I have been doing business in New York City since 1994. As many of you may know by now, I have had clients in New York City since then, when I was asked to come there to help a person who had come into some money due to an unfortunate circumstance. The $250,000 she had then would be at least the equivalent of well over $500,000 today.
I love to walk in that city. If I have the time I will even walk great distances instead of taking a cab or a subway. One day (November 3, 1995, in fact!) I am walking down 8th Avenue in Manhattan in the 40’s on the East Side of the street. Ahead of me I see a line of people. The line is crossing the street coming from behind the building on the corner ahead of me. It turns at a right angle and crosses the street. It was AT LEAST a block or two long. It was weird enough that I crossed over to the west side of 8th Avenue. When I get to the corner I could see the line going into a store. Some people on my corner were watching and chuckling,
I asked what’s going on.
“That’s the Soups Nazis’ shop.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t you watch Seinfeld?”
“No.”
They looked at me like I was from Mars. Sometime later, I do not remember when, my daughters asked me to watch some Seinfeld episodes with them. THAT is when I learned who the Soup Nazi was. Incredible, the influence pop culture can have on real life. I still do not recommend the show. Apparently the very next day after the first Soup Nazi episode the line appeared. The owner of the store later said it ruined his business!