When the federal government shutdown left IRS lawyer Isaac Stein temporarily out of work, he decided to fire up a different kind of business, a street hot dog cart called Shysters Dogs.
Stein, who works for the IRS Office of Chief Counsel in Washington, D.C., said he’d been “batting around the idea for a couple years” before finally launching the stand. After receiving notice of his furlough on October 8, he began operating the cart full time. “I had time to do it during the week, which is what I’ve been doing,” he told CNN in a recent TikTok video.
“I’m a tax lawyer. What I do is write retirement plan regulations,” he said. “I wear a suit every day that I am vending.” The formal look, he explained, is intentional — “an artistic comment” on the city’s social hierarchy.
“Pure, unadulterated happiness and joy”
Stein said running the cart has been unexpectedly rewarding. “The unifying theme of the people who come up and my interactions with them is just pure, unadulterated happiness and joy,” he told CNN.
He hopes to return to his office job once the government reopens but plans to keep the hot dog business going on Fridays and weekends. “Everyone just wants to get back to work and keep serving the American people,” he said, but for now, the IRS lawyer serving mustard instead of memos says he’s “never felt so free and fulfilled.”
The video, posted by CNN, has since gone viral as viewers praised Stein’s humor and resilience amid the ongoing shutdown.
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