My wife came home from the store the other day. She had to pick up some very basic items, but something very interesting found its way into the bag.

She bought a new dish rack for the sink. I have mentioned this before, but we don’t have a dishwasher. I count washing the dishes as my main contribution to household chores.

I never asked for a new dish rack. I didn’t know what to make of this development and had a couple of problems with the whole situation.

First of all, I have worked very hard to develop a system for washing the dishes. I don’t pride myself as the most organized person in the world, but this chore has forced me to re-assess this character trait.

I have worked with the same dish rack for several years now. I know where to put the cups so I can fit in all the plates and manage not to block a path to the thing which holds the silverware.

I know how to handle things if I need to fill the rack, dry the dishes in there, then fill it up with more dishes. I have spent a lot of time assessing whether it’s more expedient to do all the glasses first or get the plates out of the way.

Maybe I have spent too much time thinking about all of these things, but it makes my life easier. I know exactly what to do when I only have 15 minutes and need to get the dishes out of the way.

She messed all of this up by getting a rack with a differently shaped silverware holder. That throws off the whole feng shui of the rack. Plus, the silverware holder slides along the back of the rack, which might allow some people to more freedom in their choices, but it just confuses me.

Luckily I have had some pretty simple loads to deal with. I haven’t had to make any big decisions, but we haven’t had a weekend where I have let the dishes sit for a few days before and face a mountainous task. I don’t know if I can handle that with a new dish rack.

But of all the reasons why this new purchase has consumed my mind, one stands out above all of them. I never would have considered buying a new dish rack.

In my mind, this ranked as one of those items you buy once and forget about. Sure, I saw a little rust on the rack, but it never really bothered me. I just went ahead with my job.

Not only did I not consider buying a new one, I never thought that people actually came up with more than one design. I figured designing and making dish racks didn’t have a ton of job security since there had to be limited demand for replacement products.

But I guess I was wrong. I guess I have to learn some new tricks. I just hope this thing lasts for a long time. I don’t want to have to go through this too many more times.