Personal Lives
Furloughed lawyer’s passion is topped with sauerkraut and mustard
A furloughed IRS lawyer used his ability to parse government regulations to open a hot dog cart that he is operating full time during the government shutdown.
The name of Isaac Stein’s Washington, D.C., hot dog stand is Shysters and the slogan is “The Only Honest Ripoff in D.C.”
Publications with coverage include Reuters, Business Insider, the New York Post and WUSA 9.
The 31-year-old lawyer wears a shirt and tie as “part of the shtick” while serving customers, he told Reuters.
“Part of what I’m doing with my expression here is there are many layers of irony,” Stein told Business Insider. “One of the layers is that I’m a lawyer, and I’m doing everything correctly. I have all the right permits, and I pay taxes.”
Stein spent a five-figure sum to buy the cart and equipment. He had to “navigate a complex regulatory process,” he told Reuters. There were several inspections, and he had to obtain a motor vehicle registration and sidewalk permit.
Stein sells hot dogs, Moon Pies and RC Cola. A hot dog with mustard and sauerkraut, labeled “The Only Choice” on his menu, costs $10. A hot dog with any other topping costs $11.
“From a young age, I have wanted to punish people for putting ketchup on a hot dog,” he told Business Insider. “The pricing difference is reflective of incentives: I want people to do it the right way.”
Stein nets $200 to $300 a day, but the real reward is interacting with customers. “People seem to be responding really well, and I’m just overjoyed,” Stein told WUSA 9. “It brings me so much joy to make people laugh and smile.”
When he was working, he sold hot dogs only on weekends. He plans to go back to that schedule when the furlough ends. He’s looking forward to the return.
“Everyone wants to get back to work, because we actually like what we do,” he told Business Insider.
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