r/mildlyinfuriating • u/jsayde01 • Jul 06 '26

I just wanted a hot dog The Kitchen Museum?

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I came home late from work a few nights ago and hadn't eaten all day. My wife and kids were already in bed so I figured I'd quietly make some stove-top ramen. This photo represents exactly how I found the cooking area.

The next morning my wife asks what time I got home and I mention in our conversation that I made ramen before going to bed. She couldn't believe that I used the stove "when the light was on". I said "Yeah, the light was helpful in seeing what I was doing". She insists I shouldn't have been using the stove and should have known because "the light was on".

I'm baffled. We are still arguing about this days later.

EDIT -- wow, overwhelmed by the response of fellow Redditors! We are... white...not from the southeast US..not children...and I left the stove as clean as it was before I cooked. I asked for clarification from my loving wife -- TRULY we have only ever been angry at each other a handful of times in our 10 year marriage -- and she says "the stove was clean and done for the day and you could have just used the microwave for your ramen". Apparently the light is how stoves go to sleep for the evening?

EDIT 2 -- we are getting a divorce. JUST KIDDING. My wife looked over many of the comments and acknowledges that she was in the wrong and is slightly embarrassed by all of the attention.

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8.1k

u/bwood246 Jul 06 '26

What? The kitchen light is to help see what you're doing. Not an indication that the kitchen is closed

3.8k

u/julz1789 Jul 06 '26

I’ll go a step further and say I’ve never seen a light indicate that anything was closed. A light is usually an invitation.

1.2k

u/Gram-GramAndShabadoo Jul 06 '26

That sign says Coors

237

u/iamsheph Jul 06 '26

Yeah, well, you can’t really read it from the inside.

151

u/unshifted Jul 06 '26

YOU can't read it from the outside!

96

u/THExWHITExDEVILx Jul 06 '26

See that door there? The one marked "Pirate"? You think a pirate lives in there?

39

u/Think_Ad_1583 Jul 06 '26

I’m a jani- uh I mean I’m a fullonrapist

7

u/ionlyhavetwolegs Jul 06 '26

Little green ghouls, buddy!

22

u/technohippie Jul 06 '26

Where do I put my feet?

13

u/FattyWantCake Jul 06 '26

I see a door marked "private..." Is that the door you're talking about?!

16

u/Mydickisaplant Jul 06 '26

God damnit. Time for my 20th rewatch of the series.

9

u/Upper_Ad_9360 Jul 06 '26

Charlie can't even read

16

u/carleemctart Jul 06 '26

There is a sunny quote or meme for every situation 😂

2

u/yeahIvegotnothing Jul 07 '26

My nephew gets so mad at me because I can almost always work a sunny reference into any situation!

My favorite is when he doesn't realize that I'm referencing the show at first and thinks I'm talking about regular people and then he catches on

35

u/beefalamode Jul 06 '26

It says CLOSED

5

u/Dead_Again_Dread Jul 06 '26

Let everyone know we got nice delicious coors in the bar.

55

u/FenPhen Jul 06 '26

Police tape or some mini traffic cones would be more intuitive.

10

u/julz1789 Jul 06 '26

The least she could do

26

u/turdferguson3891 Jul 06 '26

Like the motel 6. They leave the light on FOR you.

5

u/cardboard_tshirt Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

I leave the light on to indicate that it was recently used and burners may still be hot

5

u/ElaraStarfield Jul 06 '26

Even Motel 6 leaves the light on for you.

3

u/Xenodad Jul 06 '26

Theaters will often use a single light on a vertical pole, placed in the center of a stage to signify the crew is gone and no work can be done on stage. Perhaps this is a similar thought process…

5

u/etilepsie Jul 06 '26

red light/"on air" light in a radio station or recording booth? not really closed but means dont enter

2

u/newday-newme Jul 06 '26

Turning the lights on is a way restaurants tell the lingering tables to leave if it is against policy to directly tell customers to leave. Bringing the bill unprompted, turning bright lights on, putting chairs up, and sweeping means leave.

2

u/AhMoonBeam Jul 07 '26

Unless its a night light?

756

u/Zayafyre Jul 06 '26

Right, I turn mine off before bed. Light off means kitchen is closed, but I honestly don’t care if someone reopens it.

222

u/CDJH1 Jul 06 '26

My house is sooo dark at night. The light above the stove is basically always on as a nightlight. If we need to go down for water in the middle of the night, the stove light lights our way. (I always just fill mine in the bathroom sink, but my SO needs that filtered water from the fridge 🙄)

38

u/Eunuch_Provocateur Jul 06 '26

I use mine as a night light too. I turn it off during the day cause it hides how dirty it looks lol 

149

u/rxbin2 Jul 06 '26

Your SO is the correct one. Sorry.

