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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think a grown woman....

405 replies

ToTheMax0 · 11/04/2023 22:28

Should be able to know how to operate a dishwasher?
New colleague didn't know how to do it. She stacked it correctly but was then standing around looking stumped. I had to intervene and help.
She is 41!

OP posts:
electricmoccasins · 12/04/2023 07:06

43 - No idea how to use one. Never owned one.

Goodread1 · 12/04/2023 07:07

Oops typo omissions her hands ✋️

GlassBunion · 12/04/2023 07:16

The words 'arse' and 'plate' spring to mind...

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 12/04/2023 07:20

Why would I know how to use something I don't have? Operating a dishwasher is hardly a life skill!

Sweetener12 · 12/04/2023 07:21

YABVU, people don't know how to operate things they never use or don't have, it's totally fine and nothing to be grumpy about. It's not like there is a certain age, by which you're supposed to obtaincertain knowledge. I could probably criticise you for not knowing how to use Photoglory to make black and white pictures colorful, but why would I do that, if you've never had any interest in doing so? Perhaps she had no interest in getting a dishwasher either, so take a step back.

VivaLesTartes · 12/04/2023 07:21

Assuming she has a dishwasher at home... still yabu.
I think stacking it properly is most of the battle tbh. Once you know how to start it you know but they are all a bit different. At least she filled it. Meanwhile DH thinks you just stack everything on top of it and it magically works 🙄

Roselilly36 · 12/04/2023 07:22

That’s a bit mean OP, how would she know if she doesn’t own one, never used one before? Even if she did, we all have our own way of loading our DW, that seems logical to us. As long as the items come out clean who cares.

TiedUpWithABlackVelvetBand · 12/04/2023 07:23

Coming back to your thread @ToTheMax0?

rainbowstardrops · 12/04/2023 07:23

Well, what a peach you are!

LondonJax · 12/04/2023 07:26

Well we used to own a dishwasher (in fact I've had three in my adult life). We got rid of ours when it broke down and got a cupboard put in instead (more useful from our point of view).

Anyway...the point it that every time we go on holiday (pre and post our own dishwashers) we've always had to check the instruction booklet for the dishwasher in the place we're staying in. Different cycles, different lengths of wash, different symbols.

Same with washing machines and microwaves. They may all do the same thing in their 'type' but they all do it differently.

Try being helpful instead of scathing. It'll be your turn to stand in front of something somewhere scratching your head one day.

adularia · 12/04/2023 07:27

I wouldn’t be able to and I’m mid 40s, but I’ve never used a dishwasher in my life.

Newmum0322 · 12/04/2023 07:38

Bao · 11/04/2023 22:30

Sounds like you're being a bit of a dick.

This

WhatWouldJeevesDo · 12/04/2023 07:40

The tablets at work needed unwrapping! The pitfalls are endless!

Moveoverdarlin · 12/04/2023 07:42

I’m 43 and never use a dishwasher and I’ve got a very big house, DH, 2 young kids, a dog, generally a busy, domesticated life. My kitchen has one but in the last four years I’ve used it maybe twice, if I do use it again, I’d need to take a minute to remember how it works. It’s quite high-tech and I can never remember which order to press the buttons. Not really sure why I’d don’t use it, I find it easier to just quickly wash-up as I go.

Jagoda · 12/04/2023 07:42

You really don’t like her do you?

Of course it isn’t odd not to know how to use a dishwasher.

Baneofmyexistence · 12/04/2023 07:42

I’ve never had one so I wouldn’t know either. I will never have one either because I can’t stand that squeaky feeling everything has when they come out. Makes me go all funny!

pussycatinfluffyslippers · 12/04/2023 07:50

I'm 51.
Never used a dishwasher in my life - I wouldn't know how to "stack" one.
But I've also never changed a nappy either...

AlexisR · 12/04/2023 07:57

You are living in a very privileged bubble if you think that every single adult knows how to operate a dishwasher. Some people don't have them either by choice or because they can't afford it.

JudyGeller · 12/04/2023 07:57

I’m 31 and have never used one and no one in my family has one either, even in work I wash my own dishes by hand and take them home with me. Honestly don’t think her life is going to fall apart as a grown women for not knowing how to turn a dish washer on 🙄

Novatherova · 12/04/2023 07:58

I'm dyslexic so can't make things like that work or get confused with the steps.

You're being mean.

AlexisR · 12/04/2023 07:58

Also just out of interest, would you have been more surprised if this were a man? I wonder if there's some unconscious bias going on here too. Being a woman doesn't = knowing how to do domestic chores.

JauntyJinty · 12/04/2023 08:01

I was at the inlaws the weekend and loaded the dishwasher - I thougth I'd turned it on but apprently not! They often work differently and if you're not used to them they can be surpisingly tricky!

NortieTortie · 12/04/2023 08:05

I don't know anyone who has a dishwasher. Why would I know how to use one?

JerseyRoyals · 12/04/2023 08:07

notacooldad · 12/04/2023 06:05

Our new one at work stumped everyone the other month!

Ours too! It was quite funny to see three grown adult highly qualified professionals standing around it one with instructions reading aloud while the others looked on in some bafflement.

I did not have a dishwasher until i was well into my 30s.

Working out which way to turn the top of a pump handle container of handwash or sanitiser bamboozles me every time. I always have to ask someone else to do it. I'm 50 and have a Masters degree and function quite well generally. (Not in pump handles though).

Midwinter89 · 12/04/2023 08:08

Some people don’t have them especially if from less well off background. I first used one age 31.