The United States doesn't have hyperinflation just yet. I mean seriously, did he really think they would even have change for a $1M note?

dumber than iRocks.

I guess I'll just keep my $5,000,000,000.00 bill in my pocket for a little while longer...

I'm pretty sure that there were once $100,000 bills. They were not in circulation. IIRC, they were used by banks.

Once when I was a cashier, I was given a counterfeit one dollar bill. It wasn't even the right color green. Or printed straight.

I often get $2 bills as change from the bank. Most people have seen them or heard of them - so no problem. But, then I forget and go thru the drive-thru at some fast-food place. The teenagers there have trouble making change for the more popular denominations even when the digital cash register is telling them how much the change is. I hand them a $2 bill and it's like their skull is about to explode with puzzlement.

@Jeff_McAwesome:

They were in circulation for years, then they were used for large cash bank transfers, then were eventually phased out and destroyed entirely. They are no longer legal-tender (like silver and gold certificates).

@pdxguy: Sounds like the time Woz was hassled for having a bunch of $2 bills (apparently he collects them)

@pdxguy: I love that (sarcasm). I once got 11 free tacos from Del Taco b/c the kid kept insisting I paid. I got tired of arguing and just left.

What about the $10,000 bill? The one with all the presidents on it? They're having a party. Jimmy Carter is passed out on the couch.

@RvLeshrac: i believe silver and gold certificates are still legal-tender. they are not, however, redeemable for silver or gold anymore.

@Beerad: If you look closer, you can see the pyramid of beer cans.

My grandfather has a $500 bill, one of the originals before it went out of circulation.

@pdxguy: They think it's fake.

Hell, I looked it up because I wasn't sure you weren't kidding.

I once had some high school kid insist that my $2 bill was a fake, because there's no such thing as a two-dollar bill...

@Jeff_McAwesome:

Oh, wait, that was $100,000. I thought you said $1,000.

There were $500, $1k, $5k and $10k notes (and certificates) of various types, but not $100k notes.

@forever_knight:

They're legal to hold, but the treasury is currently under no obligation to honor them.

Prior to 196X, it was actually illegal to have them in your posession.

I was given one of these at a parade. A web address for some wacko religious thing was printed on it. It was obviously fake in so many ways, but it doesn't surprise me that someone thought it was real.

At a design agency I previously worked for, somebody in the office had $1,000,000 bills made with his portrait on them.

I should've tried cashing them. It's such a brilliant idea!

@Beerad: I don't know. I wouldn't be able to plow any other driveways (I'm sorry, I know he said that before, not after Homer described the bill to him).

@RvLeshrac:
[en.wikipedia.org]

What about the 3 dollar bill? oops sorry, that was Michael Jackson!

ah pittsburgh, you are my shimmering beacon of intelligence...

Even if this bill was legit it would have still been illegal to pass it for change. Before EFT came around the Fed Reserve had what was called 'inter exchange currency' for use strictly for the Fed. The lowest denomination was $100,000 (which for a time was legal tender in circulation, later withdrawn.) up to $10m notes. But possession of these notes by other than a federal courier was a federal offense.

I used to work at an amusement park and part of my job was to investigate possible counterfeit bills. One of our brilliant clerks thought a $3 bill with a a cartoony portrait of Bill Clinton was legit. It even said in big bold letters "NOT LEGAL TENDER" and "FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY"! On the both the front and back it said "Crooked as a Three Dollar Bill." And she accepted this as payment.

Sometimes we got legit $1 bills, but the "1" was replaced with "50" or "100" (usually cut off from a legit bill, or printed on the cotton paper and taped on).

I can't even count how many times I had to tell the clerks that $2 bills were legit.

The gullibility and ignorance of what I saw scared me.

I think everyone is missing the big picture.
This guy fully expected to buy whatever and get the rest back in change. He's thinking "Dammit. I bought Tic Tacs for .89. Where's my $999,999.11 in change?"

I hate those folded up churchy $20's that people would leave on the table as part of my "tip". Gee thanks... a bible quote. Now I can feed myself...

@chipslave: I guess the quote wasn't about loaves and fishes.

I hope this was a joke.

Why do I have a feeling the guy was irate because the same store DID give him change the previous week for his $1 mill bill.

@IRSistherootofallevil: I have a feeling that it wasn't a joke, which really makes it scary.

Homer: [on the phone, disguising his voice]
There's a $10,000 bill in it for you.
Barney: Oh yeah? Which president's on it?
Homer: Uh... All of them. They're having a party. Jimmy Carter's
passed out on the couch.
Barney: Wow!

Whatever happened to "The customer is always right?" This is a consumer website - I expected more out of you people. If the man paid with a $1,000,000 dollar bill, the store should give him change.

(testing...testing...1...2...3...sarcasm alert)

@backbroken: I think he was irate because he gave change to somebody else for the $1 mil bill.

We need to bring back the $1000 bill because Grover Cleveland was was, in the words of a Wonkette pundit, a stone cold pimp.

[wonkette.com]

I think more inane than the man's belief that the note was indeed legal tender, is the fact that the teller saw this obvious novelty item as some sort of plausible counterfeit threat, worthy of confiscation.

@pdxguy: Had a friend have mall security called on him at a mall Taco Bell for trying to give the kid a $2 bill. Kid insisted he was passing counterfeit money because there was no such thing as a $2.

@marsneedsrabbits: LOL. This person is ALWAYS the first one into the convenience store at 9 a.m. on a Sunday when you can't break anything bigger than a $20 yet! I remember this person from high school cashier jobs. ARGH!

My favorite denom is the $3, of course.

@Yourhero88:
Given the head explosions $2-bills can cause, I would say it's likely someone out there might be fooled into accepting phoney $1M-bills.

@Yourhero88: But the fact of damage to the store's property after the confiscation still remains.

I think this guy's a little off his rocker. Just a tad. Maybe he bought the rocker with his other $1 million bill and a little fairy dust.

@MissJ: The fairy dust made it fly to his home. Standard delivery wasn't enough.

Wow! a cashier confiscated some Monopoly money!!!! The customer handed it over. It's probably a crime to pass off $1,000,000 fake money as legal tender, even if the fake money isn't counterfeit.

I say the store is in the right! (As long as they didn't make him produce his receipt on the way to the police station).

@blue_duck: Well, I guess if he were to use his $1 million bill for a pair of Bang and Olufsen headphones, he should expect nothing less than expedited delivery via United Pixie Service.

If a $2 bill is confusing to some, I can't imagine what the sacagawea dollar coin does to others!

I myself am disappointed in this man, if it were me, I'd at least of tried using my trillion dollar bill.

[www.prankplace.com]

$1M note, I think anyone who believes it was real enough to pass off at a store really has deeper issues and should be checked into a mental health facility. When you read more of the story it becomes quite evident that the person in this story is not well and needs help and lots of it.

I used a half dollar at McDonald's last week and the cashier looked at it, looked at me, and said "is this a dollar?"

I remember when the saying, "as queer as a $2" was popular.
Since the $2 came out again, I wonder what the current saying is!

Wow, what the hell was that guy on? PCP?

@chipslave: Are you serious? People actually leave you a folded up fake 20 with a bible quote on it? I've never heard of such a thing and I'm amazed at how messed up and cruel that is to put that down as part of a tip. Get the person all excited only to realize its religious propaganda. Sheesh, if they absolutely NEED to leave some religious crap on the table with your tip they shouldn't do it with something that looks like real money at first glance. While I'm not one for religion, I have no problem with people of faith but I always have a problem when people try to preach to me in any way what so ever.