Why do they always wash their dishes after a meal in Doom at Your Service?

Doom at Your Service is a 2021 Kdrama starring Park Bo Young as Tak Dong Kyung, a webcomic editor who is diagnosed with glioblastoma and who is given 3 months left to live. In a drunken rage, she shouts at a shooting star and wishes for the world to be doomed.

Myeol Mang (Seo In Guk), a supernatural being, acting as an intermediary between gods and humans has grown tired of his immortal life managing humanity’s death and despair, hears Dong Kyung spit and curse and decides to fulfill Dong-kyung’s wish to end the world.

What follows is a tragic and slow-moving exposition between the perplexities of mortality and the life we’re yearning to have. The series weaves together a thoughtful and dramatic story with characters that are corralled by fate, squandering their time, or have let slip a life they’re yearning to have.

The Kdrama was very well received by audiences worldwide and has a 9.5/10 rating from over 200k reviews on viki.com. But there were also a few scenes that caught our attention and made us ask, “What the deuce?”

Rubber gloved hands

Typical of dramas, Doom at Your Service has a huge cast of characters with different stories unfolding in parallel to the main attraction. The writers like to insert as much drama as they can into drama shows.

Cha Joo-Ik (Lee Soo-Hyuk) is the son of a business owner and lives in the penthouse suite of a building his father owns. He shares the suite with his best-friend-forever (BFF), Lee Hyun-Kyu (Kang Tae-Oh), who owns and manages a coffee shop on the first floor of the building.

Lee Hyun-Kyu washing dishes in Doom at Your Service

They often have dinner together in the condo and take turns washing the dishes by hand after every meal. Each roommate will put on a pair of rubber gloves, scrub the dishes before the food hardens onto the porcelain, wipes them dry with a towel, and puts them back into the cupboards.

This behavior probably appears strange to some. Why wash the dishes right after the meal? Aren’t you supposed to just pile the dirty tableware onto the counter and plop yourself in front of the television after eating?

And what’s the deal with doing it by hand? The two guys live in a luxury condo. Why isn’t there a fancy-ass dishwasher that can blast the dishes clean with the latest A.I. technology?

Cha Joo-Ik washing dishes in Doom at Your Service

This doesn’t sit well for us. If there are still clean cutlery in the cupboards, then what’s even the point? Dishes should only be washed when there are no clean ones available, right?

Meanwhile, in Korea

Most homes in Korea do not have dishwashers. The country is very populated so space is always an issue. The kitchens are usually small and are only equipped with a single basin.

For those apartments that do have the appliance, the dishwasher is just a decoration or is used as a storage or drying rack. Why?

Full meals in Korea use quite a few bowls and dishes. You will have noticed this in Doom at Your Service and in other K-dramas. Every entry, side dish, or food item is served in its own bowl.

Lee Hyun-Kyu washing dishes in Doom at Your Service

Most families wouldn’t find it necessary to purchase more tableware than what’s actually needed. So if they didn’t wash dishes right away, there wouldn’t be any clean ones left for the next meal.

Washing dishes by hand is actually faster than waiting for the dishwasher to complete the task too. It’s also more effective. Dishwashers have a hard time removing kimchi and pepper stains from dishes.

People tend to trust their hands more than the dishwasher. Imagine having guests over and the dinner plate you set for them still has food stuck to it because the dishwasher didn’t do its job.

The art of cleanliness

Some people like living clean and having nice things. If you notice the rest of the condo in Doom at Your Service, it’s completely spotless. There aren’t any dirty socks or underwear stuffed between the sofa cushions. No mice in the corners nibbling on cheese and crackers left on the floor. Everything is in pristine condition.

Cha Joo-Ik washing dishes in Doom at Your Service

In the bedrooms, you don’t see a moldy, ice cream bowl buried beneath a heaping pile of clothes. There are no candy wrappers or used Kleenex tissue lying about unsupervised. Everything has its place and is put away.

Keeping things clean and orderly is an important life skill. More so when you are living with others. Washing dishes, picking up your toys after your done playing with them, or cleaning something when you see that it’s dirty is the courteous thing to do.

Some people are lazy as f*ck too. Washing dishes right away takes less time and effort. Dishes, and especially pots and pans, are so much easier and faster to clean when you wash them right away before the food hardens into cement.

Dishwashing Gloves

Natural latex rubber gloves are lightweight, soft, and comfy for cleaning up messes. They're also great for washing dishes.

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There’s always that special satisfaction we feel when we can sit and relax in a clean household. Having a cleaning task hanging over our heads is such a bother—something we can happily do without.

Summary

Doom at Your Service is a terrific K-drama starring Park Bo-Young and Seo In-Guk that’s available for streaming on Netflix. The show thrusts an innocent webcomic editor into an extraordinary relationship with a supernatural being as they struggle to understand one another.

In several episodes, however, we see support characters washing dishes by hand immediately after their meal. Some may find it strange but it’s perfectly normal to have things clean and put away. Less weight on the mind too!

Purchase a pair of rubber gloves and try the exercise out for yourself. Who knows? Maybe you’ll discover a new habit that gives you a bit more happiness in your life.