Friday, June 17, 2011

Give a penny, just don't give 2500

Jason West from Vernal, Utah begrudgingly paid a medical bill and was arrested and charged for disorderly conduct. Mr West did not believe he owed the money, but the clinic insisted and threatened legal action to reclaim the outstanding debt.
2500 pennies
Not legal tender?
So Mr West marched into the clinic and asked if they accept cash for bill payments and when he was told yes he dumped 2500 shiny new pennies on the desk, insisting that they get counted up and a receipt for payment issued. The clerk refused to accept the payment and phoned the police when Mr West became belligerent.

At one time the law prohibited the use of small change beyond the value of $5, but that small print has since been repealed and there are no restrictions on the quantities and denominations you may use to make payments providing they are legal tender. So why was Mr West arrested?
$25 in pennies
At a penny per thought, that's a lot of thinking there
The official police report stated that Mr West "had a bad attitude and was offensive" and that the clerk "felt threatened". Apparently it had nothing to do with the fact that it was 5 minutes to closing and counting $25 in pennies, and issuing a receipt would take about 12 minutes, causing the clerk to stay after hours, possibly incurring overtime and severely pissing her off and inconveniencing her.

We have heard reports of kids using nothing but pennies to pay for their $2 school lunches and being punished with a suspension. There is even a series of commercials by OfficeMax in which a guy tries to buy things using just pennies.

So who was right? Mr West using legal tender to pay a bill or the clinic clerk who didn't want to stay beyond 5pm counting out a crapload of pennies? Leave your thoughts in the comments section. And for those who were looking for Penny from 'The Big Bang Theory" here you go...
In theory, this Penny needs a Big Bang
Big Bang Penny a.k.a.Kaley Cuoco

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

That is great. The next time I have a bill I resent paying I will thinnk about paying in pennies. I'll try not to get arrested, though.

Wait, they were threatening legal action over a 25 dollar invoice?

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