The same co-worker shared that her roommate's dog has bladder control problems. The dog pees, unintentionally, all over the apartment. She even got diapers for the dog, and urine still sometimes leaks out of the diapers. It made my situation not seem so bad (see photo). I'd take dirty dishes over dog pee any day. Moments after this discussion, I listened to a voice mail message from a customer. She was returning our call – from the Cafe Gratitude retail office – with an update on her address. The order she placed online for Cafe Gratitude retail didn't get to her; it got returned to our office. We didn't know why it got returned so we called her. After a few days she returned our call and left us the voice mail message that stopped me in my tracks. She explained that her apartment had burned down. That's why the order got sent back to us by UPS. There was simply no place to deliver it. So, the customer calmly gave us a new shipping address and confirmed that she still wanted the items she ordered. My stomach sank, and I felt guilty and ashamed for complaining about my roommate's dislike for washing dishes. My co-worker and I agreed that dog pee and dirty dishes didn't look so bad, compared to a burned-down apartment. It's all a matter of perspective.
The other day I was talking with a co-worker about how my roommate doesn't enjoy doing dishes. She lets dishes pile up without washing them for longer than I'd like. My co-worker sympathized.