I am sure you have had the opportunity to be the owner of “devalued” bills that you usually pay for in various situations.
I can confirm from experience that it is often through no fault or negligence of your own that you have such specimens. It is quite common for such bills to be placed in ATMs, and once they are paid out, one cannot complain that one did not want such bills. They may also appear in the form of change after payment has been made at a supermarket or kiosk. You may object immediately, but you will rarely get a real understanding or apology from the clerk.
Dirty, soiled, or altered bills are simply a very hot commodity in our country, and everyone is trying to get rid of them.
Why is this so?
Money Abroad
Abroad, people are well aware that money (i.e., paper money that represents it in materialized form) is actually worthless on its own, unless you count the paper on which it is printed.
Therefore, it is quite common to receive or put back into circulation foreign currency bills on vacation or business trips outside the Czech Republic that have not only been scuffed or soiled from normal use, but also have been modified with various messages and small denomination bills. Why would anyone care to put a smiley face on an item that has no value?
Money in the Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, as in many other things in life, money is treated in a somewhat conservative, if not “Czech-like” manner. The mere thought that one might have difficulty using a banknote somewhere creates a vicious cycle of anxious pedantry and rejection of all but perfect banknotes. Because I am not going to expose myself unnecessarily to potential problems if the clerk is going to look at a dirty piece of paper with suspicion. And suddenly the entire nation is infected with this strange attitude, believing that a similar one-cent coin can be invalidated or counterfeited simply by drawing a line under the 500 with a pencil.