The short read

Great news: Our new dishwasher was finally delivered after an eight-week wait!

Better news: The plumber was able to make time the same day and installed it!!

Yay!!!
?
Nay.

We still have a leak.

Reminder — Don’t solve the symptom. Solve the root problem.

Had that happened, we may not have been up to our elbows in hot water, hand washing dishes & pans since December 29.

The irony? Solve the Root problem is a chapter in my upcoming book on decision behaviours. (You can’t make this stuff up!)
Has this ever happened to you?

Towards better rather than perfect decision-making.

The longer read

We first figured something was wrong when the yoga mat was a soggy mess.

It was the dying days of December. I could say we were planning a fancy New Year’s party and that a leaking dishwasher that was drip, drip, dripping into the basement was a huge disruption.
But … COVID.

The kitchen floor was damp where the water was seeping out the front door of the dishwasher.

So — naturally — my engineer-husband and programmer-self debugged the situation and deduced that the issue was the gasket. Which we faithfully purchased through curbside pick-up and (he) replaced.

However, that did not solve our problem.
The drip-drip-drip continued. The problem must be bigger than the gasket, as the kitchen floor evidenced.

So off we went and put in the order for a new dishwasher.
Except — COVID.
There is an eight to ten-week wait time.
We have been waiting. Patiently.

Eight sudsy weeks

Eight sudsy weeks.
Of washing-up delicious meals cooked by my kids in the Instant Pot, deep saucepans, baked-on oven trays, served off a sequence of cute platters onto many, many, many dishes. The more elaborate the prep, the bigger the clean-up. (I’m an awesome sous chef.)

Eight sudsy weeks.
Of listening to Barack Obama’s wonderfully deep voice in his audio book ‘Promised Land’ as he drops to a baritone to imitate his father or shares the intimate moments when his sister calls to tell of his Mother’s passing. And of course, the path to the 2008 Inauguration.
Obama has a very thoughtful approach to decision-making. After all, for eight years the buck would stop at his desk. What had he learned as a young person that helped him approach a set of decisions few are ever prepared to deal with? What had he learned that I could incorporate in my life? What could I pass along to my children who would grow up in an uncertain world I have yet to imagine? I was curious.
I’m at chapter 11. (As I listen I am convinced that he has plagiarized the opening paragraphs of my article “Till Death Us Do Part — a Parent’s Love Letter”. I will take that as an honour, Mr. President!)

Eight sudsy weeks.
Of nostalgically remembering what it was like growing up in a household of eight with no dishwasher.

Your delivery has been scheduled.

The day finally arrived. The ping in my inbox signalled the beginning of the end.

Wait — I still have … 16 chapters of the book to go!
Plugin and go for a walk, you may suggest. But at 5000 steps Obama is barely getting started.
If you dialled into his interview with Stephen Colbert during the book tour you will have an idea of the pace of the book. The shortest chapter is 35 minutes (or about eight plates, six glasses, three coffee mugs, four kitchen knives and one frying pan).
In a still lock-down world without commutes, where was I going to find the opportunity to indulge?

Word of the delivery day: Propitious

My writing group in Forward Link will get the joke! I was literally on cloud nine! The day dawned bright. No snow on the horizon. The driveway had been shovelled, the delivery guy’s path to the kitchen cleared of all obstacles. Nothing could mar this day! The whole house had a heady air of expectation.

The dishwasher was delivered right on schedule by some very nice guys, kitted out with their face masks.

And — in an even bigger nod from the Gods — the plumber was available the same day!

Ding! Dong!
I hurriedly dropped out of my zoom meeting to get the door. “Apologies Ladies. But I know you know what this means to me!”
By early evening, everything was in place. The plumber ran some water through, checked all the connections. We gave it the thumbs up!
I set a rinse cycle on to make sure everything was ok. And I returned to creating the marketing Canva’s for my soon-to-be-published book on decision behaviours. Which included some of the chapter titles.

Like: Root Problem.

Drip.Drip.Drip

I was interrupted. Things were not flowing as they should down below.
Maybe it hadn’t been the dishwasher all along?

The Root Problem

Have we been solving the wrong problem?
Had we spent eight sudsy weeks inches above and ignoring the Root Cause?

We await the next open slot on our plumber’s schedule to find out.

On the plus side, I get more opportunities to listen to financial details of TARP, how to run meetings and understand more of President Obama’s approach to decision-making, all from the man himself:

I had already realized that because every tough decision came down to probability, then certainty was an impossibility — which could leave me encumbered by the sense that I could never get it quite right.

Towards better, rather than perfect, decisions.

Hi! I’m Karena and I am a Future of Work strategist. The concept of 21st Century skills is discussed in my upcoming book, Contours of Courageous Parenting — Tilting Towards Better Decisions. Discover simple strategies for decision-making that can help us and our children be a little bit better than yesterday.