Does not involve horses or pirates

October 27, 2007 10:24 AM

Explain this bar-room incident

So I'm in this bar, in Manchester UK, about a year ago. I take a trip to the men's room, where I find two guys in their mid-twenties outside the door, as if they're waiting for their turn. One of them gives me a little nod to go inside and, being in somewhat of a hurry --- they make excellent ale in Manchester --- I go ahead. As I am proceeding with the business at hand, I notice a tight roll of bills, about the size of a cigarette, sitting on the water tank. I'm a little uncertain, but I think the outermost bill was a 20.

I can hear the two men standing outside haven't left, so I decide there's something fishy in this and just leave the money sitting there. As I walk out the door, the guy that nodded to me before walks in.

I'm guessing there was some transaction between the two, and they didn't want to just hand the money over, but what was the point of having me look at their cash for a minute and a half?

posted by the number 17 to society & culture (15 comments total)

Sounds like a drug deal. Guy A leaves the drugs and walks out. Some Dude walks in. Guy B goes in, takes the drugs and leaves the money. You go in. Guy A goes back in and gets his money. There's a lot of steps in there, and if anyone's watching it'd be hard to prove who's doing what. And if Some Dude or You fuck around with their shit, they know exactly who did it and can remedy the situation. You were smart not to.
posted by Doublewhiskeycokenoice at 10:28 AM on October 27, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

yeah, you probably interrupted the deal. the guy nodded at you to let you know that if the cash wasn't there when you walked out, he'd know you took it and know what you looked like.
posted by thinkingwoman at 10:40 AM on October 27, 2007

Why would you roll up money during a drug deal?
One of them had just done a line of coke and was passing the rest to his friend when you walked in. The rolled up note was left for his friend to use. They let you use the toilet first as they had no other option in the circumstances.
posted by demagnetized at 10:48 AM on October 27, 2007

Yep, they were doing coke. It doesn't sound to me like they were exchanging cash. Probably just blowing lines.
posted by tundro at 11:00 AM on October 27, 2007

uh, doing lines with more than a single bill seems like overkill, no?
posted by fishfucker at 11:10 AM on October 27, 2007

They were sniffing coke. No more, no less.
posted by the_epicurean at 11:59 AM on October 27, 2007

It's easy enough to pass off cash hand-to-hand, no need to complicate things with an elaborate "leave the money in the toilet" scenario.

Rolled up bill = instrument of coke delivery.

Totally weird that they would leave it sitting out, though. I suppose they could just be bad at this "how to buy/share drugs" thing, or just really fucked up. Or it could be some sort of bizarre naive way for them to try to advertise that they're holding and willing to sell, or they could be the worst plants/undercover in the world.
posted by desuetude at 1:53 PM on October 27, 2007

IANAcokefiend, but it seems to me that a rolled up wad of money would not be an ideal delivery method. I vote drug deal, not drug use.
posted by emelenjr at 4:15 PM on October 27, 2007

what a worthless delivery system... if a stranger could walk right in and realize what is happening and take the money.

reeks of amateurism.

horrible speculation in this thread... most likely this was a bunch of idiots who didn't know what they were doing.

from my experience in criminal defense anyways.
posted by Mr_Crazyhorse at 4:41 PM on October 27, 2007

I don't think the guys outside were either dealing drugs or using coke. I think someone who'd previously used the cubicle for a line (of coke), probably with a friend, simply forgot to lift their note when they left. Note ownership can be problematic when using and abusing with companions :)
posted by brautigan at 6:54 PM on October 27, 2007

perhps a social experiment ?

lave some cash in plain view and wait to see if someone swipes it or not ? kinda like that dropped wallet project ?
posted by dawdle at 7:42 PM on October 27, 2007

OP here, thanks for the answers all around. Here's my take on the different explanations :


I don't think the coke scenario is correct, the whole thing didn't look like the roll was forgotten. I concede this may be bias on my part, as this explanation diminishes my adventures in the Manchester underworld.

For what it's worth, it was definitely more than one bill. Also, it was left inside the stall, with the door closed - there's no way I interrupted them while using. The only way this could work is if they were just finished and were on the point of leaving when I came in. They realised they have forgotten their note and stuck around to recover it.

As for the dealing explanation, that was my first thought as well. What struck me as weird is that everything was very obvious, like I was meant to see it. They could at least hide the money. Doublewhiskey / thinkingwoman's explanation makes sense, even though they didn't look much the situation-remedying type. I guess they had friends, or they relied on security theater.

The deliberate experiment option also makes sense, even though it's the most far-fetched one. I hope I haven't unwittingly been on some British TV show, but I wouldn't mind helping out with a psychology thesis.

I don't see people supporting the advertisement / drug code explanation appart from desuetude. I was half expecting something like this to be common, just unfamiliar to me.
posted by the number 17 at 12:09 AM on October 28, 2007

I'd vote for use (not sale/etc) as well - if the bills were rolled up to the size of a cigarette, it'd be pretty hard to know how many were involved, right?
posted by sluggo at 4:43 AM on October 28, 2007

Realise you've best answered here but I can 100% guarantee you that a rolled note or notes of cigarette size on a toilet cubicle in the fair city of Manchester was being used for snorting cocaine. You've found this on a public toilet cistern with nothing to connect it to dealing or to the two guys in the room save for the fact they happened to be chatting outside the stall. In my many years of illegal drugs use and abuse in the even fairer city of Glasgow I've never seen or heard of drug deals being conducted in such a fashion. And even if a dealer was waiting to pick up his money in such a farcical manner, he damn sure wouldn't let you go into the stall ahead of him. Especially not a Mancunian dealer, who'd probably shoot you rather than have you pocket his cash. Basically, some coked up fools have left their note behind and you should have stuck it in your pocket and treated yourself to a round of Boddington's on their behalf :)
posted by brautigan at 4:44 AM on October 28, 2007

Well I'm mostly guessing here, good to here from someone with actual knowledge of the scene. Unless the actual people who left the money read this I don't think we'll get a definitive answer.
posted by the number 17 at 11:36 AM on October 28, 2007