Like a lot of people, I’ve been fascinated with $2 bills for most of my life. I’ve learned recently that they’re not nearly as rare as most people perceive them to be–rather, almost everybody keeps the ones that they come across, thus removing them from circulation, which in turn more or less creates a self-fulfilling prophecy (so to speak) of rareness.
One of my banks sometimes has some on hand, so I went there the other day and got some for the purpose of spending them. I’ve spent some of them; what I’ve done so far is buy some very cheap thing that I would use anyway, so I don’t spend very many bills in one place. My log so far–
Safeway–the cashier had no visible reaction at all.
Walgreens–the cashier called somebody (not sure if it was a manager, or just somebody with more experience) up to the front, in order to find out how to tell whether a $2 bill in genuine. Take-away: Walgreens apparently does a mighty poor job of teaching its cashiers how to spot counterfeits. As I was leaving, I told the cashier to pay attention to the feel of the bills; that’s usually the biggest clue. The paper that the US government uses is extremely hard to duplicate.
King Soopers–the cashier was excited to see it, and commented on it.
I got a two dollar bill from a friend once, who asked if I’d seen the hitchhiker on the back. Determined to find it, I studied the bill for about ten minutes before conceding defeat. My friend took the bill and gave it a token glance. “Oh, he must have gotten a ride.”
I knew a guy who loved to use $2 bills. I think he felt that it made him distinctive, which I suppose it did, but he was just a bit of an odd duck in many ways.
I knew a guy who had the best $2 bill trick in existence. He’d order a strap of brand new sequential bills then he’d print out a top label, cut a piece of cardboard to fit and use glue to turn the whole stack into a pad, like post it notes. He’d go into a store, take out the pad of bills and tear out whatever he needed to pay for his stuff and my goodness, the reactions he got were priceless. Some people insisted the money wasn’t real, others were dying to find out where they could get similar pads, assuming the US Treasury actually put them out like that. It was pretty hilarious.
When I was a cashier lead in a thrift store, at least once a younger (IIRC, early 20s) cashier called me over when offered a $2 bill, not at all sure if it was real money. I explained that it was and thanked the customer for their patience.
On the rare occasion when I went into a bank, I used to ask for them and would get $200 bundles. But the last time was pre-‘rona. I still have a handful left (I don’t use cash much.)
Rarely got a comment. Never confused anyone.
You can get them at the bank. I keep a couple crisp ones in my wallet in case I bump into someone who I want to ask for their autograph. That’s happened before and I only had a shabby $1.
I was a kid during the Bicentennial, when the new two-dollar bills were released, and we kept some as souvenirs. I think they’re in my parents’ safe deposit box, though they’re just only worth face value.
Wonder if the Woz ever ran into my guy? Dude was probably 20-25 years older than Woz and they both hailed from California.
I hear that these days two dollar bills are the go-to at strip clubs–a dollar is considered really cheap ass and a fiver is a bit rich for a lot of guys.
My mother used to get those at the bank to give to her grandsons, my two nephews. When she died my sister and I found a stash of twenty five of them. I stuffed them in plastic Easter eggs, with candy too, and they went out last year at our church Easter egg hunt.
