Penny Ante

[Andara Bledin]

Going Postal popped my Terry Pratchett cherry. I have got to get more of his books.

Yes. Yes you do.

You also have to get Wee Free Men and related, as well.

^-.-^

[Magpie]

Start with Colour of Magic. They're good, and worth reading, but disappointing after some of the others. And the good ones are better if you know who's who to start.

[dalesys]

*I* started with Strata , the prototype framework for the TP unifarce.

[plan9au]

Im fairly sure in Australia, you have to take accept currency in whatever form when it comes to payment of debt, refusal to take, say $300 in 5 cent peices means the debt is cleared as you have refused payment.

With sales however the storeowner is allowedto refuse to take more than the face value in $ denominations, so they an refuse to take more than $10 in $.10 peices, which is great when someone wants to pay with $.20 for $40 of fuel....

[fireheart]

Im fairly sure in Australia, you have to take accept currency in whatever form when it comes to payment of debt, refusal to take, say $300 in 5 cent peices means the debt is cleared as you have refused payment.

With sales however the storeowner is allowedto refuse to take more than the face value in $ denominations, so they an refuse to take more than $10 in $.10 peices, which is great when someone wants to pay with $.20 for $40 of fuel....

Law yes, however not all stores enforce it. My old coworkers would give warnings to it.

[plan9au]

Law yes, however not all stores enforce it. My old coworkers would give warnings to it.

Of course it depended on the customer, if they were a regular or at least nice and/or apologetic about it then you would give a friendly warning/make a joke and take the money, but it wa always there for when the Jerk comes in...

[trunks2k]

In cases like the one in the OP, while you can refuse to accept the payment and refuse the sale, I'd be tempted to take just take a really long time counting the pennies.

"one............................. two........................................... three.............................. four .................................................. .................................................. ............................ five .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ............................................ seven.............................. oh wait, I think I messed up. Gotta start all over. "

Then when people in line look frustrated, I'd just say "sorry, these people are paying in pennies. I have to be very careful to ensure that they gave me enough"

Actually, if you want a highly entertaining and enlightening look at debased currency, check out Making Money by Terry Pratchett. It's a Discworld novel, and doesn't require that you've read any of the previous books, but if you want a better understanding of the main player, you could read Going Postal first.

^-.-^

Clearly, it's time we moved to a golem based currency.

[StanFlouride]

He had to borrow a cow-orkers truck

I've never orked a cow or seen it done. Does it take any special training or equipment besides the truck?

just curious

[Tama]

Yes. It involves vigorous training on how to ork the cow so as to extract the methane. :3

[Sheldonrs]

Yes. It involves vigorous training on how to ork the cow so as to extract the methane. :3

I'll never look at the Orkin Man the same way again.

[Mr.Customer]

In most countries there are currency laws which dictate what a merchant can and cannot refuse as well as what coinage you are legally allowed to pay in.

For instance, in Canada it is illegal to pay for an item with more then 50 pennies (one roll) and also details how many nickles, dimes, quarters etc can be used. And the law also specifically gives merchants the right to set any terms of acceptable payment they wish, ie a store could refuse cash entirely, or just $5 dollar bills.

In America the laws concerning Legal Tender only applies to depts, specifically legal tender cannot be refused for payment of a dept. However buying an item in a store is not a dept, the sale is "an invitation to treat" and the customer's purchase is not a dept until the store accepts terms of payment, the store can simply not accept the terms of the customer's offer and refuse their coinage. There is no dept in such a purchase because the customer doesn't yet own the item he is asking to buy, it is owned by the store until the purchase is made. Both sides of an invitation to treat must agree to the terms before the purchase, including method of payment.

At any rate, in American a merchant may refuse a customer for any reason whatsoever (barring race, sexual preference etc) so the issue of legal tender becomes moot point anyways.

The confusion of legal tender comes from depts, as it must be accepted in payment of a dept. A customer's purchase in a store is not a dept, it is an invintation to treat. However if you were making payments on something, say car payments, the deptor couldn't refuse a payment in the form of legal tender. This applies to restraunts who offer the bill after the customer eats their meal. They cannot refuse legal tender in payment of the dept after the meal is eaten. Fast food places however can refuse legal tender since payment is made first it is still an invitation to treat. The same with taxi who collect payment after the trip is made. Rental Cars and Hotels may demand a credit card for pre-payment of deposits, preauthorization and to confirm credit (A hotel or car rental migh tpre-authorize an agreed upon amoiunt on the credit card first), however they cannot refuse legal tender to settle the dept afterwards when the final amount becomes due. They have to returnn the deposit (ussually back onto the payment vehicle) and then would have to accept legal tender for payment since this is a dept.

Also while some places might force the merchant to accept legal tender, even fewer places have laws that make said merchant have to give change for that tender, so if someone pays with a $100 bill they might be leaving a very large tip.

I encountered this while working late night at a gas station, some jerk came in and got $5 of gas and then handed me a $100 dollar bill. When I told them I couldn't give change for $100 since I only carry a float of less then $50 including change, he promptly stated "Well it looks like I get free gas" to which I replied (having already taken the bill from him "No, what I said is that I can't give you change for $100, I can accept it however and thank you for the $95 dollar tip" to which he quickly wised up and paid me with a smaller bill.