And people wonder why some youth…especially those from marginalized groups tend to be wary, distrustful, or even contemptuous of authority figures…
Here’s one very understandable reason…sometimes authority figures can be unbelievably ignorant…and then double down on it by refusing to apologize for their screwup.
http://abc13.com/news/lunchroom-lunacy-isd-cops-investigate-fake-money/1314203/
Wow–had no idea counterfeiting was a common charge in schools, especially with potential felony penalties. Yikes!
dateline on that story is over a year old.
Only thing, it turned out the bill was real to begin with and the “counterfeit finding pen” only works on newer bills.
Not to mention most cashiers IME only use those pens with higher denominations. They seldom use it with bills lower than $10. In this case, the cashier likely opted to use the pen because s/he thought the $2 must be fake because they’re not commonly seen in circulation.
Seems like the school admins and cops were following in the footsteps of this Best Buy case:
http://gizmodo.com/038930/best-buy-has-customer-arrested-for-using-2-bills
I do wish families who qualified for free and reduced lunch would apply and get such lunches so their resources can be used for other family needs.
This is a year old, yes, but not irrelevant.
My mom was a banker and the “tooth fairy” gave me a $2 bill for every regular tooth. No one would have tested a $2 bill from a little white girl.
Studies have shown that white kids are considered innocent but that isn’t extended to black and brown kids.
Just disgusting. When we treat kids like criminals, we tell them (with words and/or actions) that that’s all they’ll ever be.
I didn’t realize $2 bills went back to 1953. I probably saw my first one (probably from my grandfather, in a card) around 1970.
The last time $2 bills were in wide circulation was the 60s. It doesn’t surprise me anyone under 50 might think they’re fake.
Anyone?
I am well under 50(heck, I was mistaken for a college undergrad just a few months ago) and I knew since I was 5 that $2 bills were and ARE STILL issued for general circulation.
This was only reinforced by my part-time job working as a cashier at a stationary store from 6th grade till the end of first semester freshman year of HS. Handled plenty of $2 bills while working that stint.
Moreover, my millennial and younger friends upon seeing those reports are also in great disbelief at the gross ignorance of the school admins and cops over the existence of $2 bills. A few of them even make it a point to ask for $2 bills at the bank and to use them so they are widely circulated.
Thankfully, the cashiers/merchants were clued in enough to know they were legal tender and accepted them without this level of idiotic drama.
As an aside, showing this level of ignorance about lower-mid level coin/currency denominations was considered sufficient grounds to deny students as early as the late elementary school stage admission to college or even higher-level vocational educational tracks in some countries back in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
They go back further than 1953:
OK, so it was a mistake.They made a federal case (yuk yuk) about two dollars for chicken tenders, which probably cost …oh I don’t know, a lot less than that. According to the article, no apology from anyone, especially the cops, who should know better. “OK, kid, you got away with passing this not counterfeit bill this time. But you’d better watch it!” No chicken tenders for her!
Child labor laws mostly ban employment under 14 and are so restrictive most chains won’t hire anyone under 16. If you managed to get a job in 6th grade, you’re dating yourself. I worked as a cashier and don’t recall ever getting paid with a $2 bill. These days, I would be even less likely to see one as most transactions are credit/debit. Some people get a thrill about feeling intellectually superior to the school cafeteria cashier and middle school cop.
Cashiers should know that $2 bills are legal tender.
I’m not mad that the worker didn’t know that $2 bills existed. I’m furious about everything that happened after that.
I remember taking the $2 bill to elementary school to show my friends because I had never seen one before.
But not one person in all of this realized that a $2 bill exists? That’s hard for me to believe.
Unless a child is a danger to her/himself or others, s/he should NOT be placed in handcuffs. Period. That is incredibly traumatizing to a child.
I worked as a cashier in the 70’s and received 2 dollar bills all the time. Then,in the 2000’s I received 2 dollar bills when I was working at “The Shack” for my son’s Little League team. And In the “Teens” I received 2 dollar bills when running the Gift Auction/ 50-50 for my son’s high school. Later, he received 2 dollar bills as tips when working as a waiter at a seashore restaurant. It’s not super common, but it surely does happen. @romanigypsyeyes is right.It’s hard to believe that nobody knew that this was real currency (especially the cops, in my opinion) and this was a ridiculous, cruel and unnecessary way to abuse a child.
It wasn’t THAT long ago. Worked the cashier job from mid-late '80s to early '90s from ages 10-13.
And while there were restrictions, many businesses were willing to work with those restrictions and employ us. And that was in a period when NYC crime was much higher than it has been for the last 15 or so years.
Expecting a minimal level of basic knowledge has nothing to do with expecting intellectual superiority.
It’s troubling how some are ok with having exceeding lower than the bare minimal expectations of basic commonsense knowledge most people…including children who perform shopping chores for the family/themselves need to get by.
And if one can get by relying completely on credit/debit cards…one is really lucky indeed considering there’s still plenty of cash only businesses which don’t accept such forms of payment not to mention many folks do not have the means to clear the hurdle to get such cards.
When we visited Monticello in the late 80’s, change for admission, etc was given in $2 bills, which bear Jefferson’s image. Thought that was pretty cool at the time.
Child labor under 14 has been outlawed for the vast, vast, vast majority of jobs since 1938.
So IF you were working at the age of 10, it is likely that you were not doing so legally.
The business that hired you was almost certainly in violation of child labor laws, unless it fell into a small set of exceptions, such as work for a business your parents owned.
My first job was the summer I turned 14–it convinced me I would starve if I ever had to make a living typing forms. When I was 15 and hotel switchboard operator, I realized I didn’t want to work in the travel industry.
Vast majority, but not all.
Parents and local employers can work with kids to get some special work permit to be able to work at such ages. Unfortunately, it was so long ago I don’t remember which agency/level of government issued it.
Moreover, all the local LEOs were well aware that many stores/restaurants in my old NYC neighborhood were employing middle school and late elementary school kids and had no issues with it. If anything, most felt it was a good thing to get some work experience, be able to earn a bit to contribute to the family finances, builds character*, etc.
It was certainly the case with yours truly as even nowadays, I still seem to look much younger than my actual age judging by how just a few months ago, i was still mistaken for an undergrad by a fellow Science Marcher despite being out of college for nearly 2 decades.