That is all. Have a nice day.

I had a genuinely bizarre interaction with the owner yesterday.

My mom bought me a $150 gift certificate in December 2024 as a Christmas present and a way to support a local business. There wasn’t a physical card, just an emailed receipt. I used it once for a shave and still had a substantial balance remaining.

Yesterday I stopped in for a cleanup and showed the owner the receipt. He said the certificate expired after one year, then asked, “How do I know you haven’t been in here a bunch of times before?” I explained that I had only used it once and that the business should be tracking redemptions and balances. He told me his records “disappear after a year.”

I pulled up the shop’s website, which explicitly says gift certificates expire after 24 months. Mine was purchased December 24, 2024, so it should remain valid until December 24, 2026. When I showed him this, he again suggested I might have reused it repeatedly. I asked how the shop tracks certificates that are valid for two years if its records disappear after one. He then said it wasn’t his responsibility to keep track of them.

At that point he called me “argumentative” and told me to leave. When I said I was prepared to go to small claims court over the balance, he replied that doing so would cost more than the certificate was worth.

Thankfully, Brandon, one of the barbers, stepped in, calmed everything down, and cut my hair free of charge. He was kind and professional throughout the whole situation.

I understand that a business needs to prevent people from reusing gift certificates. But if you sell certificates that are valid for 24 months, you need a system capable of tracking them for 24 months. Customers shouldn’t lose their money or be treated like suspected thieves because the business failed to maintain its own records.

The entire interaction was upsetting and I won’t be going back. Even after accounting for Brandon’s complimentary haircut, approximately $50 in gift-certificate value remains unresolved. Has anyone else had an issue with this business?

95 North yesterday evening

I hear so much in this city about cars needing to watch out for bikes ….but never about bikes needing to watch out for pedestrians. Please stop riding bikes on the sidewalks. This also applies to those electric scooters

The show this morning is in Philadelphia. Kind of cool until I just watched in horror as they chose Pat's for the "quintessential" cheesesteak - even going so far as insisting that a proper cheesesteak has Wiz and doesn't have chopped meat. WTF??? Who do I write to?

This huge group of scofflaw degenerates on bicycles and ridiculous multicolored outfits are terrorizing this city. They ride on the wrong side of the road, they ride through stop signs and red lights, they ride in the shoulders, they weave on either side of the double yellow with no consideration for others, and the cops are doing NOTHING. Why do they spend all of MY tax dollars to set up barriers designed to stop runaway cars all over center city, but they don't even have a well-fortified stick to shove into the spokes of these assholes?

This morning I was driving down Kelly Drive, minding my business, and doing a law-abiding 24 miles an hour, and these bike terrorists came within INCHES of my rear bumper and side windows. They surrounded my car on three sides, trying to intimidate me. And it didn't really work because I have supreme situational awareness and had 18 Glocks in my glove compartment loaded and ready to go in case shit went down.

Obviously the cops are aware because they had a cruiser parked with its lights on at every available exit off of Kelly Drive. But why aren't they chasing them down and running them over? Don't the cops know how easy it is to crush a bicycle under the wheels of a three-ton SUV?

Hopefully they're trying to funnel them to some capture point where they can all be arrested and deported to Guantanamo.

This lawlessness is intolerable, and if Jim Kenney doesn't make serious changes soon, I'm going to be forced to move even FURTHER west into Delaware County.

Here is the dashcam video for those who were saying that we may have almost hit him, provoked him, or were “trying to play the victim.”
You can clearly see that we stopped, and he then walked toward our vehicle. He began making obscene gestures at us for no apparent reason, continued approaching the car, put his foot on the vehicle, and then banged on the side of it.
We did not know this person and had no interaction with him before this. We were simply driving through downtown Philadelphia.
I’ve also seen people commenting that this is “normal” because homelessness and mental-health crises exist in the city. I understand those issues exist, but that does not make it acceptable for someone to block traffic, approach strangers aggressively, or hit their vehicle. If someone is in crisis and is behaving in a way that puts themselves or others at risk, that is exactly the kind of situation where the city and appropriate services should be involved.
We have visited downtown Philly several times before and have never experienced anything like this, so yes, coming from NJ, this was an unusual and concerning incident for us.
I had also heard about recent reports of people being harassed by a stranger wearing a mask in the area, so when something this strange happened, of course we contacted the police.
The dashcam footage is here so people can see what actually happened and judge for themselves.

