As the Passover looms, the Pickle Guys shop on the lower east side are working feverishly to grate the horseradish that they sell as a Passover Seder to signify the harsh bitterness that the Jews suffered during their years of slavery in Egypt.
What makes these guys different is the fact that they have discovered that gas masks work perfectly against the harsh fumes that the horseradish root produces as it is prepared for sale. Before they got the bright idea, an idea that has been implemented since the mid 1990's, they used to suffer greatly from the fumes, and were forced to just "sit there and cry". The idea came about when they hired some service members who had returned to New York from Operation Desert Storm, and they brought their gas masks in to give themselves some relief. This has become a company trademark for these guys at this point and people even come in these days just to take pictures of the guys in the gas masks preparing the food.