Marsh, a window washer who would later serve as CEO of Snapple, launched the business on the side with his brother-in-law Hyman Golden and childhood friend Arnold Greenberg.

WSJ: Snapple co-founder Leonard Marsh dies at 80

One wonders how Doug Von Allmen, who began life in poverty, working as a window washer and factory grunt, became a man intolerant of any "creaking" on his yacht, irritated by the slightest whooshing of the air-conditioning system and concerned with the placement of gold-plated toilet-paper dispensers.

WSJ: Book Review: Grand Ambition

An Kun works as a window-washer and Wang Mei is a masseuse at the Golden Basin Foot Massage Palace.

NEWYORKER: Lost in Beijing