Worst Buy

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...=1&cset=tru e

A tale of customer service, justice and currency as funny as a $2 bill
Michael Olesker

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.

"Darren Garrison" wrote in message
...
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...=1&cset=tru e


story snipped

That sucks. I guess that means I'll be spending more $2 bills from now on.
Hey Fred, got any bricks for sale? ;-)

Mark

"Mark Rossi" wrote in That sucks. I guess that
means I'll be spending more $2 bills from now on.
Hey Fred, got any bricks for sale? ;-)

Mark


I get $2 every week when drawing out the weekly money, it is how I pay the
kids their allowance. So far there have been no egregious attempts at
persecution of them for spending them and the Sac $ they get.

I smell a lawsuit,, false arrest.

I've spent over 11,000 Toms in the past 3.5 years. Had a few tested with
the counterfeit pen, but none refused. But, I never tried to pass 57 at
one stop. I hope this guy sues - and doesn't settle out of court.


"Mark Rossi" wrote in message
...
"Darren Garrison" wrote in message
...
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...=1&cset=tru e


story snipped

That sucks. I guess that means I'll be spending more $2 bills from now
on. Hey Fred, got any bricks for sale? ;-)

Mark