CLOSE UP Video Interviews

81 year old ​Fiametta Rubin had been sleeping scrunched on a "horrible little mattress” when, on a recent morning walk along Evergreen Avenue, she came across a large plastic-wrapped mattress leaning up against a meter left out for trash pickup. As she tells it, a tall athletic looking man was getting out of a car and after quickly sizing him up she decided to ask him if he could help her move the mattress to her apartment down the street. He looked at her, paused, then told her to stand guard over the mattress while he went for help. Meanwhile she stood in the cold wondering if she was crazy or he was crazy or they both were. The accompanying video reveals why she was sleeping on a horrible little mattress, why the big mattress was put in the trash, how it is now serving as a bulletin board in her apartment, why she's not going to keep it, and what else she just trash-picked. Watch video of trash picking senior here.

At the Best Buy electronics store in Plymouth Meeting, PA, salesman Bill Kuhn employs a new, huge touch screen to show off the features of Samsung appliances and a miniature working model of an LG brand washing machine to demonstrate LG's  "wave force " technology. Watch video interview here.

At a residence in Mount Airy shoppers busily browsed and made purchases from the 500 plus plant collection at the much advertised "Divide and Conquer" plant sale on a beautiful Saturday. James Watts of Germantown holds and Ostrich fern. Molly Mamorian of New York looks over her sister's shoulder. Watch video here.

At the popular and busy outdoor Clover Market in Chestnut Hill Sunday, a photographer with “Poseybooth” took photos of anyone willing to pose and of at least one unwilling dog. Poseybooth is a modern version of the ubiquitous instant photo booths of yore. But instead of a getting a wet print, those posing received their photos in digital format via text or email. The freebie souvenir appeared to make many people very happy. Watch video here.

Lee Bierie generates leads for Logan Heating and Cooling at a table inside the Home Depot store in Dublin, Ohio. And he pitches "buckeye boys" handmade by his wife for $10 a piece. Also known as the "Brutus" it is the mascot of Ohio State University football team.

After 40 years in the police department Avon "Crazy Ed" Wilson now sells plants outside his home on Chew Ave in Germantown. He had seen enough murder and war in the last twenty of his police years working in CSI. Now, four years running, he's been doing "something nice" for the neighbors. He buys plants at Home Depot and Produce Junction and makes arrangements of them in pots. He will bargain with customers but not if they disparage his plants. Wilson's not out to make a profit because he has a pension but tries to break even nonetheless. With his steady customers he tells a running joke: "The thing about my plants - you can't eat 'em and you can't smoke 'em."

Watch video interview here.

Not her household's usual shopper, Barbara Collom of Mount Airy confronts the baffling array of product choices for any one brand at her local Pathmark Supermarket. For instance, she opts for Gatorade X-factor but wonders what Gatorade Fierce had to offer instead. Watch video here.

More than a couple months after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the Jersey shore in late October, a teenage girl from Toms River was making a repeat visit with friends to take another look at Seaside Park, the shore town that she would come to every day in the summer to enjoy the beach and boardwalk arcades. It was still hard for her to process all the destruction wrought by the unexpected fierce storm. Her group milled around along with a lot of other curious visitors who were taking photos from the rail of a still standing boardwalk entrance ramp of the expanse of sand where the boardwalk once stood. A lone Coca Cola arch and some battered stores and the now becalmed ocean in the distance completed the vista. The girl and her friends are hopeful that it all will be rebuilt by Memorial Day. Watch video here.