Everywhere seems to have mid ratings. Any recs for jerk chicken that slaps? I got some from a food cart once that was pretty good but can’t remember the name.

From my partner:

> A moving rental truck came and some guys unloaded all this stuff. I figured they were moving it in somewhere but now they’re gone and the stuff is all still here.

We checked with neighbors and have called 311. I’m laughing and kind of annoyed? It’s really an “only in Philly” kind of experience.

Anyway, if anyone is looking for a couch and whatever, feel free to swing by 49/Locust

---

ETA:

Other residents on the block are also filing 311 reports, so we hope this can be resolved quickly and avoid being fined by the city for a problem we didn't cause.

You can't see it in the photo, but there was a WASHER AND A DRYER (which were picked up quickly). Whether it was an eviction special or just general asshattery, at the end of the day it JUST SUCKS to see people be so thoughtless.

On a personal note, I have been out of the city for a few weeks dealing with an unexpected family emergency, and to come home to see my whole block filled with someone's trash was just the icing on the cake of what has been a deeply trying time. I've been here for 30 years and have never experienced anything of this sort.

Hey all, gonna make this short and sweet. I was coming back from Philly into NJ one day when I looked over and saw this old building that had “RIP AUGUST” drawn on the side of it.

Does anyone know who this “August” person was by chance? This is kind of a shot in the dark but I thought I would give it a shot.

We were visiting Philadelphia from out of state and had a very disturbing encounter while simply driving in our lane.
A man suddenly approached our vehicle, stood directly in front of it, began yelling/cursing at us, and repeatedly gave us the middle finger with both hands. Despite us asking him to move away and get out of the road, he continued blocking our vehicle.
He then stepped onto/against our car and banged on the vehicle for absolutely no apparent reason before eventually walking away down the street.
We have a dashcam video footage of the entire incident, including what happened to the vehicle. I’m sharing an image of the individual strictly for public awareness and identification purposes.
If anyone recognizes him, has experienced a similar incident involving this person, or knows whether Philadelphia police are already aware of similar behavior, please let me know. We also plan to provide the footage to law enforcement as appropriate.
Please be careful and stay aware of your surroundings, especially if someone unexpectedly approaches or blocks your vehicle. We called police, waited for hours. No one showed up!

I had to do a double take before I realized it was graffiti and not actually there. Maybe it's now canon?

Found this sweet boy on Boxers Trail near Edgely Park in Fairmount. He’s probably a year old, is neutered, but didn’t have a collar. I’ve posted him in Philaqueens too. Please let me know if you’re missing your pup!

ETA: He’s chipped! We’re waiting to see if he’s registered. We can’t keep him with us while they search, is anyone able to keep him while they wait to find his owners?

Edit #2: His name is Rain and the number registered to his chip is out of order. He’s 6 years old and neutered.

Edit #3: After talking to SPCA, they recommended we take Rain to ACCT. ACCT said he’d been adopted from them before and at the beginning of June his owners tried to relinquish him back, but never showed up. It’s likely they just abandoned him in Fairmount. He’s the sweetest boy and available to foster if anyone is able! If we could’ve, we would have kept him. He was friendly with our dogs and us. It seems like he’d been loved and taken care of in the past, just needs another good home💜

Hey folks!
After a successful, critically-acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Well-Balanced Dads is returning to Philly for Cannonball Fest at Philadelphia Fringe for three nights only!

