Posted on 05/22/2007 5:43:46 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
When Antonio Swad made what he said was a simple business decision -- accepting pesos as well as dollars -- in his Texas-based pizza chain, he was unprepared for the public's reaction. He received thousands of hateful e-mails and phone calls.
And death threats.
"We didn't think ... that we'd be linked with the controversy that surrounds illegal immigration," Swad, the founder and chain owner of Pizza Patron, told CNN on Monday. "And that's [where] we found ourselves; swimming in that water almost immediately." (Watch owner defend controversial dough )
Some believed the policy of accepting pesos discouraged Mexican immigrants from assimilating to American culture. Others, firmly against illegal immigration, said he was rewarding people who sneaked into the United States.
In January, Swad shared one of the angry e-mails with CNN's Paula Zahn.
It read: "As if we don't have enough problems in this country right now with the illegal freeloaders, you corrupt crooks are only inviting more of this by your stupidity. You absolutely sicken us taxpaying citizens that want these cockroaches out of this country."
Tim O'Hare, a councilman for Farmers Branch, Texas, told CNN that Pizza Patron is targeting people who are constantly crossing the border.
"They're making money off of it because they are catering to people here illegally," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I wonder what the law is on this. We know that American currency is our legal money. I wonder if the law is that only American money is permitted to be spent?
I think he sees a business opportunity if a lot of other businesses won’t take pesos.
We should thank CNN. We should know about this person.
No, that is not the law, nor should it ever by that law.
The man can sell me a pizza for a bag of magic beans as long as he and I agree on the deal.
What is that supposed to mean? Couldn't he give his pizza away if he wanted to? What's the BFD???
Around here we get Canadian money all the time. The banks don't want it. But you can exchange it at whatever the rate is that day.
Typical of CNN to publish one inarticulate comment from a redneck.
Speaking for myself, as "people I should know" it serves a useful purpose. Another person I would never buy anything from; ever.
If he can't figure out why, I don't need to waste my time trying to explain it to him.
I'm not a lawyer and I'm just guessing but I suppose whatever currency you choose to accept is up to you. The government only requires that you must accept U.S. currency. If you're willing to go through the hassle of accepting other currency and deal with exchanging it you can do what you want. In all probability this guy is ripping of the stupid immigrants by offering a fixed exchange rate regardless of what the official exchange rate is. I've dealt with this in many countries. Almost everyone will accept the dollar or euro. You just have to be willing to surrender it on their terms which are usually worse than you would get at a bank.
That’s why I don’t understand what the fuss is all about. There is no law that states he only can accept American currency. He can accept conch shells as payment, as long as he reports it somehow to the authorities.
WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! TILL YOU RUN OUT OF INK IN YOUR PEN!
Bombard the Democrats as well, especially the ones that ran on an anti immigration plank and the ones in marginal districts who could be vulnerable. keep pounding on them.
Nope. Go to Wal-Mart in Houlton, Maine and watch the Canadian money change hands. It's called free enterprise.
How do you figure sales tax on a bag of magic beans?
100% spot on....this guy has to be ripping off the illegals (obviously no citizen would use “pesos”...come on) who pay in pesos.
The Mexican currency is such a basket case...you would be foolish to not exchange it for a higher rate than a bank would, if you accept it as cash.
Growing up in El Paso, whenever we went into Mexico, we always used dollars. All those years on the border and I never saw a peso...most Mexican shopkeepers listed everything in US Dollars, anyway.
It would be more humanitarian to just accept dollars only.
Really? Well, kindly tell us what it was you were actually thinking. Perhaps along the US/Canadian border there's free exchange of Canadian currency but I've yet to see a peso passed as currency in Texas.
OMG, took the words right out of my mouth! I was going to say the Walmart in Houlton (or the Pizza Hut, or Marden’s or Andy’s IGA...) We get tons of Canadian currency there. A lot of businesses there have American/Canadian exchange rates posted near the register.
PS Do you know anything about the Elm Tree? As in, did he sell it and is it still open? :)
The Elm Tree Diner? I haven't a clue. Is York's book store still in Market Square? I got Steven King to sign my copy of "The Stand" there in 1979.
BTW, I grew up in Woodstock. In high school, we used to buy our beer at Marc's Mart.
The last time this story made its rounds (and if this is the same guy), he was overcharging by about 10%.
I used to work in a town that had dishonest wind-up parking meters. You'd put in coins for an hour and get about 45-50 minutes. Figuring the US/Canukistan exchange rate being about 70 cents US to 1.00 Canadian I just started feeding the meters Canadian coins.
Plenty of stores basically print they're own scrip -- they're called gift certificates. Most companies nowadays have gone over to electronic gift cards instead, but any business in a tourist area accepts paper travelers' checks. Whether they accept denominations other than dollars is another issue.
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