At least not in the primary, which is the one that counts.

Philadelphia is saddled once again with a stupid mayor. I wonder if she’s capable of learning. Generally when they’re that dumb and that arrogant, the answer is no.

For no good reason Mayor Cherelle Parker mandated that all city employees must return to the office to work. There was not enough office space to accommodate all of them. The result was, predictably, chaos. (She reminds me of some of the poobahs I had to suffer under back when I was still employed.)

City employees described the first week when all 26,000 workers were mandated to return to the office full-time as chaotic and miserable. “Everybody was pissed,” they told WHYY News.

Mayor Cherelle Parker announced May 20 that everyone would be required to work in person across city buildings — mostly in Center City — starting July 15.

The Parker administration won a legal challenge by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents about 3,700 administrative, professional and technical assistance employees working for the city of Philadelphia on July 12.

Dozens of Philadelphia workers streamed in and out of the employee entrance of City Hall on Friday morning despite a global cybersecurity issue with a Microsoft update. City courts were closed, jurors were sent home and confused attorneys showed up for trials. City officials told WHYY News that all workers still reported to their office in person Friday.

On Monday morning, Lewis said his regular Regional Rail train was jam-packed and he left home an hour earlier than usual.

Instead of using the city’s desk hoteling system, where hybrid workers shared desks on different days of the week, he was assigned to a cramped conference room in City Hall.

There were six electrical outlets along the walls, far away from where workers were expected to sit. And nine people from different teams were assigned to the room.

When Lewis arrived, there were no places to plug in his laptop, so he ended up working on a couch hunched over his computer for hours. For his role, he typically uses at least one computer monitor, which was not available in the office.

Everyone was still juggling virtual meetings throughout the day, which Lewis said was chaotic.

“Now we’re sitting nine [people] to a meeting room. People are just trying to work and you have to take a meeting. You don’t even have a cubicle. Everyone is pissed off,” Lewis said.