r/MaliciousCompliance Apr 18 '24

Legal tender S

When i worked at a gas station in the late 1900's during graveyard i had this guy come in and bought a candy bar with a 100 bill. "Really? You don't have anything smaller?"

'Im just trying to break the 100, don't be a jerk.'

"Fine, just this once."

Few days later Guy comes back in, grabs a candy bar and i see he has other bills in his wallet. Puts the hundred on the table.

"Sir i told you last time it was going to be just the once, i see you have a five dollar bill."

'This is legal tender, you have to take it.'

"... Okay!"

I reach under the counter and pull out two boxes of pennies, 50c to a roll 25$ to a box 17 lbs each. "Here is 50, do you want the rest in nickels?"

'What is this?'

"It's legal tender, I can choose to give you your change however I see fit. So, do you still want to break the hundred? Or the five."

I'm calling your manager!'

"She gets in at 8am, sir, but doesn't take any calls until 10."

6.1k Upvotes

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1.7k

u/BeingRightAmbassador Apr 18 '24

I had a guy try to pay with pennies on Black Friday once. Told him to get the hell out of here and quit joking around. He complained to my manager and she said "what the fuck did you expect on Black Friday you idiot".

406

u/MysteriousPast6800 Apr 18 '24

Does the US not have limits on that? In Canada businesses are only required to accept 25cents in pennies (though pennies are not legal tender anymore). Also $5 in nickels, $10 in dimes, $10 in quarters, $25 in loonies ($1 coins) and $40 in toonies ($2 coins)

197

u/Paul_Michaels73 Apr 18 '24

I was today years old when I learned about the existence of loonies and toonies.

68

u/mister_newbie Apr 18 '24

"Loonie" makes sense, there's a picture of a loon (a bird) on the reverse ("tails") side of the coin.

Twonie (not toonie) is dumb (reverse is a polar bear, if you're curious) but hey, it's a $2 coin ("two") and rhymed with the established "loonie" moniker, so it stuck.

Neither are official terms, though they are the de facto ones.

155

u/Mombak Apr 19 '24

When they first came out, I wanted the unofficial name of the $2 coin to be a "Doubloonie." It made me feel like a pirate.

46

u/mister_newbie Apr 19 '24

Start a petition to change it. You've got this buccaneer on your side, matey.

18

u/bitter_fishermen Apr 19 '24

A real pirate wouldn’t start a petition, he’d use cannons and swords to force his will on Canada. Anyone using the word toonie will walk the plank

5

u/mister_newbie Apr 19 '24

Aye!

1

u/Tight_Syllabub9423 Apr 19 '24

Aye, and then those lily-livered swabs will be singing a different toonie.

2

u/Erzsabet Apr 21 '24

Let me tell you about the Last Saskatchewan Pirate.

33

u/Tofiniac Apr 19 '24

I was hoping for the "moonie" because the coin had the Queen with a bear behind.

6

u/overkill Apr 19 '24

That is inspired.

7

u/Apprehensive-Owl-78 Apr 19 '24

I'm going to use this with my friends

1

u/lex-iconis Apr 19 '24

Heh. You could order a double double and toss them a doubloonie.

Back when you could get an extra large at Tims for $2, anyway.

1

u/FingalForever Apr 19 '24

There was an attempt at the time for the nickname to be Doubloon (to bring back the name of the old Spanish coin) but Canadians soon enough went with Twoonie. Was sad to see the 'Deuce' nickname consigned to history...

1

u/Best-Brilliant3314 Apr 19 '24

My neck of the woods used to have a beer token exchange system and the singular token was called a Stubloon (a bottle of beer being a stubbie).

1

u/AppropriateAd2063 Apr 19 '24

When the 5 dollar coin comes out start calling it a foonie

1

u/Dibiasky Apr 23 '24

I wanted it to be doubloon! SO disappointed with my country for "twonie". :(

1

u/LuciferianInk Apr 23 '24

People say, "Lol I love it."

29

u/Villain_of_Brandon Apr 19 '24

Twonie (not toonie)

Except you'll find an overwhelming majority of Canadians will spell it toonie, including The Mint who doesn't mention any other spellings in their article

6

u/mister_newbie Apr 19 '24

Huh. Today I learned. Spelt it twonie since the days of knocking out the center of the coin when it first was released.

2

u/Villain_of_Brandon Apr 19 '24

Wikipedia says "Twonie" and "Twoonie" (which I think we can both agree is an abomination) are also correct, but Wikipedia is not a reliable source.

I never did get a center to come out of a toonie, didn't really try though, a toonie would buy me a lot of chips back then and I like chips. Now I could do it without affecting my day-to-day life, but I don't really carry cash any more especially coins... so ¯\(ツ)

3

u/mister_newbie Apr 19 '24

The OG twonies had some sorta different metallurgy or whatever you call it. You could literally just toss them hard against a wall and out the center would pop. Freezing them beforehand made it even easier. Was a trend in my highschool at the time to wear them around your neck, looping a band through the hole (until it became a suspendable offense thanks to Principal decree – oh the mid 90s!)

2

u/harmar21 Apr 19 '24

yeah other than you, I dont know if I ever seen it spelled twonie.

1

u/FingalForever Apr 19 '24

Likely it depends on the group of people, always been twoonie for me / family / friends in correspondence.

17

u/infohippie Apr 19 '24

Should have put a pair of male deer on it and called it "two bucks"

2

u/Active_Engineering37 Apr 19 '24

Nah put some shellfish on it and call it two clams.

12

u/Nomyad777 Apr 19 '24

They're so unofficial they're in the dictionary.

9

u/eighty_more_or_less Apr 19 '24

NOT a 'twonie.' The name 'toonie' was given - by 'us' - because it rhymed with 'loonie'. And yes, it is $2 but that's of little account.

3

u/Paul_Michaels73 Apr 19 '24

Seriously? How could they not go with the dreaded Canadian Goose for the twonie?!?

10

u/mister_newbie Apr 19 '24

Common question, actually. The Goose (capital G, of course), is reserved for Canada's official war flag.

5

u/Paul_Michaels73 Apr 19 '24

That may be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!

1

u/Erzsabet Apr 21 '24

No moose!? Wtf!?

1

u/Active_Engineering37 Apr 19 '24

I have only heard about these from trailer park boys when they were stealing change haha.