For more than a decade, he moved from city to city, state to state, washing dishes in restaurants, hospitals, cafeterias, ski resorts, camps, communes, a fish cannery, an offshore oil rig, a dinner train and just about anywhere where dishes were dirty.
[3] Without reading it, New York Times writer Dwight Garner initially dismissed the book; upon chiding by readers of his column, he wrote "Boy, was I wrong about it - it's exceedingly well-written and explores an American subculture, one Jordan has been working in for more than a decade, with real tact and feeling and humor.
"[4] Dishwasher Pete has contributed to five episodes of the radio program This American Life.
In 2002 Pete moved to Amsterdam, where he became fascinated by the culture and history of this city of cyclists.
This is the basis for his second book: In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist (Harper Perennial, 2013).