After 27 years of shining shoes around the Bergen County Courthouse in New Jersey, county officials informed Robert Taylor that he needed a contract to continue his business, which, until then, he had operated under an informal agreement. In order to get the contract, he was told that he had to go through a competitive bidding process; meet 18 pages of specifications, including requirements that he wear a regulation smock and run a cash register; and have a $1 million liability insurance policy, in case an injury occurs when a customer climbs into or out of Taylor's elevated chair. But Taylor told The New York Times that an accident would be impossible. "For 27 years, not even a woman has gotten a run in her stocking here," he said.

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