MIL does this on purpose. Fucking grinds my gears - I gave up on preaching that there is a reason for that little closed compartment.
Unfortunately the little door on my dishwasher sticks and won’t open 99% of the time so I have no choice but to chuck the pod in the bottom. It sucks, but my dishwasher works well in every other way and my dishes are clean enough so I’m not spending money on a new one until some other part of it breaks.
One of my former room mates had the same problem with the washing machine. They were two compartments and you put the main detergent in the smaller one. In practice it didn't make much of a difference, but still.
Assuming the other one is for fabric softener, the clothes got agitated with plain water, then soap added during the final rinse. But if you ask my 90 year old uncle, laundry soap is a capitalist scam anyway (their pillow cases feel like they are made of old fashioned oil cloth).
