At some point in our lives we find ourselves living with other people. While we cherish solidarity, there is an undeniable need to have other people dwell with us in a shared space. Whether its living with family, friends, romantic partners or that one guy you met on craigslist with all those pet ferrets, problems tend to arise. There are a myriad of problems that can come from having and being a roommate, but the most momentous problem of all is dishes.

As a former hydro-ceramic engineer in a small-town restaurant, I have experienced the entropic qualities of dishes first hand. The chef cooks the food and the wait staff brings it out to the hungry customers. This food, of course, is put on a plate that I wash. Without these clean dishes the entire restaurant falls into disorder as there is nothing to drink from or eat off of.

The restaurant is like living with other people. There is a rhythm that flows through a dwelling when shared with someone else. People have their routines and they have their respect for whomever they live with. We come home to relax and shed the heavy layer of verisimilitude we put on for the outside world, but our relaxation becomes horribly disrupted when there is a hefty pile of dirty dishes.

Dishes are unique. They are the unseen evil—the silent killer, okay well it might not be that serious, but they are certainly annoying and can cause lots of tension between people that live together.

We use them, we dirty them and we pile them in the sink. When the pile becomes too tall and begins to resemble an angry sludge monster, we grab a sponge and scrub it down. The savvier type has a proclivity to clean their dishes immediately after use, keeping their lives sans sludge monster.

Having one’s own dirty dishes isn’t a problem; your dirty dishes are like your dirty laundry, there’s a certain proprietary honor in owning something filthy simply because it is yours. The honor quickly evaporates when another person’s filth enters the equation.

Next time you prepare a meal and throw the dishes in the sink, remember that you’re not just throwing dishes in sink—you’re throwing your problems in the sink. Letting it sit and not dealing with it only allows it to fester and sour. So remember that you should do your dishes.

Or just buy some paper plates.