People who don't like this book probably have never washed dishes for a living

books:


	• Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States (P.S.) Pete Jordan Harper Perennial, 2007 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 23 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

awesome interesting but could have cleaned it up

Great book that is hard to put down, but could have cleaned up the language a bit. Not necessary. I have small kids who like to read anything they get their hands on.

Hilarious!

I loved every minute of it! After working in corporate America bending over backwards for so many years without much of a reward, including military experience, I'm glad somebody like Pete Jordan was smart enough to figure out that you can just roll through life without responsibility.
Pete Jordan said everything that I ever wanted to say to my bosses and did what most of us ever dreamed of...slacked off on the clock!
I haven't laughed so hard over a book in forever! Laugh-out-loud funny, funny, funny!
I have been on the Letterman Show myself and I cried while laughing so hard! Great stunt! Kudos! Kudos! Kudos!

for more information click here

People who don't like this book probably have never washed dishes for a living

Enjoyable book - you should probably read it. It covers dishwashing, finding jobs as a dishwasher, traveling around, etc. I thought I wouldn't like it when I first picked it up, but I was wrong.

A Dishwashing Rhapsody

This book is an autobiography/memoir about a slacker-inclined dude named Pete from California that washes dishes, and eventually decides to turn his dishwashing into a quest to 'dish' in all 50 states of the USA. The book itself spans a good deal of Pete's life before, after, and in between dish jobs as well as talks about the history and lifestyle of dishwashers - which apparently has a whole subculture of 'pearl divers'.

Overall this was an entertaining, lighthearted, quick and easy read. Despite the potentially dull-sounding premise (sort of dull anyway...how many people like to wash dishes, never mind read about them?) the book itself pitches Pete into a ton of really crazy dishwashing scenarios including a summer camp, a train, a dinner theatre town, an oil rig, a commune, and the Alaskan wilderness. It has a very bohemian Kerouac feeling to it, as you learn how dishwashing is actually the ideal job for a slacker - because they are always wanted, they actually have a fair bit of power in whether they choose to stay at a place or move along somewhere else at a moment's notice.

There were however, a few very frustrating things. The first is Pete's slacker mentality drove me nuts. It almost felt good to see it catch up to him as the book progressed and he actually wanted to settle. Pete is the type of person to live out of a cargo bag rather than own a house, to crash on people's floors, to bum money off people, to stop working until he's down to his last cent, to go change hunting as he walks the streets...and for the average person, his elitist attitude about this lifestyle was extremely annoying.

Tying with that, my second beef with the book is the fact Pete is prone to a weird dichotomy of 'not caring' but also 'caring' about dishing and the culture around it. He's one of those annoying subculture hipsters that are so pretentious that 'not caring' needs to be handled in a certain way to be acceptable to his definition of cool. Finally those two things lend itself to the fact the quest is never really completed - this is revealed on the back of the book, I'm not spoiling anything - and it easily could have been completed had Pete not cared about items 1 & 2.

Still this is an interesting read - it's a very dynamic little slice of life that I guarantee you would regularly have NO exposure to. Intelligent it may not be, but entertaining and at times, insightful (into this culture anyway) it is. A decent, fun read.

for more information click here

Beautiful perspective on the world...

It's a beautiful, working class bible. A 'f*ck you' to the system. A reminder that we should reassess what is important in life. I will admit that I have known the author for many years. Our history goes back to the mid-1990s when he was still a dish dog and I was scrapping by - by running printing machines. We were both starving zinesters. Pete would drop in to sleep on my floor, spend his days in the library and his nights washing dishes in Brooklyn. He was a bit of blessing in my life. Back then, no matter how many hours I worked, I could not keep up with my bills. My dreams outside my day job seemed so lofty. As a dish dog Pete had perfected the art of living on a dollar a day. Or less. To him it was a challenge. His thriftiness was awh inspiring. He made survival an art form. A messy one, but an art form none the less. He helped me see that poverty could be more than just an obstacle or an embarrassment. His message to me is that money does not make me richer - living well does. Thanks for writing the book Pete.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Dishwasher is the true story of a man on a mission: to clean dirty dishes professionally in every state in America. Part adventure, part parody, and part miraculous journey of self-discovery, it is the unforgettable account of Pete Jordan's transformation from itinerant seeker into "Dishwasher Pete"?unlikely folk hero, writer, publisher of his own cult zine, and the ultimate professional dish dog?and how he gave it all up for love.

hot