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Non Gaming Discussions => Off-Topic => Topic started by: GmanJoe on April 07, 2005, 11:39:23 AM
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.olesker08mar08,1,76004.column?coll=bal-home-columnists&ctrack=1&cset=true (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.olesker08mar08,1,76004.column?coll=bal-home-columnists&ctrack=1&cset=true)
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.
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What a bunch of idiots. I see $2 bills every day. A whole uncut sheet of them on my office wall.
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The cashiers were probably young and didn\'t know there was such a thing as a 2 dollar bill. Idiotic. The police statement about 9/11 is even more idiotic...
"I don\'t have to take these if I don\'t want to..." wtf... I would be getting an attorney and expecting a $5 million Best Buy Gift Card in the mail.
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People that work at Best Buy are proven idiots... its like the fast food of electronics... Dumbass teenagers work there.
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Wish it would of happened to me - he\'ll be rich after this.
And if that is the case, Swifdi, why don\'t you work there?
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Freaking stupid easterners. :) Don\'t live anywhere near a place called "Cockeysville." :p
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Best Buy workers = a little family of dumbasses. They love to band together and form coups against customers so they feel important. And this isn\'t a generalization. :>
http://www.bestbuysux.org
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Man i would have been pissed. Who hasnt seen a 2 dollar bill? Seriously. She was probably some lazy ass kid too.
When kids basically run a large store, you often get nothing but bullshit customer service.
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It\'s crazy that every Best Buy is the same. Sadly it\'s by far the best place to shop for electronics.
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Originally posted by Bozco
It\'s crazy that every Best Buy is the same. Sadly it\'s by far the best place to shop for electronics.
I disagree, I prefer Circuit City.
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Best Buy is way better than Circuit City. All the Circuit Cities around here are going out of business. Really weird that she said "I don\'t have to take these if I don\'t want" I\'ve seen that BestBuysux.org site before, buncha disgruntled ex(sometimes current) employees pissing and moaning about how their job sucks.
The only reason I go to Best Buy anymore is for CDs or games, otherwise they aren\'t very knowledgable. Especially in computers where they pretend to know what they\'re talking about and feed you a line of bullshit without blinking. A lot of the managers are very shady people.
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I personally can\'t stand them either and have most of the time gotten better customer service at Circuit City here in Austin. But I\'ve had my fair share of stupid shit happen.
They were selling an open box product so I look at it while its still in the box and think ok looks good, of course its dark so I can\'t see very well at the tv, get it outside ready to load it in the truck and theres this huge crack in the shell of the TV, I was why in the hell would you sell this? I brought it back in and they were like whats wrong and tried to blame the crack on me. I was like WTF god damn morons, sucky thing was I had a gift card so I had to spend my money there.
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Don\'t bestbuy have any machine that can scan money to see if it were real instead of just marking it with a pen?
It would be cool if this guy get some money outta bestbuy for this....
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Best Buy employees are stupidly stupid. THEY\'RE STUUUPID!
^ *waits for Cored to lock thread because I told the truth*
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employees are stupid regardless of the store you go into
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Originally posted by mm
employees are stupid regardless of the store you go into
Best Buy excels at it, though.
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still wouldnt put best buy above any other retail store
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Originally posted by mm
still wouldnt put best buy above any other retail store
mm is dropping knowledge
/former Best Buy employee and wicked stupid
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Originally posted by Living-In-Clip
I disagree, I prefer Circuit City.
Circuit City screwed my car stereo up too many times. I had to take it back twice already. My left front speaker doens\'t work anymore but I think its either a) bad wiring or b) i blew the speaker out (don\'t know how, its got less power than the back).
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Now tell me something I don\'t know... :o
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Originally posted by Living-In-Clip
I disagree, I prefer Circuit City.
Oh god, what the hell is wrong with you. They\'re all going out of business around here, and for good reason. Their prices suck, and their selection in most everything is terrible.
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^^^I know. Saying that you hate Best Buy and like Circuit City is ridiculous. Circuit City, by their own admission, is a second rate Best Buy.
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"Best Buy Sucks"
You suck.
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Originally posted by Jumpman
"Best Buy Sucks"
You suck.
Best Buy has one of the worst customer service in the industry. I know this personally, unfortunately.
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Bleh I dont care for either one but at this point in time Best Buy has got the hottie so I buy there....
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Yeah Best Buy does fucking suck. You pay cash but they don\'t wanna give you cash back. Bitches
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Originally posted by GmanJoe
Best Buy has one of the worst customer service in the industry. I know this personally, unfortunately.
So your personal experience means that the entire company sucks?
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Originally posted by GmanJoe
Best Buy has one of the worst customer service in the industry. I know this personally, unfortunately.
I\'ve had good luck with their customer service. I needed to get new RAM for my computer and I went up to a kid and I told him I wasn\'t sure what type of RAM my computer took (dumbass me forgot to look at the number) and the kid went on the computer and looked up my computer. But, that was the one time I was in there and had a question but I\'m sure for the most part they are morons.
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Originally posted by Black Samurai
So your personal experience means that the entire company sucks?
To be frank, yes. There was some poll conducted nation wide. And guess what! My experience reflects that of this nation! I win! Best Buy SUCKS!
mmkay Blackie?
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If we can call him Blackie can he call us Brownies?
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He can call you thex......like "sex" but with a lisp. ;)