This video brings up a very interesting question about making payments and the use of cash. The video features a guy in Australia who goes to City Hall to pay a parking ticket fine. He asks the cashier if they accept cash and she says yes. He says great, reaches into his backpack, pulls out a bank bag full of coins and dumps them on the counter...is he wrong? As you see in the beginning, he goes to the bank first to get the exact amount he needs in coins. The last time I checked, coins are still considered legal tender, so outside of the inconvenience of having to count the coins, what's the problem?

The guy is obviously making a statement and is intentionally being a jerk by paying in coins, but he is PAYING as required. Unless there is a sign posted prohibiting the use of coinage to pay fines, he hasn't technically done anything wrong outside of being a jackass.

This guy is clearly frustrated and to an extent, is taking his frustration out on a young girl who is being paid hourly, had nothing to do with him getting a ticket and is just trying to earn a living. That being said, her job is to accept payment, but she refused said payment after clearly stating they do accept cash, which is what he used.

We have all had fantasies about walking into a government office to pay a tax, a fine or overdue bill in coins, even though we know its probably not a good idea. The only reason you would actually do that would be to make the transaction as difficult as possible and to rudely make some kind of statement or point, whatever that might be.

I certainly would NOT want to be the one responsible for counting out those coins, but there is a fundamental principle here. We have a right in this society to take a stand and to be heard as long as we do it within the confines of the law.

So I will ask again, unless paying in coins is prohibited by law or their posted rules, why is this wrong? Remember, being a jerk is not against the law unless you break laws being a jerk. What do you think?

 

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