We’ve all made mistakes in our lives.
Some that over time, we can do nothing but laugh about
Others that were a tad more serious, and ultimately had a negative impact on others.
Most people know when they have to be the mature one and accept responsibility for their actions.
Unfortunately, there are still far too many people who will search for any possible way to find someone else to blame.
Redditor Human-Person123456 was once party to a somewhat serious accident in the kitchen of his then-home.
An accident that thankfully didn’t cause harm to any individuals, but one that required significant repairs.
Repairs that the original poster (OP) refused to even partially cover, feeling he wasn’t the one solely. responsible for the damages.
Wondering if he was being unreasonable, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**hole” (AITA), where he asked fellow Redditors:
“AITA for refusing to pay my roommate for a new stove?”
The OP explained why he didn’t think he was responsible for replacing the stove in his former apartment:
“I lived the past summer in a house with a group of male friends.”
“One night, I went to make a frozen pizza but I was a little bit high so instead of hitting bake on the oven, I hit broil.”
“Turns out, one of my roommates thought the broiler was a storage shelf and had been storing all the wooden cutting boards in the broiler.”
“I did not check the broiler before starting the oven, because I didn’t mean to hit broil and I didn’t expect there to be wooden cutting boards in the oven.”
“Fast forward a few minutes, there is a fire in the oven and massive amounts of smoke filling the house.”
“We put it out with an extinguisher but the oven was ruined.”
“The landlord ended up having to get a new oven put in.”
“Things went back to normal and I moved out at the end of the summer to go back to college, thinking nothing of the oven incident.”
“My buddies stayed living there and replaced me with another roommate who lived in town.”
“However, now the original lease is up and the landlord wants us to pay for the oven replacement.”
“The guy who put the wooden cutting boards in the broiler hit me up asking me to pay for half since it was ‘both of our fault’.”
“I told him I wasn’t going to pay because if he didn’t put wood in the oven, it would have been fine.”
“He says I have a responsibility to check the oven/broiler before starting it.”
“So what do you think? AITA for refusing to pay half?”
“Am I somewhat at fault and should pay half?”
“What say you good people of Reddit?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation, by declaring:
- NTA: Not the A**hole
- YTA: You’re the A**hole
- ESH: Everybody Sucks Here
- NAH: No A**holes Here
While the Reddit community was somewhat divided, they largely agreed that the OP was not a**hole for refusing to help pay his roommate for a new stove.
Some felt that even if the OP’s roommate was partially responsible for storing wood in the oven, the OP was also responsible for not noticing they set the oven to broil, and while doing it under the influence, and thus should have contributed towards the new oven:
“Your roommate was liable for putting wood anything in an oven.”
“You are liable for not looking before you used the oven, because it would have been evident those cutting boards were there.”
“So pay your half, and be thankful the entire house didn’t go up.”
“YTA.”- EmploymentLanky9544
“I guess you don’t have an Italian grandmother, because you would have known that a cornucopia of items may be stored in the broiler.”
“YTA, being high isn’t an excuse, your roommate is being very reasonable, and you are not.”- Discojoe3030
Most others, however, felt that the OP ultimately wasn’t the one to blame, as their roommate should never have stored wood in the oven, and their mistake was an honest one anyone could have made:
“NTA.”
“The landlord is the A here.”
“The landlord is owed the cost of the used stove only and not the value of the new replacement stove.”
“The landlord should be made whole for whatever the value that the stove was worth before it was destroyed.”
“Also your deposit should cover the cost.”
“If you paid into the deposit and didn’t get it paid out when you left then that should count for your share.”- Atherial
“NTA.”
“I feel like being high is irrelevant.”
“It’s easy to hit broil instead of bake even while sober.”
“Also, even if you weren’t high, would you have checked the broiler first?”
“I wouldn’t.”
“Who stores stuff there?”
“I have had roommates from all over the country and no one ever did that.”
“At the very least your roommate should have warned everyone about the stuff being stored in the oven.”- Ishamael99
“NTA.”
“How old was the burnt oven?”
“Things in rental units age and wear out.”
“Landlord doesn’t get to take full brand new replacement cost out of a security deposit because an old appliance or floor needs to be replaced.”- procrasstinating
“NTA.”
“Who stores anything, let alone wood, in an oven?”
“How stupid, what did they expect?”- Relative_Walrus1135
“NTA.”
“But I’m so confused.”
“Who on earth would think the broiler is a shelf for storing anything?”
“That is insane.”
“Also- even if you had looked in the oven, why would it ever occur to you to bend way down to be able to see the wood stored on the broiler?”
“Unless your oven is very different from mine.”
“How could you ever guess someone was storing wood up on the broiler?”
“Maybe on the oven shelves, but up on the broiler?”
“That is wild to me.”- vichado2
The OP later returned with an update, sharing what he ultimately decided on doing and openly expressed how he felt about everyone’s responses:
“I’m going to pay for half.”
“I can definitely see the arguments for 50/50 blame and overall the friendship is most important to me.”
“It’s worth it and probably the right thing to do.”
“Ultimately, I should have checked the oven and will do so going forward.”
“Thanks to everyone who laid this out in kind and constructive manner!”
“Most convincing argument in the comments: ‘Don’t be a scrub, pay half’.”
“They got me, I can’t argue with that!”
“It seems that storing things in the oven is WAY more common than I thought.”
“Check your ovens before using them people!”
“Never know what might be in there.”
“Lots of good points about the landlord in all this.”
“Before I pay, I’m going to team up with my buddy and see if we can’t both avoid paying.”
“Thank you!”
“Some of you guys really think weed is like PCP or something.”
“The amount of comments stating I was out of my mind trying to operate ‘adult equipment’ was shocking.”
“I smoked one joint between three people.”
“I’ve made hundreds of frozen pizzas under similar circumstances and never had a single incident because there was no wood secretly stored in the oven.”
“This was more about me not thinking that checking was necessary.”
“I have accidentally pressed the wrong button before sober, and probably will again.”
“I wouldn’t have checked even if I was sober.”
“Congrats to all the people who have never made an appliance mistake though lol.”
“I am still not convinced by the people who say I should pay 100%.”
“The guy who stored literal wood in an oven without telling any one, has no blame here?”
“I really have no reasonable expectation that it’s okay to use my broiler, or that there won’t be wood in the oven?”
“It feels like a few people are projecting their own questionable oven storage habits onto this.”
“To the few people who came in super hot/aggressive, being rude and telling me to ‘grow the f*ck up’ or that I’m a bad person for even considering I might be in the right here.”
“Just wow.”
“You guys could use some self-reflection.”
“I’m literally here because I’m self-reflecting and asking for unbiased opinions.”
“Maybe it’s time to time to get off your high horses and look in the mirror.”
“You guys are so judgmental and condescending to a person you don’t know at all.”
“Most times these people didn’t even have the facts right but felt comfortable coming in guns blazing.”
“None of this is that serious.”
“We’re all human here, we all make mistakes.”
“For your sake, I hope the people in your life don’t treat you with the same ill-informed judgement and condescending attitude that you did to me.”
“Thanks again everyone!”
“I hope we all enjoyed a good old fashioned AITA.”
“I know I did.”
Ultimately, the OP made the mature decision to pay for half of the oven.
It is something of a shame, however, that it wasn’t a decision that came a bit more naturally to him.
Nor does the assumption that these sorts of accidents are more common than people claim seem entirely believable…