(photo above: my false 50 peso note)crap, how did this happen again? it happened once before when i first arrived. i remembered who gave me my first "falso" (a hotel) so i went back to complain and they gave me a real 20 peso note in exchange for the 20 they passed off onto me.
i know that "falsos" float around. when i receive a 50 or 100 i always check to make sure i see the metal like strip through it. when i go to use a 50 or 100 i always check it again before giving it to make sure no one does a "swapperoo" on me.
tonight i went to pay with my "falso" 50 with a metal like strip and a watermark and it was handed back to me.
if you have argentine fingers than you are skillfully trained to detect a falso by rubbing it between your finger tips. my american fingers have a more difficult time deciphering paper quality. but when this note was pointed out, i could tell the paper quality wasn't the same.
should i be honest and rip it up or should i be desperate and try to pass it off?
i'd like to think that i try to make decisions that i can be proud of...but for this time i'm going to disappoint myself. it will be my shameful mission for weekend.
UPDATE:
mission accomplished; although i don't feel accomplished.
i got rid of my falso this weekend. i thought i would feel relieved getting rid of the thing, but i don't. i feel guilty.
i tried to pay with it at a supermarket but they detected it right away. or maybe they smelled my guilt? i told some friends about my dilemma. one suggestion was to lay it down at a restaurant when paying the bill and then walk out. so, that was my non-confrontational tactic; it worked. but i felt like i was a shoplifter who was obviously leaving with a stash worth of clothing under my flasher like jacket.
what a bad feeling. i just really hope i don't get another falso. i need to practice the fingertip rubdown of money.
6 comments:
I cannot believe that in almost a year this has not happened to me -- yet. I never look at the money I receive or the money I give out, although I have noticed store clerks checking each bill. I suppose it's pure luck and my day is coming.
How hard it must be for you to carry all this guilt for what you did to our weather by daring to wear a sundress and flipflops while it is still official winter.
I won't let you forget this!
very literally paying it forward, eh? :)
I wouldn't feel bad about this, the restaurant will probably give it to some other customer as 'change', and they'll do the exact same thing. It might as well be legal tender :p
Nice blog by the way. I'm about to go to Canada for a long while (exchange student), it's not quite the same as dropping everything and moving obviously, but it's good to read someone else's account of finding themselves in a new place.
I received a fake 10 bill at a kiosco across from the Facultad de Medicina a couple of months ago. I deserved it, you know, getting change for a 100. Well, I headed back the next day, letting him know my principles. I didn't want a new bill, I'd rather have him realize he did wrong. So I had a little conversation with him. He responded to my calm claim being extremely defensive, yelling at me (expected). After pushing his buttons for the next minute or so, telling him to calm down because he was the one who gave me the fake, he flipped and told me to take anything in the place that added up to 10 pesos. Funny funny funny. I wasn't interested in the 10 pesos, I was more inclined to make him feel absolutely horrible about himself. In the end, he got his fake 10 peso note back from me, and I just hope karma catches up to him.
But Yillabean...
You actually attempted to use the bill, failed, then succeeded, and it took you until then to feel guilty? Why punish someone for your mistake? Don't stoop to their level!!! nice blog
evan
evan, you're right and i'm not proud of what i did; that's for sure.
i felt guilty in the decision to pass it on, not just afterward.
i wrote in the original post: "i'd like to think that i try to make decisions that i can be proud of...but for this time i'm going to disappoint myself. it will be my shameful mission for weekend."
there is no justification good enough to defend my decision, but if i had to give one, it would be that i'm still living off of an english teachers salary. 50 pesos is a lot of money.
for you, i'm surprised you gave the kiosko owner the fake 10 back. do you think he honestly felt bad about his actions? my guess would be no. to him you and me "are "rich" americans, we deserve to be taken advantage of." aren't you worried he will put the bill back into circulation?
give it to the toll booth (peaje) on the autopista. they'll take it.
Post a Comment