Dark mode is here!If you would like to change, tap into the appearance drop down below.Go to appearance

Find any issues using dark mode? Please let us know

Isaac Stein is making his point, one hot dog at a time, in Washington DC. (ABC News: Cameron Schwarz)

It's lunchtime on a weekday in a busy neighbourhood of Washington DC. Isaac Stein should be at his day job as a lawyer for the Internal Revenue Service, but instead, he is making hot dogs.

"I started this in September. It was intended as a weekend project. It was, for several weeks. And then I was furloughed," he said.

Now instead of heading to the office, Mr Stein dons a suit and mans his hot dog stall.

One afternoon this week, he was greeting regular customers, taking photos and nodding at motorists who were driving past and honking their horns.

It's a novelty for a region where hundreds of thousands of workers have been without pay for the past month.

"I feel really supported by the community here, I really love being here," Mr Stein said.

"I've had my coworkers come, I've had other federal furloughed employees come, and the response is generally that they're just happy there's someone out doing what they like doing."