Chick-fil-A Outside Philly Bans Unaccompanied Minors Under 16 After “Extreme Behaviors”

This Chick-fil-A location in the Philadelphia suburb of Royersford has banned unaccompanied minors under the age of 16. (Photo courtesy Chick-fil-A Royersford)

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If You’re 15 and Want to Eat at This Chick-fil-A in Royersford, You Better Bring Your Parents

A Chick-fil-A location in Royersford just announced a policy that a lot of other restaurants probably wish they could pull off. The Chick-fil-A has banned unaccompanied minors under the age of 16 from hanging out inside the restaurant.

That’s right. If you’re a 15-year-old kid and you want to sit down and eat a chicken sandwich (so good!) and some waffle fries at the Chick-fil-A in Royersford and you don’t have an adult with you, you’re out of luck.

In a statement released on social media, Chick-fil-A Royersford said the restaurant is frequented by unaccompanied kids whose parents drop them off at Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park (one of those bounce parks) and who then walk over to Chick-fil-A and perpetrate “unacceptable behaviors.”

Some of the key points from the memo:

– “They are loud, and their conversation often contains a lot of explicit language.”
– “Food and trash are often thrown around and left on the tables, chairs, and on the floor.”
– “Tables and restrooms are vandalized. Decorations are stolen.”
– “Employees are laughed at, made fun of and treated rudely.”
– “Employees are cursed at and ignored when they ask the children and teens to either change their behavior or leave.”

In other words, the kids are doing things that our next door neighbor would have smacked us in the head for in the ’70s and ’80s had they seen us acting up in this way, which we, of course, never would have done, because our bad behavior was limited to sticking M-80s in mailboxes and paying a neighborhood guy to grab us packs of unfiltered cigarettes that we’d smoke until we’d puke. But I digress.

Now it’s very popular to blame the parenting or lack of parenting in situations like this. But the Chick-fil-A in Royersford steered quite clear of that.

“Parents, we are not blaming you,” they declared. “Children and teens are learning to navigate the world free from supervision and often push the boundaries. We simply can’t let them push those boundaries anymore at our restaurant.”

The Chick-fil-A was also quick to note that it’s not all kids who are bad.

“To those unaccompanied children and teens that have visited us and acted appropriately, we thank you,” reads the statement. “But we also apologize. Due to the numerous extreme behaviors of many of your peers, we must make a blanket rule covering anyone under the age of 16.”

If there’s any good and unexpected news here, it’s that 16-year-old kids are apparently on great behavior, I guess?

West Oak Lane Mosque Vandalized

Police are looking for the man who vandalized the Masjidullah Center for Human Excellence in West Oak Lane. He reportedly painted symbols and phrases from other religions on the exterior of the mosque.

Forget This Back-to-School-Before-Labor Day Nonsense

Officials just approved the Philadelphia public school calendar for the next two years, and good news, kids: You don’t have to go back to school until after Labor Day. I shed tears when I saw the kids going back to school while I was still sunbathing at the Jersey Shore over the last however many years. Not really, but it definitely sucked for them.

Gotta Have Goals, Right?

This teacher plans to climb the tallest tree in each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

Finally, South Carolina Gets Good Bagels

You can thank Philadelphia’s Montreal-style bagel shop Spread, which is opening its first location outside of Philly in a suburb of Charleston, which I’m sure makes sense for one reason or another.

A Wet Week

Forecasters say we could have rain (and maybe some snow on Friday, but I’ll bet you $100 it doesn’t happen) for five of the next six days. It’s times like these when one can really appreciate working remotely.

And from the It’s-Getting-Busy Sports Desk …

On Saturday night, the Sixers came out hitting on all cylinders against the first-place-in-the-East Celtics at the Wells Fargo Center, but by the end of the first quarter, they were only up 30-28. Tobias Harris was having a strong game. With our subs in, Boston took the lead for the first time two minutes into the second quarter, but the Sixers seized it again. Was that P.J. Tucker hitting threes? I may have to change my mind about that guy. Sixers up 56-50 at the half; Harris had 14 points.

In the third, DeAnthony Melton hit a three to put the Sixers up 64-52, the biggest lead of the game for either team. Marcus Smart racked up his fourth foul, and he was pissed. The Sixers pushed their lead to as many as 15 points, but the Celtics hung tough. Meantime, the ESPN announcers were disrespecting Embiid for MVP. Al Horford, of all people, hit three straight threes. Yikes! We were down 80-78 at the close of the third.

The Sixers opened the fourth with subs on the court and went down by seven. Jaylen Brown got hot, the lead went up to eight, and Doc Rivers called a timeout. You could see the game slipping away. Finally, Embiid came back in. With seven minutes left, the Celtics stretched the lead to 10. Two foul shots by Embiid took him to 31 points and the team to six points back with five minutes left; a layup drive by Harden made it a two-point game.

And of course Jayson Tatum got hot, hit a three, and made it a five-point game with three minutes to go. Embiid got a block, Maxey hit a running layup, and the Sixers were up by one — until Horford hit another three. Then Tatum sank a three; Embiid actually hit a miracle three to tie from three-quarters of the way down the court, but the clock had expired.

What a finish! #celtics #76ers pic.twitter.com/Iuu2hbVgA5

— docikenhl (@docikenhl) February 26, 2023

Goddamn. Celtics win, 110-107. Great game anyway — and what a final shot. Tonight, they’ll face the Heat at 7 p.m.

Over in Chester on Saturday night, the Union went down 1-0 early against the Columbus Crew but scored twice on penalty kicks (both on fairly dubious handball calls) and twice more legitimately to put their season opener in the books as a 4-1 win. I’m still not sure about the new “camo” unis, but Joaquin Torres had an impressive debut.

Joaquin Torres spun TWO defenders for this assist 😮‍💨

(via @PhilaUnion)pic.twitter.com/3HIeAdXsg6

— B/R Football (@brfootball) February 26, 2023

The Phillies won one and lost one in spring training Saturday, falling to the Tigers, 4-2, but prevailing over the Yankees, 7-4. In the latter game, the Phils used nine different pitchers for an inning each! Against the Twins on Sunday, our guys rode a wild seesaw, matching a six-run Twins fifth with their own six-run sixth, thanks mostly to an Ethan Wilson (who?!) grand slam. Final score: 10-8. This afternoon, they play the Pirates, also at 1:05.

In college hoops on Saturday, Villanova (15-14), which is on a roll of late, knocked off 19th-ranked Creighton (18-11), 79-67.

Villanova is back to themselves, and the Wildcats are peaking at a perfect time. Eric Dixon goes off for 31 and Cam Whitmore puts up 17 as Nova commands Creighton by 12. Credit to Kyle Neptune and his guys for staying the course. Cats could win the Big East Tournament.

— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) February 25, 2023

The Penn Quakers (17-11) won their eighth straight, downing Dartmouth (9-18), 89-79, and La Salle (13-16) lost to George Washington, (15-14), 92-85. The St. Joe’s Hawks (13-16) fell to St. Bonaventure (14-16) on Sunday, 89-76.

Former Villanova b-ball star and Philly native Mikal Bridges has been traded to the Nets, and his yellow Lab, Sonny, is not happy about it, per the New York Times.

Oh God, the Flyers.

All Philly Today Sports Desk coverage is provided by Sandy Hingston.