Name: Furloughed IRS employee opens hot dog stand amid shutdown
Uploaded: 2025-10-30T23:35:10.767Z
Duration: 4 min 37 s
Description: As the government shutdown drags on, some federal employees have taken on second jobs to make ends meet. Issac Stein, a furloughed IRS employee, joins CBS News to discuss how he came to own and operate a hot dog stand in downtown Washington, D.C.

As the government shutdown drags on, some federal employees have taken on second jobs to make ends meet. Issac Stein, a furloughed IRS employee, joins CBS News to discuss how he came to own and operate a hot dog stand in downtown Washington, D.C.

Washington

As the government shutdown continues, some federal employees have sought alternative sources of income. Isaac Stein, a furloughed IRS lawyer, started operating a hot dog stand in Washington, DC, originally as a weekend art project, but it has since become a thriving business due to increased demand.

Stein reports that business has grown substantially since the shutdown, with his hot dogs selling out quickly and support from both the local community and fellow federal employees. Despite his success, Stein intends to return to his government job as soon as he is able, emphasizing the desire among federal workers to resume their regular duties.

Furloughed IRS employee opens hot dog stand amid shutdown

And welcome back as the government shutdown drags on some federal employees have taken on second jobs To make ends meet one of them is furloughed IRS employee Isaac Stein and he's joining us now from a hot dog stand that he now owns and Operates it's great to see you. Thanks for being here. Um, can you just walk me through? What these past 30 days have been like for you? How do you go from being an IRS lawyer to? Operating this lovely hot dog stand you have right there. Oh Absolutely, and thank you very much for having me Kaitlyn. I just wanted to mention that So this was really intended about 70% as a fun Backyard weekend art project a little bit as a for-profit business But I very much So I decided that I wanted to set this business up back in June and then I got the the relevant permits and I started vending here in in September and then I and then I got furloughed So Before the shutdown I was here for a few weekends on Friday and a few Fridays as well And now I'm out here pretty much every day and and I think how is business going right now? I Mean, it's absolutely wild. It's it's gangbusters. I mean before Before a week ago. I might I might be out here for a whole day and I might sell 30 or 40 hot dogs Now it's selling out in in less than less than three hours and or excuse me less than four hours They really care about the accuracy And I feel like I've attempted to coin the term the scheisse geist Combination of shysters and zeitgeist to describe what Seems to be that that's how I feel. It seems like there's something there's something Greater happening and I am in the sense And I just want to emphasize that I'm really overjoyed at the community response to my project here because I really Came out here with the intent to just share my art and my attempt at humor and people really seem to be responding Well as a IRS lawyer, I'm very glad that you care about accuracy, so that's that's good to hear How how are you feeling about this shutdown right now? Do you have any sense of? You know when you might be able to get back to work and do you actually want to go back to your day job now? That you have this seemingly booming business here Well As soon at my to answer the last part of your question at my earliest opportunity as soon as I'm called into work I am going to my intent is to return to my federal job as a tax attorney And I I really I really look forward to doing that as soon as possible And I I also want to mention that I have many co-workers And other federal employees have stopped here at shy steers and The the the support that I've gotten from them is overwhelming it overwhelmingly positive And I'm very happy to see them as well But I think the unifying theme is that everyone just really wants to do their job and get back to work And what is this meant for you? I mean you have found this been able to to you know lean into your passion here But are are you missing a paycheck right now, what does that mean for your life? How have you been able to kind of make ends meet as it been hard? I very much I very much intended this to as I said be an art project and also Results in a for-profit business, but as for as for me personally I'm doing okay, and I'm really enjoying operating my stand All right, well you're also doing a great job talking among all that traffic behind you so it's a great job there Shyster's hot dogs as you can see on your screen good Yes, and and Kaitlyn I did want to mention this is actually a very very tame day, so this is this is this is good Okay, well best of luck to you and your business And and we'll be thinking about you keep us posted on how you do All right, thank you so much hot dogs in downtown, Washington

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