America at its finest

America at its finest

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

Wow thats just retarded. I would have had trouble holding my cool I dont think it would have ended well for best buy or the police.

I would be seriously pissed off if I was that guy. I dont deal with the Best Buy Car Audio department anymore, after they "installed" my headunit in the corolla and cracked the dash + didnt put my A/C button back in correctly. I was too nice and didnt bitch at them as I should have.

i would definately sue for that..... both best buy and the local police department..... it doesn't matter if they are suspicious.... the man did nothing, was humiliated and there was a defimation of character caused by both the police and best buy.....

as a retail worker i wouldn't have had a problem..... i would have found it amusing... then i would then have a manager pull the money from my drawer and put into a drop to go directly to the bank.....

i would be more then just a little pissed at this

Man I don't have the patience for that kinda shit..... Best Buy also wanted to charge my for installation fees when it says on the ad "If your receiver is $99 or up we'll install it for free" and well mine was $160 and they wanted to charge me $85 for installation fees and some other shit and well of course I refused and complained for like more than 8 hours seriously and well they ended up giving me the deck for only $75 and free install with a 4 yr warranty on it. I don't take shit from anybody, SPECIALLY from Best Buy or places like that which try and get smart FOOK THAT!!! I'm too old for that kinda shit.....

best buy sucks...everyone knows that.

WTD, thats so stupid thou, I would also sue them for that crap

and iam sure that that person will sue

he better lol if he doesn't man he's stupid lol, I dk police brutality it's at sky high man, it seems like we went back to the segregation times except now it's aiming for everyone really.... fookin ghay :OhWell:

I sued Best Buy and won. I won over $1,000 for a labor practices lawsuit. They repeatedly underpaid and mispaid me. Remember this: BEST BUY SUCKS. You can say it's a matter of opinions and bad experiences, but a JUDGE in a US COURT agreed with me that Best Buy broke the law. I have a copy of that check framed to remind me just how much that place bites the big one.

wow iam glad u shared that with me i need to spread the word

that particular best buy is right down the street from me...and their management has a permanent buttplug shoved up their collective ass.

i've never liked them, and this is more proof that they're worthless piles of crap.

hey Matt...do you have the link to this article?

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

there ya go laura

i had that same deal, it must be like certain stores cuz my best buy is awesome, they didn't charge me for my installation

thanks Matt

Ive heard HORRIBLE stories about how best buy treats their employees...

well...they're not stories. one of my closest friends worked for one in Trenton for like 4 years, and just recently got fired because of his boss's screwup. his boss acted like nothing he did was wrong, and that my friend was entirely in the wrong.

now, they're trying to hire him back to train a new set of techs, because when he was fired the entire tech bench quit in protest.

see i hate people who act like there crap dont stink

likewise...especially when they KNOW they're in the wrong.

thing that worried me about best buy is when I bought my Headunit, the tech in the install shop was some thug kid who looked like he was 15. Not the kind of person you want working on your car.......maybe thats why my install was so screwed up.

yea dood, I bet I could install a deck more professionally than what some people working at pro auto sound places like that install them.... I dk man we live in a crazy world *shakes head*

page error

if you look on that site it should be archived

that particular best buy has screwed up a LOT of installs in the past...if i had my choice, i'd go to Tweeter down the street.

we have tweeters around here also called hifi house and there even worse then best buy circuit city i would go to

eh...the tweeter by me has installers who were originally from CC