View Full Version : Penny prank gets kids in trouble
alessandra
03-05-2008, 07:24 PM
Just to add: the news story now says that the "protest" reports were inaccurate and it was just a prank the kids pulled.
Dottie Rebel
03-05-2008, 07:27 PM
^^^That's what school administration is saying anyway.
alessandra
03-05-2008, 07:28 PM
^^ true, but knowing the media, I'd believe it was mistaken information.
Then again, who knows-- I don't know any of the participants personally.
cameron_keys
03-05-2008, 08:25 PM
Dances were paid for up front, so I had the option of accepting or declining as I saw fit.
Well, so was this. They paid for the food before they ate it...Would it have been ok for the lunch ladies to refuse the pennies? People are arguing that its legal tender so it should be allowed...but I'm willing ot bet not one of them would accept pennies as payment in the club. Kind of hypocritical IMO.
And I am willing to believe it was just a prank and not a "protest". Like I said before...we used to do crap like this when we were kids too. But I know my parents would have made me serve the detention as a consequence of my actions.
LoveSexMoney
03-05-2008, 08:37 PM
Well, so was this. They paid for the food before they ate it...Would it have been ok for the lunch ladies to refuse the pennies? People are arguing that its legal tender so it should be allowed...but I'm willing ot bet not one of them would accept pennies as payment in the club. Kind of hypocritical IMO.
And I am willing to believe it was just a prank and not a "protest". Like I said before...we used to do crap like this when we were kids too. But I know my parents would have made me serve the detention as a consequence of my actions.
Yes, imo it would have been acceptable for the lunch ladies to refuse unwrapped pennies. That is standard practice among most businesses, is it not? As far as your strip club analogy goes: if the club was slow, I had no other custy options at the moment, and the pennies were rolled, yeah I'd take them. Twenty bucks is twenty bucks.
Yekhefah
03-05-2008, 08:39 PM
If I did have children I would teach them to be responsible in relationships and as a citizen, but I would teach them that no one is their authority.
Including you? Including their teachers and school administrators? They should just run amok and answer to no one? I'm sorry, but that kind of half-assed "parenting" is the reason people are so self-absorbed and rude nowadays. Kids NEED authority. They actually crave it. And I don't know how the teachers are supposed to maintain order when the kids know the teachers have no real authority over them.
Would it have been ok for the lunch ladies to refuse the pennies?
But they know if they did that, then some of the kids wouldn't get to eat lunch, and no decent human being is going to make a kid skip a meal over a goofy stunt. The proper thing to do is to take the pennies and then put the kids in detention for disrespect... and then the parents need to back them up.
cameron_keys
03-05-2008, 08:40 PM
Yes, imo it would have been acceptable for the lunch ladies to refuse unwrapped pennies. That is standard practice, is it not? As far as your strip club analogy goes: if the club was slow, I had no other custy options at the moment, and the pennies were rolled, yeah I'd take them. Twenty bucks is twenty bucks.
OK..at least you are consistant, I appreciate that. I doubt they were wrapped pennies, that would defeat the purpose of the prank. And I'm also betting that the lunch ladies didnt think they would be allowed to refuse and/or they just felt bad and didnt want the kids to go without lunch. And yet...these are the people who suffered for it.
I still think they should have served detention. Letting them get off was a cop out and taught a very bad lesson. What will they think they can get away with next?
cameron_keys
03-05-2008, 08:43 PM
Including you? Including their teachers and school administrators? They should just run amok and answer to no one? I'm sorry, but that kind of half-assed "parenting" is the reason people are so self-absorbed and rude nowadays. Kids NEED authority. They actually crave it. And I don't know how the teachers are supposed to maintain order when the kids know the teachers have no real authority over them.
But they know if they did that, then some of the kids wouldn't get to eat lunch, and no decent human being is going to make a kid skip a meal over a goofy stunt. The proper thing to do is to take the pennies and then put the kids in detention for disrespect... and then the parents need to back them up.
I agree with both(actually see what I wrote right under you..we posted at the same time!)
As to the first point...yes people DO need to see others as authority figures or we have chaos running rampant on the streets. We see police and such as authority figures...maybe not as individuals...but enough to know that there are laws and we need to follow them or deal with the consequenses.
jester214
03-05-2008, 08:56 PM
Really? What would those be?
Just because its legal tender doesn't mean they legally have to accept it. I mean, parking meters don't accept pennies.
"Legal Tender" means that something is allowed to be used as payment for and "debt".
The exception though is if something is expressly prohibited. Like a gas station not taking anything higher than a $20 or a machine only taking certain coins... You would have a tough case trying to exclude pennies... That'd be like a place refusing to take 4 $5 bills for a $20 "debt".
jester214
03-05-2008, 08:59 PM
I agree with both(actually see what I wrote right under you..we posted at the same time!)
As to the first point...yes people DO need to see others as authority figures or we have chaos running rampant on the streets. We see police and such as authority figures...maybe not as individuals...but enough to know that there are laws and we need to follow them or deal with the consequenses.
