The cable industry has two kinds of horrible people — Those who flat-out lie to customers in order to trick them into purchasing a package with hidden costs or conditions, and those who refuse to do anything about it when a customer calls shenanigans on that sort of deceit. [More]
Time Warner Cable Lies To Me, Tells Me I Should Be Happy I’m Getting Half The Savings I Was Promised
By February 15, 2013
Bookstore Combats E-Books With One Thing Your Kindle Can’t Offer
By November 13, 2012
Whatever benefits an e-book might have over its print counterpart, and no matter how close digital media gets to ink-on-paper, there is one thing that downloaded copy of Moby Dick can’t offer to some readers: The collectable factor. [More]
Hurricane-Damaged Restaurant Sells “Junk Bonds” To Pay For Rebuilding
By November 12, 2012
In the world of finance, junk bonds are high-yield, high-risk investments. But a restaurant in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, which was particularly hard-hit by Hurricane Sandy, is selling “junk bonds” that offer no return on your investment other than a decent meal and a good feeling that you’re helping a local business rebuild. [More]
Man Pleads Guilty To Selling Booze To Underage Customer Even Though Video Footage Shows He Didn't
By April 25, 2012
Earlier this month, an employee at a Brooklyn bodega was arrested for selling alcohol to a minor in an undercover sting operation. On the advice of his lawyer he entered a guilty plea and paid the $120 fine, but that was before he found out that there is in-store video footage that appears to vindicate him. [More]
School Orders Students To Delete Facebook Accounts Or Face Expulsion
By March 29, 2012
Last week, every 11th grade student at a Jewish school for girls in Brooklyn was told to delete their Facebook accounts or risk a $100 fine, or even the possibility of expulsion. [More]
Illegal Urban Vegetable Gardener Gets Away With It
By November 9, 2011
The city needn’t be a blighted blacktop jungle where the only thing that grows is broken dreams. Under the cover of night, Todd Bieber planted an urban vegetable garden in Brooklyn in an abandoned patch of ground next to a parking lot. The harvest he reaped was more than just the tomatos and squash: anonymous passers by added water to it on a regular basis, and neighborhood folks spontaneously donated seeds and tomato stands. Here’s his story of how his garden grew, flourished, became salsa that he donated to the Armenian church that owned the patch, and then compost. [More]
Brooklyn Restaurant To Try "Pay What You Want" Model
By October 20, 2011
The restaurant business is incredibly risky, especially in a city like New York with its fickle diners and over-the-top overhead costs. But that’s not stopping a restaurant in Brooklyn from going ahead with plans to try out the whole “pay what you want” model for a month. [More]
Scammed For Sympathy On The Street
By October 17, 2011
It was a horrible story. A man approached Liza on the street and said that he needed $6 because his mother had just had a stroke behind the wheel of a car and he was short on cash to pay for the tow truck while she was taken to the hospital. It was also a lie. [More]
Con Ed Piles On Late Fees, Won't Accept My Bill Payment
By August 23, 2011
Shay’s last Con Edison bill keeps going up due to late fees. “So pay the bill!” you might say. Well, he’d really like to, but the company won’t let him pay online, as he always has. [More]
Judge Tosses Gorilla Coffee's Suit Against NYT For Posting Workers' Walkout Letter
By August 16, 2011
A popular Brooklyn coffee shop’s lawsuit against the New York Times just got chucked. The paper’s City Room blog had reprinted the letter penned by eight employees who simultaneously quit over working conditions, and the owners of Gorilla Coffee felt that the Times’ action was defamatory and an “intentional infliction of emotional distress.” A judge disagreed. [More]
Tips On Haggling From The Particular People At The Brooklyn Flea Market
By May 24, 2011
The Brooklyn Flea Market at Fort Greene is full of curios and hidden treasures curated by a heterogeneous band of impassioned vendors. You can, and should, get money off the asking price but you’ll have to muster up the courage and convince the person working the table you’re worthy of a bargain. Ying Ying Li made a beautiful video interviewing both the sellers and buyers in this bazaar to glean some tips: [More]
How (And Why) A Pack Of Twitter Vigilantes Recovered A Stranger's Stolen Laptop
By May 13, 2011
A guy was able to hunt down his laptop after he lost it by using a program that gave him remote access to it, tracking its location and taking screenshots of the person who was using it. He even got the guys name after watching him log into Skype. Problem was the laptop was in New York City and the owner was traveling in Canada. So he began live-tweeting his predicament and the Twitterverse rose up and rescued his laptop. [More]
Man Gets Lead On Laptop Thief Using Dropbox Program
By March 24, 2011
Ryan believes he has a lead on who stole his laptop thanks to the Dropbox filesharing program that was installed on his computer. Turns out his laptop could be just up the street from him right now. But what does he do with the IP address he got from Dropbox? [More]
Protected By Cops, Emergency Locksmith Rips Woman Off For $613
By January 19, 2011
A woman blogs that she found herself locked out of her apartment because her keys were getting stuck and the lock wasn’t working. So she called an emergency locksmith who arrived 15 minutes later, drilled off the cylinder, replaced it, and presented her with a bill for $613. When she refused to pay, the locksmith called (what were presumably) the cops. When they arrived the said, “Pay the man now or you’re under arrest.” [More]
Duane Reade Infilitrates Williamsburg By Adding A Beer Bar
By January 14, 2011
When Duane Reade announced it wanted to open a store in the hip poseur enclave neighborhood of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, it faced stiff opposition from locals and bloggers who feared it would destroy the area’s charm and drive a nearby local pharmacy out of business. So the pharmacy chain bought over the natives with beer. [More]
Keeping Brooklyn's Bees Out Of The Red Dye No. 40
By December 1, 2010
Remember those bees in Brooklyn that were pumping out a bright red honey thanks to the presence of a nearby maraschino cherry factory (and its vast amounts of super-sweet HFCS colored with Red Dye No. 40)? Well that factory is now working with bee experts to figure out a way to keep the buzzers out of the syrup without calling the exterminator. [More]
Gorilla Coffee Sues New York Times For Posting Worker Walkout Letter
By November 30, 2010
Gorilla Coffee, the coffee shop where eight employees jointly quit over protests about working conditions, is suing the New York Times for publishing their resignation letter. The Times reporter and the eight ex-workers were also named in the suit, which claims the epistle was defamatory and caused them to lose business. [More]
Brooklyn Bees Now Producing Honey With Red Dye No. 40
By November 30, 2010
Honey bees are the epitome of DIY all-natual wholesome food goodness. But don’t try to tell that to beekeepers in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn whose bees have been putting out a glowing red secretion, complete with Red Dye No. 40. [More]
