he’s the man queuing for the rich

• He started charging $25 for the first hour in a queue and $10 for an additional half hour.

• The musical ‘Hamilton’ changed Samuel’s life and revived his original business

• Today rich people flock to him and he can earn thousands of dollars within days.

So iconic that it eventually became a work of art. So controversial that it brings to mind modern capitalism, especially in the post-pandemic era. Robert Samuel’s original business captured the interest of many early on and now has more customers than ever.

In July 2014, Samuel started making headlines: Business Intern he called him a “professional line keeper”. “Expect everything from sample sales to Saturday Night Live tickets,” said a report in the financial magazine.

But at that time he charged $25 for the first hour and $10 for each additional half hour. In a week, he could earn up to $1,000 just by standing in line. Later, he came to form his own team of “coleros” and before the pandemicit was already done until $80,000 per year.

Samuel, a 46-year-old former cellphone salesman, lives in New York and now spends hours sitting, standing or sleeping in front of long lines. Depending on the event, he gives the seat to his client or buys tickets on demand for shows that are in high demand.

No matter what time it is or if the weather turns against him, Samuel is always “cheerful and full of energy,” he said in an interview this week with Guardian. He has a small tent and a camping chair, where he waits as long as necessary.

A Broadway musical changed his life

Queuing for “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s famous musical, was one of her toughest jobs. “It was zero degrees one day. And the inside of my store was frozen with frost,” he said.

But he says it was worth it, as Hamilton has broken viewership records since its inception in February 2015, and that’s what really “made Samuel’s career”.

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“I feel like I have to write you a commission check,” he joked. Samuel had to hire more people, initially friends and acquaintances, to sit in line with him as audiences rushed to see Miranda’s latest performances.

Resale tickets were available online, but for $15,000 or more. But with Samuel’s method, his customers received tickets instantly, often at main seats.

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“I waited four, maybe five days. We were charging $5,000 for two tickets. But compared to buying a ticket scalper, we were the best deal in town.”

“For me, one of the benefits of standing in line was rediscovering my love of theater,” says Samuel, who grew up in Brooklyn and a trip to Broadway wasn’t easy as a kid. Today, he says he’s seen “Hamilton” 10 times and rarely misses the most sought-after plays and musicals.

It was with Miranda that he raised tens of thousands of dollars and from which he eventually formed his own company called Same Ole Line Dudes (SOLD Inc.).

iPhones, Omega watches, Covid vaccines

It will not be the only time that a major cultural event will play an important role in his work. When he iPhone become the most popular consumer item on the planet, Samuel was there, waiting outside the store in New York.

When Omega, the luxury watch brand, started venturing into the world of limited edition, Samuel was also there to collect them for customers with thousands of dollars to spend, but no time to do the “dirty work”.

Samuel was paid by two different news agencies to stand in the queue for Ghislaine Maxwell’s week-long trial that resulted in the conviction of Jeffrey Epstein in December 2021.

And when the covid-19 pandemicSamuel stood in line for the vaccinations, which allowed clients not living in the area where the injections were given to come and receive them.

Some consider that Samuel was pushed to endure precarious working conditions. Sarah Damaske, a sociology professor at Penn State University, told the Guardian her situation reminded her of “very old ways of working”.

“When we see really extreme income inequality, this ability to outsource personal tasks becomes more possible. It becomes more possible for someone on one side to buy someone on the other side’s labor when the minimum wage has been stagnant for so long,” Damaske said.

Samuel, a work of art

In July 2018, he was hired by artists David Brognon and Stéphanie Rollin for their show “Until Then”, an exploration of euthanasia. The exhibit was about Samuel, whom the artists found in a row, seated, alone, in an 11th-century church in France.

Samuel sat in church for 26 days, the time it took a patient in Belgium to tell his doctors he wanted to die, and the day he actually died. As the patient died, Samuel got up and left the church.

“My eyes swelled up, and when I walked out of that church, even though I didn’t know that person, knowing that he was waiting for him to end his life, it moved me in a way that I didn’t expect”, he says.

As for his usual job, waiting for tickets, limited items and clothes, Samuel considers it simply part of a “convenience that has invaded society”.

“You can literally ask people to do anything for you,” he said. “They can take care of your kids, they can take care of your pets, they can clean your house, or they can bring your food to you. So it’s just an extension.”

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