dagobart: Yes, had that discussion at work. I think, the easiest ways of get rid of the issue to handle it like token ring -- put an agreed token into the dish-washer once you put in your first dirty dish, take it out with all the cleaned dishes.

Say, a certain spoon, or some unmissable, misplaced-looking item, like a spork or shoe-string or broken burned CD.

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cmot: Our dishwasher at home has this mutex: there is one light that keeps blinking after the washer has finished, until you manually switch it off. We actually do usually switch this light off when we empty the washer, but I haven't thought of it in the terms of a mutex so far.

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cmot, that's very cool. That gives me hope that if I ever buy a dishwasher, I won't have to have discussions about this issue with anyone else. Or myself, given how harebrained I am at times. --liw