Hi-
I am a graduate (master's) student who does a significant amount of research and i have had many undergraduates work with me (not scrub tubes) on projects. My suggestion to the OP is to sit down with your PI and have a "heart to heart". Tell him/her what you want to do, what you'd be willing to do and the reality of your situation. do you have the hours to spend in lab doing research? ask yourself seriously. you sound like you want to waltz into the lab and have a publication dropped in your lap. it's really not that easy. a word of advice: don't do it just to get your name on a paper - it won't happen. make sure it interests you, make sure you'd be willing to spend late nights in lab doing experiments for the umpteenth time, otherwise, find something else you can focus your effots on. if you do want a publication, it's going to take a lot of TIME and EFFORT. and it may take even more than that (persistence, dedication, LUCK, you name it).
do you have any previous research experience? do you know how you'd approach the problems being presented in the literature you find so painful to read? can you grasp what's being done in the lab? i'm sorry if i sound harsh, but you come off a bit whiny in your post. i'm not saying i'm the know all about research, but it's going to take time, and you may have to prove you are capable of doing/thinking about research before they'll even let you pick up a pipette.
you shouldn't get discouraged reading papers the first week, that's what EVERYONE should have to do in order to even think about research. but you need to sit down with your PI and ask him/her what he/she has in store for you. if it is merely dishwashing and you'd like something else, look around, there are labs that will let people get their fingers in things without the obligatory year/semester of dishwashing. if the prospect of research is there, make friends with the grad students in the lab, they are normally willing to let an UG watch what they're doing, maybe even lend a hand. stop whining and be proactive about your situation!
sorry for the long post, hope it helps.
good luck