Dishwasher.

• Author: Capellaro, Catherine

Washing dishes is one of the country's least esteemed professions, ranked in opinion polls only slightly above drug pushing and prostitution. But Dishwasher -- the self-published zine created by Dishwasher Pete -- creates a different picture from the drudgery usually associated with the work. Dishwasher Pete (who does not use his last name) is a twelve-year veteran who travels restaurant to restaurant, state to state.

Dishwasher Pete hopes to wash dishes in all fifty states. So far, he has made it to twenty-three. He says he likes his profession because of the freedom it affords him. "The one thing about my job is that my mind is free. They're buying my time and labor but not my mind," he says.

In his spare time, Dishwasher Pete frequents university libraries to research dishwashing labor history and collects stories, books, and newspaper and magazine clippings to review in the zine.

Each issue of Dishwasher is brimming with cartoons and handwritten stories about the colorful characters who populate restaurant kitchens. It also makes some political points. In an essay called "The Slave Wage," Pete rails against the unlivable pittance the grunts receive and recommends they take over the means of production themselves and share the wealth.

While it's wildly irreverent, Dishwasher's class consciousness may inspire kitchen employees to organize -- or, at the very least, grab a free bite now and then. Dishwasher Pete has published lists of all the food he eats or takes home from restaurant kitchens. He implores zine readers not to ash on their plates so employees can eat the leftovers from the bus tubs.

Although Pete doesn't make money off his publishing efforts, Dishwasher does manage to break even. He says his dream is to offset-print the entire zine. Right now he prints only the cover and mimeos the inside pages wherever he can find a copy machine. His...