Washing Their Hands Of the Last Frontier

In many immigrant homes, the automatic dishwasher is the last frontier. Long after new arrivals pick up football, learn the intricacies of the multiplex and the DMV and develop a taste for pizza, they resist the dishwasher. Some joke that not using the appliance is one of the truest signs of immigrant heritage, whether they hail from Africa, Latin America, Asia or Eastern Europe.

If they have a dishwasher -- and many do, because it is standard equipment in most homes -- it becomes a glorified dish rack, a Tupperware storage cabinet or a snack-food bin. It's never turned on.

Lol. How true. When I was in the US, the apartment I rented for 3 months had a dishwasher but it was not turned on even once. The previous tenants even left dishwasher powder but frankly, having never used one, the electricity usage and the nuances of operating it was a bit too much. The 3 of us ate at different times, used different kinds of pots and pans and cleaned our cooking and eating utensils at different times. Using the dishwasher would have meant excessive water and electricity bills. Too much when we were students.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/07/AR2005100702146.html