The Bane of My Existence

Y’all… I’ve had a life altering morning and I just needed to share.

This thing, this chemical dispenser, this bane of my existence… it stopped working properly about a month after I opened my bakery, 2 years ago, and I have been fighting with it ever since.

How it's SUPPOSED to work.... you have jugs of the chemicals (dish detergent, sanitizer) setup under the sink, out of the way. Hose lines run from the jugs to the dispenser. Water line hooked to the top. Turn on the water for one or the other, and it will use the water pressure to draw the chemical up and combine/dispense through the hose into the sink basin, with metered tips so it's drawing the appropriate amount of chemical/water ratio.

I've worked in a dozen commercial kitchens, all with chemical dispensers of some kind, and never once had an issue, or even had to think about beyond changing out the jug under the sink when it ran out.

I had this sucker apart over and over. It just WOULD NOT draw the soap on its own. I had at least 6 people look at it. I called the manufacturer. All I got was the water pressure must be too low so "pinch the hose and it will force the draw."

I’ve lived this way ever since, and it’s gotten increasingly worse. Sometimes it would not draw no matter what and I would just have to pull up the jug and pour out some soap. You have no idea how many tears I’ve cried trying to make it work. How much time I’ve wasted.

Now, I’m stubborn. I should have just said eff it, but I paid good money for this thing, dang it, and I’m going to use it!

A few weeks ago, it just became entirely useless, no matter what I did, it would not dispense soap, even if it was all the way at the top of the line.

Today was no different. I need to do the dishes. I decided I’d take it back apart again, just so I could scream at it some more. This time I noticed something… the amount of water coming out the left was the tiniest stream compared to the right. Plenty of pressure, but very little water. I looked, the holes look to be the same size. So why..? How did I never notice this before?

I took a scribe and poked around in the hole. A tiny piece of sediment(?) came out with the scribe.

When I tell you, when I turned on the water and the soap came up the line from the bottle under the sink instantly, I mean INSTANTLY.

I’m overjoyed and FURIOUS at the same time. I literally cried over all the wasted time and frustration. To know that I can now complete this simple task without wanting to take a hammer to this thing… GLORIOUS.

But the difference some tiny piece of invisible, unknown gunk was making in my daily life...

What else throws your day off course, leaves you frustrated, rolls you out the wrong side of the bed...? Do you even know what it is? Or realize how much of an impact some tiny thing is having on your overall happiness or productivity?

You think you've tried everything. You've asked for help. You've assesed it from every angle.

You've given up and accepted that this is just your life now.

But it doesn't have to be. Give it another look. Find the gunk and use a pointy stick to poke it in the eye!