Closed Book Exam Al watched a lot of television. The fact that there already was a real person in New York, called Joe, who had been used as a model, unbeknownst to Joe, for the original Seinfeld episode, did not matter to Al. Al thought the public interest in this would be to his benefit.
People love to be insulted.
AL's twist on this was not just to order his customers around and send them to the back of the line if they were slow making up their minds but rather to actually insult each customer, loudly proclaiming some vulgar, pointed or hurtful comment to them about their dress, mannerisms, race, religion, looks or indeed anything. His soup kitchen was a success of course. So much so that local celebrities had to come to be insulted and written up in the Boston News. However, the soup was excellent and people came to buy lunch primarily. On the day in question, there was an unusually long line and Cardinal Low had brought an entourage of Catholic dignitaries with him, visiting from around the country and here to discuss solutions to world hunger.