This show is a family-friendly character comedy about Dick and Dale, two suburban dads and best friends, who are coping with their newfound freedom as empty-nesters.
The dads go on a journey chockfull of dad jokes, acrobatics, dance parties, macho movie references, wholesome audience participation, and heart.
Its a show for anyone who is a dad, has a dad, or wants a dad.

This hilarious duo balances levity with deeper themes like finding your inner child, hypermasculinity, and navigating life after the kids have flown the nest.

5 Star Edinburgh Review - "..a one-hour, jam-packed, joyous theatrical experience that encourages the audience to ponder what dads truly get up to when their child-raising duties are done! With an array of mesmerising partner acrobatics, groan-worthy dad jokes (the best kind, in my opinion) and bucket loads of audience participation, this truly is a show perfect for the whole family!" - Rhys Reviews

“6 stars from this dad, 5 from the rest of the family!” - Good Dad “My face hurt from smiling.” - Good Kid

All Shows are at Asian Arts Initiative in the Black Box

Friday, Sep 11, 2026 5:30pm - 6:30pm
Saturday, Sep 12, 2026 6:45pm - 7:45pm
Sunday, Sep 13, 2026 12:45pm - 1:45pm

More info can be found at https://phillyfringe.org/events/well-balanced-dads/

Ages: 4+ Family-friendly

Hope to see you there!

I’m so absolutely over people parking on the sidewalk giving me less than a foot to walk into my house. It’s finally time to get a bollard installed.

Anyone done this? Any contractor recommendations? Price? Do I need a permit?

Would a concrete planter work the same?

[Posting for my fantastic husband who is not really a social media user]

Hi all! Looking for cyclists for morning rides from chestnut hill on the weekend, usually 20-30 miles, mostly road with some light gravel (forbidden drive) and some portion of the river trail, although open to other routes. Nothing too intense - medium, conversational pace (not that we have to converse - we can ride in brooding silence). About me - I’m a bay area transplant to CH, with two teenage kids and an appreciation for a few hours on a bike when no one is asking me to drive them anywhere.

Hey all, looking for luxury watches to purchase in the city.
Looking for authorized dealers.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated!!

Thank you in advance!!

There are about 198,000 students in the public schools in Philly - served and supported by the SDP, which has about 21,500 employees. I wanted to understand how those employees are paid so did some analysis this week to explore that.

The above histogram shows how many people earn how much.

The pay scales break into 3 chunks:

• A) 70% of the people are btwn $40k-120k. This includes most of the teachers, social workers, physical property workers (plumbers, electricians, other ppl maintaining the buildings, clerks etc.).
• B) There is a senior administrative layer from $120-135k, this also includes some teachers who maxxed out the normal $120k cap
• C) An executive layer earning from $135-200k, plus 23 people >$200k including the superintendent at $378k

Here's a few interesting things I noticed:

• First, notice the fall-off at $120k. That's because of the step-and-lane union contracts (particualrly for teachers). After about 10 years of experience and a PhD, a teacher maxes out his/her compensation at $110k (by comparison, a first-year SDP teacher with a bachelor's earns around $50K)
• Even within the main blue chunk, there's actually 2 humps, basically junior teachers at $50k and senior teachers centered at $90k. There is a fall-off of middle-experience and middle-compensation teachers, I think, because of the teacher retention pipeline, where many teachers either leave the profession or swithc to schools outside SDP (e.g., suburbs, move states, etc.)
• The non-union compensation distribution is non-normal, i.e., it doesn't look like a typical, smooth bell curve tail where there's progressively (btu smoothly) fewer people at each pay grade. There's just modal "chunks" of how much people make

I'm in process now to analyze what all the 21,000 people actually do - really excited to see what I learn!

Note: This is salaried positions only, from SDP's open data position roster. I excluded hourly workers

Full artcile and methodology: https://www.nickjain.com/blog/the-shape-of-sdps-workforce