Audrey A McGee

The phrase really should be “death, taxes, dishes, and laundry.”

Dishwashing first professionally entered my life right out of high school. I worked in a large restaurant kitchen. It was hot, wet, and I ruined my hands doing it. But I did learn a lot of lessons from it — including ‘if you’re not wet, you’re not doing it right,’ ‘never try to take too many teacups at once,’ and ‘don’t let any coworkers know that you’re gullible or easily frightened.’

But we aren’t here to talk about those lessons. We’re here to talk about acceptance of dishwashing.

It can be one of those tasks — and professions — that’s looked down upon, even by those doing it. It seems menial, especially because we have dishwashing machines to help us do the job. It’s rough on our hands, as Beth March bemoaned it 150 years ago. And a lot of people do not enjoy the sensation of wet food.

After I quit my first dishwashing job, I actually found a lot of pleasure doing it at home. I could do it well, and it wasn’t half as wet and hot. Plus, I could play my own music and have a dance party! The task turned from menial to meaningful, and it became my favorite household chore.

I was looking forward to never having to wash dishes professionally again. However, dishwashing is one of the most constant, and honestly fundamental, human needs. You can’t escape it.

Summer of 2024, I left my parents’ house to move across the country and start my internship. It was part-time, and guess what I did to pay the rest of my bills?

Well, not dishwashing. But close.

I was a waitress.

Which, from time to time, required a bit of dishwashing. As to handling dirty dishes, I had already moved past that mental block, so I was good to go!

But that wasn’t the only place I was washing dishes.

When I had just moved in with housemates for the first time, I was incredibly overwhelmed by not knowing expectations of housework. I was originally assigned to clean the microwave and stovetop. How well was I supposed to clean it? Was I supposed to use water? Soap? Spray cleaner? Could I use a sponge? Where were the rags?

Then unloading the dishwasher went up for grabs, and I snatched at it. That, I could do.

And then.

Guess where else I started washing dishes?

My internship.

Yep! Arts interns, you’re not just getting the coffee (which I also did!), you’re washing the dishes! And why, do you think??

dishwashing is one of the most constant and fundamental human needs.

And so we need to get rid of any internal stigma around washing dishes. You’re going to be doing it all the time. As an intern, as a part-timer, as an adult, everywhere. And the cool thing is — there can be a lot of good that comes from it. Since dirty dishes are a burden, we can make ourselves helpful by doing them, even when it’s not expected of us.

So, in my internship, I did get used to doing the dishes. And if you’re worried that that’s all my internship was, psh, go read my other post about how amazing it was. And one of the things that made it amazing was I was able to see how valuable I was to the company, even while washing the dishes.

Don’t let the dishes get you down. They’re a lot more useful and can actually be way more fun than death or taxes.

Put in your earbuds and pump your music! Use gloves, if your hands are dying. Everyone will love you for the two minutes you take out of your day to do the dishes.