I think the whole thing is ridiculous... I did this (or something similar) once back in school with 4 friends... Everyone laughed and the lunch lady told us not to do it again, and later a VP told us the same thing...
No harm, No foul...
cameron_keys
03-05-2008, 09:00 PM
"Legal Tender" means that something is allowed to be used as payment for and "debt".
The exception though is if something is expressly prohibited. Like a gas station not taking anything higher than a $20 or a machine only taking certain coins... You would have a tough case trying to exclude pennies... That'd be like a place refusing to take 4 $5 bills for a $20 "debt".
Actually...you can exclude pennies..
jester214
03-05-2008, 09:04 PM
Actually...you can exclude pennies..
http://tafkac.org/faq2k/legal_552.html
Well I'm not going to argue about it... But what you referenced is about actual debts... Like electric bill or bank loan... Not paying for lunch at a restaraunt...
If I go into McDonalds tommorow with 324 pennies and get 3 things off the dollar menu I'm pretty sure they would have to go through with it...
cameron_keys
03-05-2008, 09:13 PM
Well I'm not going to argue about it... But what you referenced is about actual debts... Like electric bill or bank loan... Not paying for lunch at a restaraunt...
If I go into McDonalds tommorow with 324 pennies and get 3 things off the dollar menu I'm pretty sure they would have to go through with it...
Ok...here you go.
Nobody HAS to accept it. Only the US Federal Reserve.
minnow
03-06-2008, 02:28 AM
Ok...here you go. http://www.snopes.com/business/money/pennies.asp
Nobody HAS to accept it. Only the US Federal Reserve.
My thoughts on OP, and "TH's"
1) PUNISHMENT should fit the crime. The only harm done in this "prank" was infringing on fellow students lunch hr. and annoying school employees. Not as serious as pulling false fire alarm, defacing school property, etc. As 2 posters have pointed out, people, even minors, need to face the consequences of their action. Recall the teenage boy several yrs. ago who spray painted Singapore traffic sign, and the "caning" that he received? The visible welts? Two detentions are a cakewalk compared to that, and look how much Singapore has grown economically in last qtr. century.
2) ISSUES- Since plural was used, there's more than 1 cashier. Each cashier probably handles 60-90 transactions per 30 minute period- 250 students would require at least 3-4 cashiers to get everyone served. I see some legitimacy to gripe. Would aggreived parents be willing to vote for additional 0.1 mil levy to hire another cashier(s)?
3) PAY IN PENNIES? Cam's last link article reference to "Coinage Act of 1965" lists ALL U.S. coins as legal tender, but doesn't force a business to accept it. So, I guess technically, a bunch of coins (half cents, 2cent, 3 cent, and 20 cent coins) from the 1800's could be used in their original denomination. Anyone actually attempting to do so would be viewed by 99.999% of cashiers as an alien from another planet. Sort of like a car not going over the speed limit, but driving TOO slow.
On a side note: Once upon a time, I wanted to buy a roll of qtrs. The 1st bank that I walked into refused to sell me a roll :finger: b/c I didn't have an account with them! I left without protest, walked into 2nd bank- got roll from them, no problem. When it came time to open a new account several mos. later (1 motivation was to get another ATM card for stripclubbing cash withdrawls) }:D guess which bank got my business?
RandomUser
03-06-2008, 02:09 PM
You could run into a group of people with a moral objection to stripping which offends them as much as long government provided lunch lines. They could pay for both services in pennies as a form of protest and as a way to slow down the business to make it untenable until the powers that be rethink.
I think protests are fine as long as they don't apply costs to the average hard working every day stripper or lunch lady. Kids probably see lunch ladies as authority figures. Their protest and detention should have gotten their point across and also educated them on responsiblity. And do these kids expect the quality of their food to stay the same? Service industry types have a thin skin when anyone makes an unthankful low paying job harder. A creative solution would work better than a polarizing one or a cruel one. Creativity is just a harder sell. It is a mistake to assume that everyone that you made count out pennies to do their job has integrity. A few won't.
Pretty_Penny
03-06-2008, 02:16 PM
when i first read this thread title i thought "wtf did i do now?"
:P
i think it's awesome that the kids "protested" in the first place. it gives me a bit of hope for the future.
cameron_keys
03-06-2008, 02:43 PM
I want to get one thing clear...I am 100% in favor of kids protesting when they think something is wrong. If I had kids..I would absolutely teach them not to hold their tongue when they feel that there is something that needs to be said.
BUT...they also need to learn that there is a right and wrong way to do things. And if they choose not to go through the right channels(which I also agree may not be the best way to get heard depending on the situation) they also have to accept that there may be consequences. Accepting and dealing with those consequences is an important part of protesting.
These kids got detention. DETENTION. They werent caned or tortured or drawn and quartered. You can get detantion for smarting off to a teacher, wearing an "offensive" t-shirt, being late to class....the punishment very much fit the crime and I'd hate to see these kids in a few years after they've graduated to more serious pranks or "protests" that MIGHT actually hurt people,knowing full well that mom and dad will get them out of trouble.