i love our dishwashers--they are amazing. they have great senses of humor, are incredibly hardworking, and put up with a lot of crap from all of us. i try to do my best for them, making sure they are never hungry, and get whatever they prefer to eat. i also try to speak spanish to them, but it mostly comes out as this weird spangtalian. usually, they catch my drift, and usually, i understand what they are trying to tell me.

recently, we hired a new dishwasher who speaks absolutely no english. i'm pretty good with him, and i think he's comfortable with me and gets what i'm trying to get across to him, most of the time. but i think he must think i am absolutely nuts because whenever i can't think of the correct spanish word, i just substitute "blah blah blah." for example, "puedes blah blah blah esta olla alli' por favor?"