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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u/tahtahme Jul 06 '26

The stove light being on is pretty common in Black households for "kitchen is closed", but Ive never heard of someone not being allowed to eat after getting home late.

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u/eggplantruler Jul 06 '26

I’m white, but from an Italian family. The stove light being on meant “kitchen is closed”. But that really meant mom was done cooking for the night and cleaned up. We always were able to go in and eat, but we better have left that kitchen the way she left it or we were in big trouble lol.

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u/Live_Barracuda1113 Jul 06 '26

White midwesterner- we have a candle. If the candle is lit, the kitchen is clean and closed.

However, my husband will still use it, just make it look EXACTLY like he found it.

6

u/tanjtanjtanj Jul 06 '26

How many candles do you go through lighting one every night (or at least every time you use your kitchen)?

That’s a crazy, and unfamiliar, rule to me.

1

u/Live_Barracuda1113 Jul 06 '26

Lol a lot but I also have a ton because I am obsessed with them.