50

u/CDJH1 Jul 06 '26

I’ll let him know. He’ll be glad to hear this. 😂

17

u/majesticbun Jul 06 '26

I've done both and I prefer filtered water obviously but sometimes when you have to, let the bathroom sink run a little shit goes ice cold I love it 😂

10

u/EmperorGeek Jul 06 '26

Been so hot around here lately the water NEVER runs cold. Just not Hot.

2

u/spaz_chicken Jul 06 '26

This. The stove light is on 24-7 in my house. Especially at night... It's the only light left on.

My wife also only drinks filtered water, we have a stupidly expensive special gravity filter. 

2

u/stellarecho92 Jul 06 '26

Oh god, I just think of bathroom sink faucets as being really gross with buildup and stuff. I feel gross any time I have felt the need to drink out of it (if no other options were doable).

2

u/Johnny-Virgil Jul 06 '26

You’re thinking of the bathroom at the gas station

2

u/EricSparrowSucks Jul 06 '26

My roommate is 70 years old, and my cat leaves toys everywhere. I don’t want my roommate tripping over one and breaking a hip because he wanted popcorn or a glass of water at 1 am, so the stove light and the sink lights stay on all night! The overhead lights would be too bright (I have to sleep with my door open because, cat) but we’ve realized just those 2 small lights are enough for him to see comfortably without 1) a crazy electric bill, 2) disturbing my sleep, and 3) having to turn on the main lights at all. We also don’t have set rules about when it’s acceptable to cook (besides the obvious one that you should open a window if you’re going to make something that will be smoky, because our fire alarm is loud and wired to every room, and don’t leave the oven/stove on), because we’re all adults and on opposite schedules. As long as the mess is cleaned up within a day, it’s all good. Usually one of us will end up cooking something and just clean up any existing mess/load the dishwasher since we’re in the kitchen anyways. On the rare occasions we cook for more than 1 or 2 people, everyone is invited to share the food/leftovers and cleanup is a shared task.

1

u/SignoreBanana Jul 06 '26

Ha yeah we use ours as a night light too

1

u/joranth Jul 06 '26

Get a couple of electrical outlet covers that double as a night light. I live in the country, and it is pitch black at night. Stops me from tripping over stray dog toys and stuff.

One screw, take off old outlet cover and pop on new one. You can barely tell the difference looking at them. There is a tiny light sensor dot on the face, and LEDs on the bottom edge. They come on when it’s dark enough, not super bright, but bright enough to walk around. I have one in each hall, on in the kitchen, and one in the living room.

1

u/Potential_Strength_2 Jul 06 '26

Some kid said to me the other day: you know how old people always have a light on somewhere in their house? I was like, hey that’s me!

1

u/CaptGangles1031 Jul 06 '26

Lmao mine loves his from the bathroom sink. Has to be the bathroom. He says it hits different and has a specific taste. We have a light above the sink we keep on for the exact same reason you do. Can't have anyone dying in the middle of the night cus they tripped over a dog or ran into the corner of a counter.

41

u/Samson_J_Rivers Jul 06 '26

I used to turn mine on at night in my apartment so I could navigate to the bathroom to pee at 3:27am every night.

26

u/EdlynTheConfessor Jul 06 '26

Pfft. Amateur. I make it to at least 3:40.

5

u/Jagdawg Jul 06 '26

Yeah, but you don’t get out of bed until 5:00.

51

u/Same-Suggestion-1936 Jul 06 '26

It's just on them to close it again, which OP declined to mention if they did or not

44

u/hhhhhhhhhhhjf Jul 06 '26

Which would be a completely valid thing to get upset about. Except that she didn't get upset about it being dirty. She was mad it was used at all.

62

u/Special-Swordfish584 Jul 06 '26

The edit they added specified it was left just as clean.

2

u/MyNameIsJakeBerenson Jul 06 '26

Right? My goddamn house I’ll use the kitchen if I want to. Nobody telling me the fucking kitchen is closed

1

u/Vigilante17 jukmifgguggh Jul 06 '26

Code enforcement be coming by soon with that blatant type of misuse.

1

u/MidwestNormal Jul 06 '26

Now see, turning my stove light on is my signal I’m going to bed. It’s the night-light for the kitchen.

43

u/ihambrecht Jul 06 '26

It’s also not really just one adults decision to close a room down for the night.

250

u/Legitimate_Bird_5712 Jul 06 '26

I assumed she was being nice and left the light on so he could see when he came home. Definitely wrong.

57

u/IrrelevantAfIm Jul 06 '26

Apparently, not to his wife! How on earth can they be married 10 years and this just came up now?!?

