Dishes Silliness

I recently had three new roommates move into my apartment. Ever since they moved in, I think I've done a decent job of doing my part around the house. The dishes was one area where I felt I was for sure pulling my weight. I loaded and ran the dishwasher a couple times a week. Actually, I started feeling that I was the only one really doing dishes, so I thought I would try an experiment.

One Sunday, my roommates and I helped cook some food for the young singles group we attend in our neighborhood. There were a lot of dishes left to be done afterward. I did the ones from the food I took and then looked around at what was left in the kitchen. There were a lot. I decided I wasn't going to do them. In fact, I decided I wasn't going to do dishes for the whole week to see what would happen.

The result was fascinating. Not surprisingly, the sink filled up. It was so full that I could barely fit another plate in it. It was disgusting. I was tempted to just load the dishwasher, but that would destroy my experiment.

The interesting thing was what happened at the end of the week. One of my roommates approached me and he was a little upset. He said he and another roommate had just done two loads of dishes and was bothered that I hadn't helped. I explained that I normally do about two loads a week. He said that he didn't see it and thought that I was being lazy.

I just thought it was silly that after one week things would be so bad. The most fun part about the experiment is that I don't use a lot of dishes at home. I have one cereal bowl and spoon that I keep in my room and I eat lunch at work. I often eat dinner outside because of other things I have going on. If I cook at home, I can usually last on the leftovers for a few days. So I really don't use much.

He did have a point - for that week, I hadn't done any dishes. :)