Does this seem like BS to you?

[cgv]

Apparently the NYC MTA isn't required to take pennies either... Imagine the logistical nightmare if the city buses had to accept pennies? Back to speculation- the hospital staff likely refused the pennies bc it was an inconvenience and bc he was doing it out of spite due do his disagreement with the bill. And it snowballed from there.

[hbliam]

What do you base this on? 

Professional experience.

I was trying to bail out an acquaintance many years ago and a portion of the bail was rolled change.  They refused to accept it and when I argued that it was money they told me I was leaving or joining my buddy.

And did you leave or did you refuse and end up with an arrest for disorderly conduct? 

[ducpainter]

Professional experience.

And did you leave or did you refuse and end up with an arrest for disorderly conduct? 

Seems like he has personal experience to the contrary.

...and why the make the beast with two backsing rolling eyes?

stirring shit officer?

[hbliam]

Seems like he has personal experience to the contrary.

...and why the make the beast with two backsing rolling eyes?

stirring shit officer?

My statement said the original guy was likely arrested because he threw a fit AFTER being asked to leave or calm down, not due to his form of payment.

Dan's personal experience supports my professional observations. No matter what he did. If he decided to leave it supports my theory that he was not disorderly and thus not cited nor arrested. If he did not decide to leave then his experience likely supports my observations as well....that the form of payment was not the ultimate issue, how the payee acted after his payment was refused is the issue.

The rolling eyes was a mistake. I clicked them, looked for a different, more appropriate emotion and finding none simply forgot to delete it. I was in need of a touche smiley.  You don't happen to have one of those lying around do you?

Lastly, stirring shit? Seriously?  Even as is, my post with the rolling eyes smiley doesn't constitute stirring shit.

[ducpainter]

My statement said the original guy was likely arrested because he threw a fit AFTER being asked to leave or calm down, not due to his form of payment.

Dan's personal experience supports my professional observations. No matter what he did. If he decided to leave it supports my theory that he was not disorderly and thus not cited nor arrested. If he did not decide to leave then his experience likely supports my observations as well....that the form of payment was not the ultimate issue, how the payee acted after his payment was refused is the issue.

The rolling eyes was a mistake. I clicked them, looked for a different, more appropriate emotion and finding none simply forgot to delete it. I was in need of a touche smiley.  You don't happen to have one of those lying around do you?

Lastly, stirring shit? Seriously?  Even as is, my post with the rolling eyes smiley doesn't constitute stirring shit.

An officer making a mistake?

Surely you jest.

You calculate everything.

Your use of the rolling eyes was to demean Dan, and there's no way you'll convince me otherwise.

[vincheung]

.

[Howie]

Apparently the NYC MTA isn't required to take pennies either... Imagine the logistical nightmare if the city buses had to accept pennies? Back to speculation- the hospital staff likely refused the pennies bc it was an inconvenience and bc he was doing it out of spite due do his disagreement with the bill. And it snowballed from there.

The buses don't take paper money, only coins or metro card.  $2.25 for a bus or $5.50 for an express bus is a lot of change.

[hbliam]

An officer making a mistake?

Surely you jest.

You calculate everything.

Your use of the rolling eyes was to demean Dan, and there's no way you'll convince me otherwise.

I'm not going to get sucked into your baiting.

[RAT900]

Sometimes you can be Dead Wrong...and you will get nailed to the cross for it


Sometimes you can be Dead Right and you will still get nailed to the cross for it


right or wrong you're still dead


there's a lot to be said for knowing your audience

when you are performing in the theater of human behavior

[Ddan]

Professional experience.

And did you leave or did you refuse and end up with an arrest for disorderly conduct? 

I left.  My point is that I was threatened with arrest for attempting something perfectly legal. The refusal to allow me to was the escalating factor.  Disorderly conduct is a catch-all for whatever the authority wants it to be, even when they are wrong.

[RAT900]

I left.  My point is that I was threatened with arrest for attempting something perfectly legal. The refusal to allow me to was the escalating factor.  Disorderly conduct is a catch-all for whatever the authority wants it to be, even when they are wrong.

ahhhh but we now have the new improved Disorderly catch-all.....declare "Homeland Security" and you can make folks disappear altogether    

see prior cautionary on being "dead right"

[hbliam]

I left.  My point is that I was threatened with arrest for attempting something perfectly legal. The refusal to allow me to was the escalating factor.  Disorderly conduct is a catch-all for whatever the authority wants it to be, even when they are wrong.

I answered this in my PM I think.

My point is, you would not have gone to jail for your payment method, you have gone for refusing to leave or causing a problem in their lobby.

Was the cop that told you he wouldn't take change wrong? Maybe. He obviously made a negative impression. But...maybe they don't take change and don't have the capacity to. We don't take anything but cash and it has to be exact, we don't make change. We don't take checks or credit cards either. I doubt I could fit rolled quarters in the cash box we use but I'd probably make do and drop it in the watch commanders safe to avoid the argument.

And like I told you, if you insisted on giving me a check and I explained that I couldn't, there would come a point in time if you were causing a problem, (screaming, yelling, disrupting other business, damaging property) that you would either leave my lobby and work on alternate methods of payment or be escorted to a cell. My point in time sounds like it would be far longer then the guy you spoke to. If you wanted to sit there in silent protest? Have at it. We have a bench, we are 24 hours, and you wouldn't be disturbing anyone.

[Ddan]

Checks and credit cards are not legal tender and there is nothing that says you have to accept them.  Cash is and the convenience of handling the cash shouldn't be the deciding factor.  If you don't have a box big enough to hold the money, get a bigger box.  The guy showed up with cash to pay his bill.  Everything after that is secondary.

[hbliam]

Checks and credit cards are not legal tender and there is nothing that says you have to accept them.  Cash is and the convenience of handling the cash shouldn't be the deciding factor.  If you don't have a box big enough to hold the money, get a bigger box. 

There is more to it then that for us. It's a security, handling, documenting, tracking thing. You know, all the extra paperwork we have to do to prove we aren't stealing.

Other then that, yes, cash and forms of cash can be refused. Go to McDonalds and try to pay with $100 bill.

http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/faqs/Currency/Pages/legal-tender.aspx

Legal Tender Status

I thought that United States currency was legal tender for all debts. Some businesses or governmental agencies say that they will only accept checks, money orders or credit cards as payment, and others will only accept currency notes in denominations of $20 or smaller. Isn't this illegal?
The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues."

This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.

[Ddan]

There is more to it then that for us. It's a security, handling, documenting, tracking thing. You know, all the extra paperwork we have to do to prove we aren't stealing.

Other then that, yes, cash and forms of cash can be refused. Go to McDonalds and try to pay with $100 bill.

http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/faqs/Currency/Pages/legal-tender.aspx

Legal Tender Status

I thought that United States currency was legal tender for all debts. Some businesses or governmental agencies say that they will only accept checks, money orders or credit cards as payment, and others will only accept currency notes in denominations of $20 or smaller. Isn't this illegal?
The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues."

This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.

I'd argue that a government agency (PD) doesn't fall into those categories.  I'd also argue that unless the hospital in the original story was private, it also doesn't fall into those categories.  The Treasury has it on paper currency that it is "legal tender for all debts public and private"