Dishwashing for gentlemen

[airplanedoc]

For years my parents had an automatic dishwasher made in 1942. My father was gone for a week, and my mom and I discovered on day 3 that there were no more plates, and silverware in the drawer and the dishwasher was gone as well. That was when we noticed that neither of us ever did dishes.

I can honestly say that I could count the number of times I did dishes before I went to college.

Now I have a dishwasher

 

[thunderball]

My roommate for a semester in college was this dude from South Africa who used paper plates and cups for every meal simply so he didn't have to wash dishes. To be fair, he did use a regular fork and knife...neither of which he ever washed.

We have a dishwasher but I almost find it more trouble loading and unloading the thing so I usually just do them by hand. Got some nice German dish soap which works pretty well and, as Lavaine mentioned, having a nice beverage at hand doesn't hurt either.

 

[Circa1929]

Do you eat off plates?

Do you have hands,...?

Unless you're homeless, or lazy,...

Wash 'em brother!



(of course if you're like a bull in a china closet, and you're married, then both of you will probably agree the little gal in your life may be a better and safer hand at it!)

 

[Hawkeye5]

At deer camp, if you don't help wash the pots and pans you don't eat.

 

[Circa1929]

At deer camp, if you don't help wash the pots and pans you don't eat.

Bingo!

In the Scouts when I was a boy, it was the same way,... taught us respect for ourselves,... each other and to be humble and "pitch in!"

 

[The Knize]

Interesting thread. I had never really thought about it before, but my parents never had or wanted a dishwasher, and it was my Dad, may he rest in peace, who washed the dishes after dinner (supper if you are from the South!) every night. I wonder if this waqs unique to may family or was something common among folks of that generation or culture or something. I guess he did that while my Mother did other things around the kitchen and maybe dried. I think it was a time for them to hang out and talk.

My Dad was pretty much a manly guy. I would say that he was a gentleman in the sense of being polite and sensitive to others, but not in the sense of being interested in the "finer things," so to speak. I do not think he would much think about one way of the other as to whether doiing something in particular was not something one did, because their station in life was too lofty. (No dis from me on this, by the way, I am just have trouble finding words to express the concept.) On the other hand, I would have quite a bit of trouble imagining my Dad breaking out a vacuum cleaner for some reason.

In any event, in my little internal world formed by my earlier experiences, the question of whether a gentleman washes dishes seems like something no one would ever ask, because my internal object is that washing dishes is something men just naturally do!

 

[Chewbaccara]

I actually enjoy washing the dishes.
If you don't like it, put on your favourite music so that it's at least bearable.

 

[mmack66]

I can't make heads nor tails of the OP, but I wash dishes by hand and I often act gentlemanly.

 

[Lynchmeister]

While building our house last year, I made a strong push the the Binford 8200 self-cleaning kitchen. More power, argh, argh, argh!

Needless to say, my wife put the kibash on that one...

 

[proxymoron]

Yes, there is a (gentle)manly way to do dishes... at least in my house. My wife has no idea about the geometric efficiencies involved in stacking a NYC-sized dish rack. Plates need to stack against plates in such a way that bowls can nest inside bowls while leaving as much drip angle and exposed plate surface as possible.

Okay, so maybe it's the OCD way instead of the manly way, but as with any manly pursuit, it's a fine fine line.

 

[Austin]

I don't mind washing dishes. I built my house 7 years ago and have never used the dishwasher.

I also sweep and vacuum as needed but my housekeeper handles everything else.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Most of the time I use a dishwasher, but if there are just a few things, It's easier to just do them by hand. I've even been known to wipe off a countertop, or sometimes clean a bathroom. After all, I live here too, and if I can help make it dirty, I am willing to help make it clean.

 

[thermographer]

I am more than happy to load, start, and unload the dishwasher, or hand wash if needed. I hate folding clothes so SWBMO and I have a deal worked out.

 

[RBE17]

I don't mind washing dishes. In fact, what annoys me more than washing dishes is when the dishwasher doesn't get something clean or it turns something over and there is food sitting in it. When I open the dishwasher I expect everything to be sparkling clean because that's what I can achieve when I wash them by hand. Now, the time the dishwasher saves me is incredible, but it doesn't not come w/o aggrevation.

 

[Townyj]

I have a good friend who, during his graduate school days, used to take his dishes into the shower with him to clean, well, everything at once. I offer this as an example of a method not to use.

This takes the cake imo.... lol!

 

[sparkchaser]

A gentleman would leave that work for the servant. I, not being a gentleman, must wash the dishes myself.

 

[WhosYerBob]

I wash the dishes by hand in our house most of the time.