My Jaerb

Dishwasher

This summer I had a part-time job at a local coffee shop. My main duties were dishwashing and closing up. If you think that sounds boring and/or unpleasant, then you’re right. Now please bear with me as I recall a job that I hope I never wind up with again.

As I mentioned earlier, my job was divided into two main components:

·         Washing dishes

·         Closing up

Do those sound simple? Let me break down what a day’s work doing those two things consists of.

Dishwashing

The job of washing dishes involves two main components:

·         Rinsing and machine-washing plates, cups, etc.

·         Hand-washing various pots, pans, cooking implements, etc.

The simpler of the two duties is washing the plates. First I grab a tub of dirty plates and cups from behind the front counter and set it next to the sink. I quickly rinse the dishes off and put them in a rack. I give the plates a quick once-over with the spray hose, and then I slide the rack into a large metal box. I then press a button that starts the wash cycle. While I wait, I start filling the next rack with dishes. After the wash cycle finishes, I take the rack out, let the dishes dry for a minute, and then put them away. Plates and bowls go to the kitchen, while cups go to the front counters. Sound fine? Now for the hard part.

Get yourself some good gloves, because now we’ve arrived at the hand-washing station. This station consists of three sinks, at least two of which are full of dishes by the time I get there. Each sink, when empty, has a distinct purpose. The left-most sink I use as the soaking sink. I fill it most of the way, add some dish soap, and let the dishes that aren’t covered in too much food sit in there. I also use that sink as my source of soapy water for washing. When this sink is full of dishes, I forgo the soaking and just scrub them straight away. The middle sink I tend to use as a rinsing sink. Once I’ve scrubbed a dish with soap, I quickly dip it in this sink to get the suds off. This is significantly faster than rinsing it with the hose. The third sink, my favorite, is the bleach sink. That’s where I put the dishes to soak after I’ve scrubbed them. This helps sterilize the dishes and tools to ensure they really are clean. After letting them soak in the bleach water for half a minute or longer, I put them out to dry.

But wait, what about the dishes that are covered in too much food? I have a couple of options with these. First option, I sacrifice the rinse sink to store the food residue that I rinse off. Alternatively, I rinse the ex-food into a large pot, and dump it in the plate sink periodically. Either way, eventually I have to empty the sink. This involves using the mesh sink-stopper to catch bits of food and scoop them into the nearest trash can. Many times. Fortunately, the food residue in the sink makes it drain more slowly than usual, which brings me to the most dish-related part of closing up.

Closing Shop

If I were lucky, I would get to go home as soon as I finished dishes, usually less than two hours after the café closes. I’m not lucky. Closing up involves three main duties:

·         Draining the sinks

·         Taking out the trash

·         Sweeping and mopping

Barring the aforementioned food clogs, draining the sinks is simple enough. There is only one caveat: the three hand-washing sinks drain through an open pipe into hole in the floor. If you’re lucky, the hole in the floor drains as fast as the sinks do. If you’re me, then you’re stuck babysitting the draining sinks to make sure the hole in the floor doesn’t flood. Which it has. If it does flood, quickly plugging the sink and covering the open pipe with your hand will keep the water from spreading more than a few feet. Which it has. We’ll get back to putting water on the floor in a minute.

Now it’s time to take out the trash. I take every garbage can in the place, tie up their respective trash bags, and consolidate the bags into a couple of the larger cans. I then use a hand truck to wheel one can at a time across the parking lot to the dumpster. Once I’m done, I put new bags in all the trash cans. Straightforward enough. After this, I’m ready to start the last phase of my job.

First, I take all the mats that are on the floor of the kitchen area and drag them outside, or stack them on a nearby counter, depending on what area they’re in. Then, I sweep the kitchen area and put the debris into a trash can with a dust pan. Now it’s time to atone for getting dirty water on the floor by putting more water on the floor. Using a garden hose from the janitor’s closet, I fill a large wheeled bucket with water, adding a splash of de-greasing cleaner and bleach. Then I take the mop, dip it in the water, wring it out using a metal gadget hooked to the side of the bucket, and thoroughly wipe the floor, always remembering to work backward towards the bucket. After this I drag the mats back in. And then I turn the lights off. And then I leave.

Passive Sentences 1%

Flesch Reading Ease 83.9

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 4.9