Merica The Land of Waste

I was leaving an ATM and walked across some grass to take a shortcut back to my car.  I looked down and saw the front of the White-house.  I picked up part of a Twenty Dollar Bill that was brittle and probably destroyed by lawn sprinklers.  I looked around and found seven pieces of the Twenty Dollar Bill.  This is what I was able to tape back together.  I'm going to take it to a bank and see if I can exchange it.  It still has the Magnetic Twenty Dollar Strip, so I think it is real.

Years ago I saw a story on "60 Minutes" about the Treasury Department.  A worker there was pasting back together Fifty Dollar Bills.  An old senile woman had cut them up and her family wanted to redeem them.  The Treasury Department worker said that if they could put President Grant's face, the "50", and both serial numbers back together than they would be remediable.  I think I have enough of this Twenty, that I might be able to get it redeemed.  I'll take it to the bank and see what happens.  Some wasteful American just left it out there in the grass rotting away...

I did burn a One Dollar bill once which felt so good to do, but Twenty Dollars is hella money here in Merica...  Its still more than two hours work at minimum wage.  And according to Frontline, twenty bucks is worth 180 Pounds of Rice in North Korea.  I want more than some rice...


On September 2, 2014 I took it to the Golden1 Credit Union at 4321 Morada Lane,
Stockton, CA 95212.  I showed it to the teller and told him about the "60 Minutes" program that I had seen.  I took photos of the bill on the counter and of the teller.  I told them that I just wanted to exchange the bill for another one that was undamaged and that I didn't want to be screwed.  I said that I had already put photos of it online.  The teller showed it to his boss and she said okay.  I was able to exchange it for an undamaged note.  I said that I would give them a positive review on the internet.  I did have to show them my Bank Card and my Driver's License.  I tried to be 100% honest, I was happy to not be screwed out of my twenty bucks.