Pete Jordan, otherwise known as “Dishwasher Pete” may be the only writer alive who can make the profession of dishwashing sound not only intriguing but, well…like a profession at all. Jordan’s 2007 biography Dishwasher does both, as he details his quest to “bust suds” in all 50 of the United States.
Dishwasher is already the acknowledged masterpiece of the traveling dishwasher sub-genre. The exploits Jordan encounters as he clean plates across the country and the style with which he describes them has led to comparisons with On the Road, for one. And while Jordan’s prose may not quite be on a par with Kerouac's, there are similarities between the two books.
Author Pete Jordan Didn't Want An Adult Occupation
Pete Jordan grew up poor in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco in the 70's, after the hippie heyday of the area but before it became yuppified. The family of seven lived in a one bedroom apartment, and Pete watched as his Scottish immigrant father worked hard all his life, only to remain poor. Pondering his fifth grade essay about "what I want to be when I grow up," he realized he had no aspirations for an adult occupation.
It wasn't that Jordan didn't want to work—indeed, he's been working steadily since age 8—just that he saw no sense in striving for a higher level. Then Pete Jordan fell into dishwashing and he realized there were several aspects to the job that he enjoyed: working mostly alone, free meals and the fact that "dishwasher wanted" signs hung in the windows of a majority of restaurants in America. He could work wherever and whenever he wanted.
Author Sets Goal of Washing Dishes Across America
After working a handful of dishwashing jobs the notion struck Pete Jordan that his childhood dream of getting out of San Fran and seeing the country was doable as a professional dishwasher. He could quit a job as soon as he had enough dough to move on with little worry about getting another in the next town. Setting his goal of "busting suds" in all 50 states gave him more incentive to keep moving.
Pete Jordan's 'Zine Dishwasher Led to Biography
Jordan had always enjoyed writing, and when he began running into some of the same "dish dogs" time and again, he came up with the idea for a self-published "'zine" aptly titled Dishwasher. The DIY aspect of publishing a 'zine made it possible for him to publish while on the road. That's the framework for this unique biography, and Dishwasher Pete fills it out with stories of his travels, tales of suds-busting from Alaska to New Orleans and places in between, told in his own low-key, humorously engaging way.
From a ski resorts to off-shore oil rigs, hippie communes to the Lawrence Welk resort in Branson, the author found his own way to experience America. In the end, it was that restlessness to keep experiencing that kept Jordan moving, and will keep readers turning the pages.
Check out Pete Jordan's post-dishwashing career exploits at dishwasherpete.com
Jordan, Pete. Dishwasher, 2007, Harper Perennial, 353 pages. (ISBN: 978-0-06-089642-3)
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