Penny Nazi??

So this afternoon I really needed some gum but its cold and nasty outside(read: i am too lazy to put my jacket on) so I decided to just go down to the little man who has a stand on the main floor of our building. I don't usually do this because
a) i have gotten bad and stale candy here before
b) he charges WAY to much for the nasty crap that he sells and
c) he's not a very pleasant little man, which may have something to do with his profession- i mean who choses to be a live vending machine in an office building?

Anyway, so as is my custom when i get treats in the afternoon, i don't let myself get anything that costs more than the change i have on hand- which usually is a lot, i seem to collect mass amounts of change. So i have $1.90 in change... 30 pennies and the rest quarters, dimes etc.... so change in hand, I go down to the little angry man with the gross candy. I pick out my gum and place it on the counter and say " i have some change, I hope that's okay" and he looks at my handful of what looks like mostly pennies and says "no pennies" i was like- WHAT??? they are money why wont you take them? He shows me about 3 shoe boxes full of pennies under the cash register and I say- well are my 30 pennies really going to make a difference? he was like, NO PENNIES... so then i try to bargain with him. I say- how about i give you only 10 pennies and the rest normal change... he just looks at me, so i assume this is okay, so i count out my dollar in change ( a RIDICULOUS PRICE FOR A 5 pack of gum!!!!) and he takes all the money but the pennies and says "no pennies" so i was like- what??? why not- then i gave up and just gave him a dime.

Now i am up here at my desk working away, chomping on my stale over priced gum with a stack of pennies on my desk thinking about looking up things online that say its against the law to not accept pennies since they are a legal tender... I wonder if i could get in trouble for posting it all over his little nook??

Anyway, that was my funny story of the afternoon. I think i might be at war with the little vendor man downstairs.