The Lovely Loneliness of Washing Dishes

The introverts among us know that the loveliest job at a dinner party is washing up. You won’t get the praise bestowed upon the cook, that is true. Cooking requires creative flair. Your job is to return things to how they were. The work of the best washer-upper-er may be invisible, but it is no less useful. Surely, there is no nicer alone than being alone in the company of others. Hearing, over the sound of running water, a distant conversation which you, thank god, need not contribute to. And then there is the immediate satisfaction that comes from cleaning dirty plates. First, they are dirty, and suddenly, you have made them clean. If only the same instant success could be applied to your day job. No, there is nothing better than this noble task—and, equally, nothing worse than the inevitable and disappointing appearance of a polite tea-towel-bearing guest who has come to help dry up.