exact it works out to 7,826,957 years, 252 days, 1 hour, 6 minutes, and 40 seconds, but who's counting.) In light of that, I'm gonna call BS on this one. In fact, I seriously doubt you've heard it a million times (nonstop for the last 7 years and 10 months). My guess is that you've heard it in the range of 5-10 times, which is enough to make it quite redundand, but not enough to miss your entire life on.
Hey CT - I think your figures are based on the premise that years are 365 days, and actually they average just a teensy, tiny bit less than 365.2425 days when leap years are considered. I think a trillion times 4:07 would be more than 160 years longer than you computed.
That story may or may not be factual but it is a lot more true than people here think. Most people here are monitary intelligent. Not so with the general populace. This is not as funny as you think. In the area where I live there are a large amount of Hispanics. Obviously no one ever explained to them about $0.50 cent pieces or $2 bills. I purposely go to banks and get rolls of halves and piles of $2 bills. I've had cashiers at stores say what the #*#(*&($&#( is this when I try to pay with that stuff. There is a flea market where the majority of workers are Hisapanic and I love watching them when I pay with a half or $2 bill. Many will not take them because they don't know what they are. Some of the people that see me with them ask if I would sell them as many as I have because they don't make them anymore. I've had some people ask if they were made in a foreign country. The people on these kind of forums are here becuse they are to some extent familiar with our money. Many people have never seen some of the denominations we are aware of. Try mentioning to someone that is not a coin collector about a 20 cent piece or .02 and .03 cent coins. Better yet ask most people if they ever used a Mill to pay taxes.
Don't forget half cents! When I tell people that I once paid 10,000 times face value for a coin, they almost fall over in shock.
I think (IIRC) that I used 365.25, but either way that number has significant error when multiplied by millions of years! I apologize for underestimating his commitment to listening to that story repeatedly, especially since I underestimated by so many years! lol
I received two of them in change two weeks ago. Someone told me the both of them together were worth 4 bucks.
Occationally I go for breakfast with several people in the area. Thinking of this post I thought it would be different to leave some half dollars on the table as a tip. The guy next to me said, hey, you are really getting cheap with the quarter stuff. I said look again, those are half dollars. He looked as if someone had just told him of a new type of coin.
