Amazon Rep Rejects Philadelphia as Location for HQ2 After Grimy Wawa Run

Last week, Amazon announced its top 20 finalists for its second headquarters, which is meant to supplement the current headquarters in Seattle. Philadelphia was one of the cities to make the coveted shortlist; however, at this point, it can only be looked at as a participation medal.

After an hour of visiting Penn, Carter Lee—an Amazon representative—deemed the city unfit to be a destination for the e-commerce giant. His reason? The Wawa run was too grimy.

Some of our UTB reporters did a few background checks, and we found out that Lee actually graduated from the College in 1997. Why would he do the city that hosted him for four years so dirty?

“I wouldn’t say it was only because I hated Penn. But I wanted to grab a hoagie and some coffee from Wawa on Spruce, and I was reminded of all of the grime,” Lee explained.

It turns out that Lee had inhaled a significant amount of the pungent steam coming out of the sewers near Spruce and 38^th— enough to cause temporary drowsiness and slight euphoria. He also accidentally stepped in what appeared to be vomit, or as an inebriated freshman elegantly put it, "yak."

Unfortunately, a hospitable welcome from a Wawa staff member and a delicious hoagie was not enough to change his mind. He would go on to officially cross it off the list a few minutes later.