When I made a list of some of my everyday “prized possessions” a little while back, one of the things I forgot to mention was my Scotch-Brite Soap-Dispensing Dishwand (thanks first-time Google search). The thing is, as much as I love this thing, I also hate it.

Why I love it:
Soap never touches my hand.
Water never touches my hand.
Dirty dish grease never touches my hand.
It has a button.
It has a see-thru handle.

Basically, it is somewhat of an upper-middle class dishwashing device. You never come in contact with scum, but you're willing to put your hands on the situation.

Why I hate it:
Soap never comes out when I want it to.
Soap drains out slowly through the sponge when it's laid down.
The button doesn't work (do they ever?).
I can see through the handle exactly how much detergent I'm losing every week due to the leak.

Basically, it is a capitalistic dishwashing device. It looks cool, and one of it's features will appeal to every type of consumer, but it has a built-in flaw that guarantees a steady source of revenue (in this case, Scotch-Brite has obviously teamed up with the detergent makers).

You see, this device easily triples or quadruples the amount of dishwashing detergent you will end up using in a month's time. What I'm wondering is, does someone go running into the boss's (bossez sp?) office yelling, “I'VE GOT IT! I'VE GOT IT!! Ok listen, we make this new detergent handled gizmo thing, only it SLOWLY LEAKS DETERGENT! It will be all sweet and fancy-looking, but then, before the consumer realizes, they have to go buy MORE DETERGENT FROM US! It will work HORRIBLY…IT'S BRILLIANT!!

“Crank up the machines, let's get this product rolling, son.”

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