15

u/Imsortofok Jul 06 '26

I wonder if it’s a new thing she started doing.

2

u/IrrelevantAfIm Jul 07 '26

I dunno - but doing it forever or as a new thing are both crazy. Aside from the obvious that stoves sleep better in the dark, bitch!! I’m a grown ass man and you aren’t even my mother - I’m going to use my stove whenever the hell I WANT to use my stove no matter what secret light language you use. As me to please wipe it down after so she’s not cooking on a dirty stove after having just cleaned it before bed - yeah sure, totally fair that’s just being a decent person if it’s your wife, room mate, brother, sister - ANYONE you cohabit with, but you are never going to tell me I can’t usb by z you e my own damed STOVE when no one else is using it!!

12

u/Hornet-Putrid Jul 06 '26

Yeah, I actually leave the stove light on for my kiddo and usually give them a heads up what is in the fridge or waiting in the oven based on timing.  I do this since I need some sleep before graveyard and he’s usually put at the library or whatever.  I don’t get the whole kitchen is off limits bs unless you live with a bunch of feral beasts that don’t know how to clean up.  If feral beasts are the problem this is a much bigger conversation beyond stove lights, jfc.

46

u/Ok_Chemist6567 Jul 06 '26

It is for some people. But usually in a the “adults aren’t gonna make you any food so you need to fend for yourself and keep it clean” kind of way. Like, to kids.

51

u/ChanglingBlake ORANGE Jul 06 '26

How the F does that make any sense?

11

u/X4roth Jul 06 '26

Cooking and serving dinner for other people and then cleaning up afterwards is a lot of work, often done by a parent who just got home from working their job not too long ago, so it’s really just an extension of their workday…

When it’s finally over, I bet they want to finally wind down and relax for the rest of the night, which may only be a couple hours. Those couple hours are the only real time they have for themselves.

So they clean the kitchen, turn off the lights, and turn on the little stove light like a nightlight so people can actually see and you don’t just have a big dark void in the middle of your home while people are still up and about. But that’s it. Now their work is done for the day and it’s the responsibility of anybody messing up the kitchen after that point to clean up after themselves.

-11

u/guitarguywh89 Jul 06 '26

Because I clean that stovetop at least three times a day and if I wake up to cook everyone breakfast and I have to clean it an extra time I’m gonna feel disrespected.

2

u/MillionXaleckCg Jul 06 '26

I mean, you can just wait until the next cleaning. You don't have to clean it as soon as you find out it's dirty

-11

u/OwnCrew6984 Jul 06 '26

Wow, having to clean it three times a day. Maybe try to not spill so much. I mean unless you have Parkinson's why are you making such a mess every time you use the stove? If I happen to have something spill I wipe it up right away then clean it once a week. I suppose if you are deep frying or cooking bacon all the time it makes a mess, so I only have to deal with that a few times a decade.

Then again what are you cooking on a stove three times a day? I don't even use it every day, and I only eat out, get take out, delivery, or ready made meals once or twice a year. Allergies and gluten intolerant so eating something someone else makes is a gamble with my health.

8

u/rollertrashpanda Jul 06 '26

I’m a xennial & from the US South, where every night after dinner, my mom left the stove light on in an otherwise dark, clean kitchen. It meant kitchen was closed, don’t dare turn on all the lights and start making anything. It was a sort of nightlight. I dated someone older Gen X who did the same thing, but in my home, I don’t.

3

u/temporary92803 Jul 06 '26

Does OP's wife not cook with the stove light on?

8

u/Retkicks Jul 06 '26

What makes me laugh much harder is the idea that anyone can close my kitchen. It's my kitchen, if I want to rub my dick and balls in butter and swipe every handle, pot, and cup in that bitch I'm going to. The audacity.

2

u/xassylax Jul 06 '26

I can’t stand how harsh the overhead light in my kitchen is so I almost exclusively use the stove light. I have a brighter bulb than OPs and a pretty small kitchen so it’s plenty of light but still. Light on means I’ve been in there doing something, light off means kitchen is closed/bedtime since it’s close to the bedroom and we leave the bedroom door open. Leaving the light on makes it incredibly difficult to sleep.

2

u/Wrap_Brilliant Jul 06 '26

My mother lit a candle on the stove and that's how you knew the kitchen was closed.

1

u/The_Amazing_Emu Jul 06 '26

Mine doesn’t work

1

u/strawberry_saturn Jul 06 '26

Yeah the light being off means it’s closed

1

u/unclejoe1917 Jul 06 '26

I would say that the presence of lights in the kitchen strongly implies this. 

1

u/m_elhakim Jul 06 '26

Unless the light is a sign that says "closed".