“I would never use the dishwasher again” I told myself, and I kept at it for at least two years. Well, many many people never use a dishwasher all their lives, and I had never seen one till four years ago. I was quite convinced that all our plates, spoons, pots and pans could still be clean enough without ever using a dishwasher. So, why did this thing about dishwasher even come up when I don’t even need it? The first time we rented an apartment in the US, the dishwasher was one of the appliances provided. There it is, a fully functional machine that could wash dishes sitting in my kitchen, being used as nothing but a shelf. Shhh, don’t tell that to the dishwasher manufacturer. That would be embarrassing! Now, before you start making any conclusions about me, please hear me out.

Alright, it’s not entirely my fault that I stopped using the dishwasher. I tried. At first, I was all excited about trying this marvelous machine that can actually wash dishes. I had only heard about it. So, I searched the internet to learn how to use a dishwasher. I learnt all the steps and followed it. Apparently, you are supposed to remove any excess food from the dishes, load the rack, fill the detergent and start the machine. That’s what I did! When I heard weird sounds coming from it, I was wondering if everything was alright. I waited and waited and waited for it to be done, and I can tell you it was much longer than I would have taken to hand-wash them. When I finally opened the dishwasher to finally unload it and put the dishes back on my shelves, I realized this was a waste of time. Nothing had actually happened. The dishes were as dirty as I had put them in. There was just more water on them. Nevertheless, I decided to give it another try after a few weeks. May be, I had just set the machine to ‘Rinse’ the first time. It was no better the second time either, though I double-checked each step.

Then, I met people who actually used the dishwasher. Some used it everyday! I was surprised to hear that. Why would they use a machine that does almost nothing but consume time and power? There must be something I am missing. So, I decided to try again. I did, and the result was the same as my first two attempts. That’s when I gave up and decided not to use the dishwasher anymore. Moreover, I heard from a friend that using the dishwasher everyday consumes a lot of power. That made me quite confident about my decision.

When we moved to another apartment that also had a dishwasher, I didn’t quite care about it. I continued to use it as a shelf – to hold my pots and lids! After a few months, I noticed that the dishwasher needed a cleaning. When I set to the task, I discovered it was going to be harder than I thought. So, I decided to give the dishwasher one more chance. This time I wouldn’t expect it to clean my dishes, because it had already failed miserably at that task. I just wanted to clean the dishwasher. While at it, it wouldn’t hurt to load the day’s dishes into the dishwasher, just to give me a little break from handwashing the dishes. I loaded the dishwasher last thing at night. I was in for a surprise the next morning. The washed dishes were actually clean, and ready to be put back in the shelves!! Finally, I discovered that a dishwasher actually does its job.

I still haven’t figured out what went wrong the first few times. But I feel stupid for letting this machine sit there without serving its purpose. However, I am relieved that I finally found how to use it, and for getting over a misconception that I had held for so long. I am still not comfortable using it everyday (who knows, that too might change in the future), but I use it when I have too many dishes to do or when I would rather use the time doing something else.

For some of you, I might sound like someone who finally figured out how to use the internet! A dishwasher is just part of your routine, and you don’t even think twice about using it. Or may be, you haven’t seen a dishwasher yet, or may be you are somewhere in between, like me. But, I encourage you to think about something you decided you are never going to try again. May be, it is time to revisit ‘that’. For you, it could be a food that you vowed never to eat again or even a passion you have given up on. Why do you feel negative about it? Could it be just that you came across a bad sample of what you wanted to try? Perhaps, you are right in feeling that way about it, but it doesn’t hurt to give it one more chance.