Ever Been Ghosted by Your Appliances?

Here’s What To Do.

I’m not usually the type to argue with inanimate objects. But there’s one kitchen companion that really tested my patience recently… the dishwasher.

A faithful machine, humming along day after day like a domestic monk, quietly performing its soapy ritual……

…..Until one day, it didn’t.

I loaded it up as usual—plates stacked with grace, forks aligned with military precision, a spritz of “eco” rinse to impress others. I pushed the start button. Nothing. I pushed it again. Still nothing. I tried a soft reset. Then a hard one. Then the Taoist-zen-master reset where you stare blankly and surrender to the void. Still nothing.

Now, I’m not new to the concept of impermanence. I’ve read my Lao Tzu. I practice qigong. I once whispered sweet affirmations to a cactus hoping it would bloom. But the stubborn silence of this dishwasher? That was next level impermanence.

I did what any rational human would do: I started pressing all of the buttons on the console, including the on/off switch. I Googled things like “dishwasher energy blockages” and “can the Taoist seasons affect appliances.”

Eventually, I surrendered. I let the dishes sit, channeling my inner Tao, vowing to clean them by hand if it still stubbornly refused to offer some grace in the morning.

But here’s the kicker: the next morning, without fanfare or apology, it started working again. Just like that. As if nothing had happened. As if it hadn’t ghosted me the night before like a potential date. No lights flashing “I’m sorry.” No diagnostic codes. Just the soothing hum of mechanical forgiveness.

This, my friends, is life.

And this is where the Tao comes in. The Tao—that ever-flowing, ever-mysterious principle of the universe—asks us not to fight the river, but to float. It doesn’t care about our schedule, our frustrations, or our need for control over whether our dishes get sanitized at 150 degrees. The Tao just is. So is the dishwasher. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it is not.

Zhuangzi, the prankster sage of ancient China, would have laughed at my plight. “When the hinge is loose, the door swings easily,” he might’ve said. “But when the dishwasher breaks, the Tao is inviting you to hand-wash and meditate on the absurdity of modern dependence.”

From a Taoist perspective, machines are just extensions of the natural world—like rivers, clouds, or the occasional invasive email chain from someone you haven’t spoken to in ten years. We can’t control them. Not really. We can press buttons, sure. But the outcome? That’s up to the Way.

So now, when things go inexplicably haywire, as they inevitably will, I try not to rage against the machine. I breathe. I smile. I accept.

Sometimes, I even bow slightly in respect, as if to say: “Well played, Tao. Well played.”

I’ve found that this approach—blending humor, humility, and a hint of cosmic detachment—saves me from the black hole of irritation. Because in truth, the dishwasher debacle isn’t about the dishwasher. It’s about my illusion of control. My attachment to outcomes. My belief that because I did the thing, the thing should work.

But the Tao doesn’t bargain.

It whispers: Do the thing, and let go of the results. Whether it works or not is not your business. Your business is to be present..

So next time your tech rebels or your day turns into an absurdist comedy of errors, take a deep breath. Laugh. Shrug. Maybe even write it into a Taoist essay like this one. Just remember: sometimes your dishwasher is just teaching you how to flow.

And sometimes it’s just a jerk.

Either way, hand-washing is good for the soul.

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Diamond Michael Scott

aka The Chocolate Taoist