The Dishwasher and the Anthropologist

Before moving, Mrs. T decided we needed a new dishwasher.  My bride is a great cook, but I do the dishes and knowing my opinion counted for nothing, I stayed home. Mrs. T returned  with news our new appliance would be delivered Monday.  Then she checked the reviews.  Her report less than helpful.  "Most everyone writing a review hated model 123 (ours) and wished they had purchased model 234.  How would anyone know?

Have you ever purchased a dishwasher?  It's a pig in a poke.  What's your criteria?  How do you chose, what makes a dishwasher good or bad?  Essentially there are 2 ways to pick.  First, you can match the other appliances in your kitchen, by brand, model or color, or depending upon your willingness to pay, pay 'till it hurts.

On Monday, bright and early, the delivery truck arrived. I asked the delivery guy if he wanted to make this stop easy or hard?  "Easy I guess" came his reply. "You brought the wrong dishwasher" I said, " Come back when you have the right one" which prompted a call from the store.  "We are so sorry for the mix up.  We damaged the dishwasher you purchased, will you please accept model 234 at the same cost?  We will deliver it tomorrow morning" We would and they did.

That night I spotted a listing on Craigslist.  "If you purchased a model 234 dishwasher and wish to participate in our study we will pay you.  Call if interested."  We called.

Two days later a video camera arrived with instructions to keep a video diary of how we used our dishwasher.  An in home interview would follow.  A video diary of a dishwasher in an unoccupied condo is not entertaining but we did our part. The interview was the best part of all.



Have you ever met an anthropologist?  A real life urban anthropologist arrived at our door, hired of course by the model 234 people, to study how "real" people use their dishwasher "in real life".   How cool is that? Unfortunately she didn't know about the frozen pepperoni pizza test.

Toad