Why is it ironic when the author says "People must have thought there could be no greater torment in God's hell than that of being stranded here, on the sidewalk, among the bundles, in the middle of the street under a blazing sun"?

I believe it becomes ironic when the author says this because this may have been a time when people only acknowledged God's hell as being the worst experience you could endure. They most likely were trying to compare the two torments and realized they could go through other trials and tribulations.