If you pass the corner of First and M streets in Northeast Washington, D.C., you may see a long line of customers waiting to buy a hot dog from a tall man wearing a suit and tie.
His name is Isaac Stein, and he’s a furloughed attorney for the IRS Chief Counsel’s Office and owner-operator of Shysters Dogs, a corner hot dog stand that has been set up in the NoMa neighborhood for nearly a month now.
“It is the actualization of a childhood dream,” Stein tells TODAY.com after selling his last dog of the day. He’s completely sold out and has to turn some customers away, assuring them he’d have more tomorrow.
A shyster is a derogatory term meaning a person, especially a lawyer, who uses deceptive practices in business.
As shown by the cart’s slogan, “The only honest ripoff in D.C.,” Stein’s tongue-in-cheek approach to glizzy-slinging has been drawing hungry customers to his corner.
“It brings me great joy to make people laugh and smile, and it makes me very happy that they seem to appreciate my schtick,” Stein says.
On Oct. 1, many federal employees were furloughed due to the government shutdown. On Oct. 8, the IRS furloughed more than 34,000 employees, or about 46% of its workforce — including Stein.
“The Only Choice: Correct Hot Dog and Drink,” tops the menu, and includes a steamed hot dog topped with spicy brown mustard and sauerkraut and a “superior” RC Cola with “no modifications permitted” for $10 (or $17 for two).
Customers can also opt for “A Hot Dog with the Wrong Toppings” if they add ketchup, pickled red onion, relish and more with drink — also an RC Cola — for $11 (or $19 for two).
“All prices include tax,” the menu reads. “And there’s no tip screen. I hate that garbage.”
On Oct. 9, a day after he was furloughed, Stein first posted to Instagram as a food vendor, telling folks he would start selling hot dogs. The shutdown has become the longest in American history, and he remains at his post, serving tourists, looky-loos and fellow government employees, and plans to remain there for the foreseeable future.
“At my first opportunity to go back to work, I’m going to do so,” he says, adding that the hot dog stand was originally intended as a side hustle and will remain operational when he returns to his IRS job. “I will continue having it as a Friday and weekend thing.”
“I am working right now,” says Deborah Stoddard, a customer in line and a paralegal at the Department of Justice’s Civil Division who was also furloughed, but is “excepted,” or has to still report to work without pay.
“I’m kind of used to it … I think this might be my third shutdown, maybe fourth. I went through the one in 2016 that was like 35 days,” she continues. “It’s difficult to be furloughed because there’s a lot of unknowns.”
While on break, Stoddard decided to check out Shysters and decided on a “Correct” hot dog and drink. “It’s a deal for $11,” she says.
“I think it’s inspiring, from what I’ve heard, it’s a dream that he’s had for a while,” Alexandria Hegeman, another customer in line, tells TODAY.com. “I love that, even just sitting in line for the last few minutes, he’s been talking to every customer.”
There’s also a couple of nonfood items under the category “Overpriced, Mediocre Merch”: $5 stickers and, most notably, the “Shirt Off My Back” for $1,000, which Stein says a customer actually purchased on Nov. 1.
“It was a Lands End French blue dress shirt,” Stein says. “For reasons of artistic integrity, I did not take photos. I’m fairly certain that photos exist, but I did not take them.”
But … why hot dogs? Well, he has a history with them.
“I was always enlisted to play basketball because I was tall,” he explains, adding that what he really looked forward to during those elementary school years playing basketball was a yearly game where the “imitation Harlem Globetrotters” would play the teachers. There, he and his teammates would run a concession stand.
“The intent was that each boy on the team would spend a half hour manning the concession stand, but I wanted to do it for the entire time, because all of the connecting with people and learning about people’s lives,” he says. “I thought back to that now, later in life, thinking that I would really enjoy doing this.”
A woman walks by, arms full of tote bags, and asks him if he is the “furloughed hot dog lawyer guy.”
He answers in the affirmative, and she goes to shake his hand, realizes she doesn’t have a free one, bumps elbows with him instead, then continues on with her day. He says this type of interaction is common for him.
Stein adds, “I think that people can generally feel that I’m having a lot of fun and that’s why they’re responding in kind.”
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
- She’s Naming Her Baby After a Pair of Boots — and the Internet’s Kicking Up a Storm
- What Airports Are Cutting Flights Amid the Government Shutdown? See the FAA’s List
- Alex Rodriguez Explains Why He’s Revisiting Steroid Scandal in New Doc: ‘I’m Definitely Not Going In the Hall of Fame’
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