Pete Jordan
Harper Perennials
2007
374 pages
Pete Jordan was, and possibly still is, the world's most famous dishwasher. He was not a man who washed dishes to make ends meet while aspiring for fame, rather Jordan is a man who is acclaimed for his intense devotion to the profession of washing dishes. In 1989 Jordan embarked on a quest to wash dishes in all 50 states, and during this period he published what became a well known zine about his journey, titled Dishwasher. I remember hearing about the Dishwasher zine for the first time on a segment about zines aired on the, now defunct, CBC radio program Brave New Waves. That was probably around the years 1999-2000, and at the time, Brave New Waves host Patti Schmidt spoke of Pete Jordan's quest in the present tense. Jordan ended his quest, without completing it, in the year 2001 and in 2007 he published this memoir of his life lived in dedication to dishwashing.
Dishwasher Pete has become a mini-media presence. He has been interviewed by V. Vale of Re/Search Publications for vol 1 of the Re/Search Zines book, and he has also appeared on David Letterman (sort of), twice. The first appearance, which is discussed in Dishwasher, was actually a prank where Jordan allowed one of his friends who dreamed of appearing on national television, to take his place. The second appearance was more recent, as Pete Jordan was promoting this very book. Finally, he has also worked as a medical test subject and has appeared in another well known zine focusing on low-pay work, Guinea Pig Zero. Jordan is also an occasional contributor to the popular NPR program, This American Life. Dishwasher is Jordan's first published book which recounts the time that he spent washing dishes, publishing his zine, and other assorted and associated pursuits. I chose to read Dishwasher because of an interest in zines, and I was expecting the book to be an anthology of the fifteen issues of Dishwasher that were published during Jordan's 12 year quest. As I delved into the text I realized the book pertains to a host of interests in addition to zines, including labour issues and vagabondia.
During Jordan’s second appearance on Late Night with David Letterman,
Letterman ended the interview by stating that the book isn't really about dishwashing, it's about the people Jordan meets on his quest. After having read the book, however, it seems to me that it IS about washing dishes, and why not? Jordan's book is full of anecdotes that are directly related to the experience of washing dishes professionally. Jordan expounds on proper techniques, on his rituals for working a shift, on the costs and benefits of doing such work. Furthermore, Jordan occasionally discusses famous entertainers and politicians who once worked as dishwashers, historic anecdotes that involve ‘dish-dogs’, and labour statistics that pertain to the profession.
Pete's story is of a traveler who worked cheap, traveled cheap, lived cheap. He found dishwashing to be his calling because it kept him from dealing with irritating restaurant customers, plus it provided him with free food, and it was easy work to find. Pete could easily collect his gear together and move on, expecting to find a new place to work in a new town. Dishwashing was an easy job to abruptly walk out on, and he did so often, which was easy for him since he had few responsibilities in his life. Jordan’s perpetual traveling across America recalls Kerouac’s On the Road, although Jordan is as much a transient labourer as he is an adventure directed by wanderlust. Jordan’s story of low status labour also recalls Charles Bukowski’s novel, Post Office, in which the caustic poet recalled events of his life as an employee of the United States Postal Service. While both Post Office and Dishwasher are written in simple prose styles, Jordan’s attitude is far more upbeat than Bukowski’s perpetually grim view of the world. The Bukowski connection to Dishwasher is quite strong, as Jordan notes that the poet was once a dishwasher, himself, and the elder writer’s feelings on the profession are quoted by Jordan.
Jordan's book reads as though the dishwashing entry in Stud Terkel's book, Working, exploded into hyper-mode (note: there actually is not an interview with a disherwasher in Terkel's book). Dishwasher is fascinating because its author displays an intense dedication to what may be considered one of the lowest status professions in Western civilization. While Letterman refused to acknowledge that the book is actually about dishwashing, to me the book seems to suggest that anything can be the grounds for interesting storytelling provided it's approached by someone with the right mixture of emotional sensibilities and imagination. Jordan discusses how his zine seemed to open up dishwashing as a professional subculture, noting the development of its own set of slang terms, such as ‘pearl diver’, for dishwasher, or ‘bus tub buffet’ the scraps of food left on dishes that are still good to eat.
One of the most interesting aspects of Jordan’s text is the description of his lifestyle during this time in his life. Dishwasher Pete lived frugally, slept on couches, and when he gets a loan from his brother to publish Dishwasher issue 16, he uses that to buy a van which became a home. He ate at work, part of the job’s appeal, and occasionally described buying ice cream for a meal. Towards the end of his quest, Jordan also wrote of his naievete of a normal life, where he wanted to once pay for a house in cash, and by the end of the book, he considers a home again, and considers a mortgage application with his unique set of assets and skills. While Jordan’s text may be grounded in the zeitgeist of the late-1980s to early 1990s, identified with the underachieving Generation-Xer, many of his lifestyle choices exceed the bounds of the valorized Gen-X slacker, towards the earlier model of the Hobo.
Jordan eventually settled down, after meeting a woman whom he married, and has offered this memoir as the chief achievement of his post-dishwashing period. It is the culmination of a period in the life of an individual who has made the most of a low status profession, and the legacy of one of the most popular zines of the 1990s zine golden age.
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