In Need of Repair

Four weeks ago, our dishwasher stopped working. Yes, it is a First World type problem as I am grateful for the fact we have clean water to wash dishes. This blog post is a ‘tongue in cheek’ humorous approach about our dishwasher dilemma and the emotions that followed.

I have come to realize there were 7 stages we “cycled” through with our dishwasher breakdown.

1. Denial

When I first noticed the E24 indicator light flashing on our Bosch, I simply thought it would be something easy such as refilling the compartment with Jet Dry, I could do that. After all, the dishwasher was relatively new but just past the stage for the warranty to still be effective, of course. It was a Bosch, so shouldn’t be an issue at all I told myself. When I googled the code, it led me to discover the indicator light meant we had a block somewhere in the hose/filter. I figured it was an easy fix and opened up the door, pulled the filter out to retrieve anything that was stuck such as a popcorn seed. But no, there was nothing trapped in the filter. Maybe if I just re-ran the dishwasher again, it would work. I liked taking an optimistic approach. No. There was E24 again.

2. Frustration

What to do next? Well YouTube it of course! We found a plethora of videos about our exact dishwasher model and the frustrations people had with the E24 code. Probably would have been good to know this before we bought it. The first video had us using a ladle and sponge to get rid of the excess water in the bottom of the dishwasher. Thinking that process hopefully solved the problem we ran the dishwasher. No such luck. The code appeared again. This time another video suggested using a wet/dry shop vac sucking the water up and loosening what was supposedly trapped in the hose. Well, that should probably have taken care of it. After all, it worked perfectly for the guy in the video. Ran the dishwasher. E24. And this time, it felt like the code was flashing just to mock me and my failed attempts. Through this all, my family continued to feel the need to eat, go figure. More dishes were now piling up all over my counter. I was too stubborn to give in and actually wash the dishes by hand at this point. After all, I needed to show code E24 who was boss. But with pulling everything out from under the sink my kitchen was soon to be declared a disaster zone. Then someone decided to open up a can of sardines. A dirty plate laying on the counter with sardine remnants needed to be dealt with immediately as my cats were now eyeing the countertops ready to pounce and participate in the chaos as plates, cups and cutlery that were so finely balanced. Dirty dish piling is a true art form. One wrong move could send them all tumbling in many directions.

3. Bargaining

The art of negotiations soon ensued. Who would trade another chore with someone else just to get out of doing the dishes? It was rather entertaining to see how badly each of us tried to avoid the stacks of dishes piled up. But we had run out of cutlery and finger food options so the task had to be faced head on. The only chore detested more than dishes is cleaning out of the cats’ litter box.

4. Get’er Done

What’s that saying, “more hands make lighter work”? Well we all decided (alright, some may/may not have decided voluntarily) to just roll up our sleeves and dig into the mountain that lay before us. It did not take as long as everyone thought and despite protests, everyone actually lived through it unscathed, mostly. We knew the dishes would pile up again if we did not keep up with this task until the dishwasher was fixed.

5. Euphoria

Over the next couple of weeks, we took turns washing the dishes. In fact, it was rather enjoyable at times. Instead of everyone rushing off to their own agendas after supper, we chatted and joked while the dishes got done. It was almost a “Leave it to Beaver” type moment. This was so retro, it felt cool to do the dishes together. We even pondered whether we continued with this family bonding activity once the dishwasher was fixed. Yes, we were in the rainbows, kittens and unicorn stage of the dishwasher dilemma.

6. Defeat

And then Spring Break ended and sickness in the household reigned supreme. Our euphoric family bonding over bubbles burst. Suddenly everyone was either too busy to do the dishes or plagued with a stomach ache, headache or severe case of sudsaphobia. Even hormonal imbalance issues were used as a scapegoat (not naming any names). If only I could train the cats and dog to wash and dry, but they gave me attitude and it wasn’t worth the effort. I watched a few more videos on how to fix your own dishwasher because I was too stubborn to be willing to pay a dishwasher repair person $150 just to ring my doorbell and then another wad of cash to fix what I probably could fix myself. I kept thinking how many books and glasses of wine that money could buy. My husband was willing to give it another go but it was “year end” time in his business and he was swamped so it would have to wait for a while. So reality reared its ugly head. Mustering my remaining strength I clasped onto the white dish towel, slowly waved it over my head staring at the pile of dishes that lay before me, I vowed, “You may take our lives, but you will never take our freedom!” My Braveheart moment was over, I knew what needed to happen and walked over to my phone to call someone much more powerful than I.

7. Gratitude

In 4 sleeps it will happen. My doorbell will ring and I will open it in giddy anticipation, coming face to face with the dishwasher repair person. I will try not to scare him/her off with my enthusiastic greeting. There may/may not involve a warm embrace of gratitude when I am no longer met with the E24 code on my dishwasher.

And my lesson learned from this experience; do not take your appliances for granted. Appreciate them, even give them a few words of affirmation now and again…for we all work much harder when our hard work is acknowledged.

May your day be filled with sunshine and your cupboards with clean dishes.

Love,

Nikki