Repeating the same thing...DOES NOT yield different results !

This is proof.  Proof that our dishwasher will NOT eat a pizza.  Proof our dishwasher will never be a substitute for a gool old fashioned hand washing.  Proof our operators struggle to rinse first.  Proof that repeating the same thing looking for different results is insanity.

Okay so this could have just come from a boiling pot of pasta.  It did not.  This could have been my dwarf helpers being silly, and putting the pasta on the spoon. It was not.  This WAS a product of "cleanliness" coming out of the dishwasher. 

Now before you start thinking to yourself, these things happen, or maybe it was a fluke.  I assure you most whole heartily, this is not a random fluke. 

Our dishwasher runs, often 3 plus times a day. (with leftover dishes lingering in the sink for the next run)  Aside from our washing machine, this appliance is one of the most over used, and under appreciated machines in our home.   While we have repeated to the dwarfs, "rinse the dishes before you put them in the dishwasher", it seems that this message is not being understood nor is it being performed with any regularity. 

This is how it works at the orphanage.  Each day there is a different dwarf in charge of dishes.  This means that throughout the day they are responsible for emptying the dishwasher, reloading it and running it.   Often the Prince and I will step in and assist with a helping hand, which is how I came across this lovely pasta filled utensil. 

I figured that I would bless a dwarf and unload the dishwasher that ran over night so that the new day's helper would not have to unload they could just rinse and load the breakfast dishes. 

On this bright new day, not only did I pull out the above pictured pasta server, but I also pulled out a cup that had sludge in the bottom, and a pan that had dried eggs stuck to it.  I wonder to myself, how is it that this dishwasher is not cleaning my dishes?  Then I look to the chore chart and see with dwarf loaded the day before, and the fuzzy picture becomes a bit clearer. 

We have also instructed them that if you eat something and have dishes that you are putting into the sink for another to load, be kind and rinse the dish prior to walking away.  Ice cream is a great example of  a food that is harmless while in it's original form, but when pooling in the bottom of the bowl over night and hardening and then being thrown into the dishwasher, well there is no way that the machine - even on the HIGH temperature SANI rinse, HEAVY load cycle is going to be able to sandblast that out of the bottom. 

It is at times like these, if  I am overseeing the emptying of the dishwasher that the following conversation happens: "Mom, this is gross, this dish/pot is still dirty.  Yes it is, pull it out and place it on the counter your going to have to hand wash that piece.  Can't I just put it back in the dishwasher?  No, if the dishwasher did not get it clean the first time, what makes you think it will clean it the second time?  I don't know, it's almost clean..."

Now if there is not an adult present at the unloading stage and a dwarf happens to find a dirty something, we don't know this until we go to set the table, and there is a fork in the drawer covered in egg, or a cereal bowl covered with ice cream sludge in the cupboard. 

Stick with me, there is a life lesson here...

It baffles my mind, after this series of conversations and discoveries has taken place, 100's of times at our house, (remember at least three runs a day with the dishwasher, and at least 9 people eating 3 meals a day -7 days a week) that somewhere they would not start catching on to the fact that a little courtesy and common sense could go a long way in preventing the "ewww that's gross" conversation.

Now have there been times when it has been the dishwasher's fault (yes the machine) oh my yes,  after seven years in this house we are on our 4th dishwasher.  The house came with one - we have since purchased three more.  Likewise there are ample supplies located in or around or under our large farmers sink that can be used for scraping, scrubbing and pre rinsing dishes.  Not only do we have our trusty green scrubber, but our pampered chef brown scraper, and we have dish soap in a fancy dispenser attached to the sink, and a tall and regal looking spigot that has a shower option for the water as well as straight on stream, all at the push of a button.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that the hose comes out right from the faucet and moves all around the sink area with great ease. Yet no one seems inclined to utilize these tools on a regular basis.

All of this to say I want them to realize that not just in dish washing, but in all things in this life, there is a right way to do things and a short cut way to do things.  Often times we think that by just doing what we are required, we have full filled our obligation, we have checked items off our to do list.  Sadly, however just like in life, God knows when we half step things, and in the case of the dishwasher, so does your mom, your dad, any one that visits the house and gets the gross anything out of a drawer or cupboard, and the dwarf next in line for dish knows that you are (the previous days dwarf) was a slacker.   You may think you are getting away with something, but we never get away from the Lord, and often times jobs done in haste or half way require an additional amount of time to "fix".  Expressing to the dwarfs that if you just did things completely the first time, you would save time and energy in the long run, is also a train of thought and understanding that is lost on each of them.  After repeated occurrences of this from all the dwarfs, the question is how can anyone walk up to the sink and not think, "oh, I should rinse this" or as they are taking their turn loading, "oh this needs scrapped or I need to rinse this better" but alas, seemingly, we keep doing things exactly the same as we did before, thinking that somehow the results will be different. 

This is where the Prince steps in and says, " This is a marathon, not a sprint."  He insists that we should not grow weary, and that they will get it, eventually. That until they tire of getting dirty dishes from the cupboard, and tire of being embarrassed that they are handing a sleep over friend a dirty spoon, that we must remain steadfast and constant in their training.   I am not yet convinced, but will continue to repeat the conversations with them, make them hand wash the dirty, clean dishes, and remind them when dropping something in the sink to rinse it. 

If I had a nickle for every time the Prince or I repeated these phrases and expressed these thoughts, just in regards to dish, I think we could go out to eat for a week, three times a day, all 9 of us and let someone else worry about the dishes!

Really, you can't make this stuff up!