There are numerous challenges that come with having a roommate.
They might be commandeering the living room when you were hoping to watch a tv show, or they may have beaten you by mere minutes to the shower.
Most of the time, roommates try to come up with an arrangement so there’s no animosity or ill will in the household.
Unfortunately, diplomacy is not a skill everyone possesses.
The roommate of Redditor ThrowRA1441441 loved to cook.
Much to the original poster (OP)’s frustration, they particularly loved to cook one particular item with one particular appliance..
An item that left a lingering aroma in their home, leading the OP to ask their roommate to stop using this appliance.
Wondering if they were out of line, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**Hole” (AITA), where they asked fellow Redditors:
“AITA for asking my roommate to stop using their crockpot?”
The OP explained why they asked their roommate to stop using a popular kitchen appliance:
“My roommate recently started cooking pork in a crockpot every couple weeks.”
“Even though they put it under a running vent, after a few hours, our whole apartment smells like pork.”
“I keep my door closed but the smell gets in anyway.”
“Something about the way crockpot food smell floods the air and just…lingers…makes me gag to a point where I can’t stand it.”
“They sometimes cook vegetables in it and it’s just as bad.”
“Last week, I hit a breaking point and asked them to stop using it.”
“They said they’re doing everything they can think of to keep it contained, but that it’s not reasonable to ask them to stop cooking.”
“AITA and should just learn to deal with it?”
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
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
The OP found little to no support from the Reddit community, who seemed to be in agreement that the OP was, indeed, the a**hole for asking their roommate to stop using their crock pot.
Everyone agreed that asking their roommate not to cook was, indeed, out of line, and the OP should either buy an air purifier or, as they said, “learn to deal with it”:
“YTA.”
“It’s once every few weeks.”
“Open a window, use an air purifier.”
“If you live with other ppl you’re going to sometimes have to smell them cooking things.”-DarkHorseAsh111
“YTA.”
“This is a personal problem.”
“It would be different if it were one food but you’re complaining about a specific appliance.”
“Buy a fan or air purifier for your room.”- keesouth
“YTA.”
“They are cooking.”
“Open a window and get a fan.”
“Nothing unusual here.”- ike7177
“YTA, sorry.”
“The smell of a crockpot lingers?”
“How?!”
“If your roommate cooked pork & veg on the stovetop, you’d be fine?”
“A nice curry or stew simmering on the stove for hours and you’d be fine?”
“A fish fry-up?”
“The crockpot smells so much less than the stovetop that I’m skeptical that this post isn’t just an ad for insta pot or some sh*t.”- reluctantseahorse
“If you can’t stand a roommate cooking in a crockpot every couple weeks in a community space, then yes YTA.”
“Grow up.”- jbyrdfuddly
“YTA- welcome to roommate living! you share the space and both have equal access to use it in a normal fashion.”
“Cooking with a crock pot isn’t abnormal at all.”- Conscious_Side1647
“YTA.”
“And I say that with kindness.”
“My roommate 26 years ago would cook Tripe a few times a year.”
“Talk about a gag-worthy smell!”
“We agreed he’d give me notice so I could make plans and not be home long.”
“Maybe enough to change after work, grab a bag and stay with the guy I was dating.”
“And if he forgot to give me notice I’d smell it well before getting to the apartment door.”
“Get an air purifier, maybe agree on a schedule or notice or windows open and a fan or whatever it takes to reduce the impact.”
“I get that it sucks but telling someone not to cook isn’t ok.”- ms_sinn
“Open the window or get your own place.”
“YTA.”- AryaStark1313
“YTA.”
“Cooking food releases aroma.”- TallGlass_o_H2O
“YTA.”
“Expecting your flatmate not to cook is crazy.”
“Open the windows, get an air purifier, burn some incenses or candles, there’s tens of solution, asking not to cook is not one of them.”- Key-Creme8360
“YTA.”
“Food smells when it’s cooking.”
“It will linger for a bit.”
“Open a window and turn on a fan for little while.”
“Burn a candle for a little while.”
“Do you not cook?”- notsusan33
“YTA.”
“Every couple of weeks?”
“Nah, you gotta suck that up, dude.”
“Or problem solve!”
“Maybe offer to buy an Instant Pot and see if they’ll use it instead.”
“If there’s less hours it’s cooking, it’ll probably bother you less.”- thoracicbunk
“YTA.”
“And get ready for your roommate to co.plain about the smell of everything you make.”-Seasons71Four
“YTA.”
“It is beyond unreasonable and ridiculous to expect your roommate to quit using an appliance.”
“If the smell is that problematic for you get an air purifier.”
“The problem is YOURS, not theirs, so the expense of dealing with it should also be yours.”-Electrical-Concert17
“YTA.”
“He lives there.”
“Every couple of weeks he cooks pork in the slow cooker.”
“It would still smell like pork in the oven.”
“You’re going to have to leave for a while if it’s that bad for you.”
“You can’t ask your roommate to stop cooking that, the amount of animosity and tension in your house it would cause isn’t worth it.”
“It isn’t that often.”- PNelley
“YTA.”
“Sounds like you’ve got some sort of issue cooking makes smells.”
“In the oven, stove, microwave.”
“What do you want them to do?”
“Not eat?”- yellow7890
“YTA.”
“Not for finding the smell unpleasant.”
“But for demanding your roommate just stop using it.”
“You don’t specify the overall living situation.”
“But if you’re house sharing it suggests to me student living or working people house sharing.”
“Either way?”
“It suggests a restricted budget.”
“Crockpot (Slow Cooker to us in the UK) can be really cost-effective.”
“Cheap cuts of meat cooked slowly provide excellent meals on a budget.”
“You also don’t specify if they’re using a Keep Warm function.”
“If they are?”
“Then that’s room for compromise.”
“Basically you have to suck it up when they’re actually cooking.”
“But once cooked?”
“To help better minimise the smells of contention, they just have to forgo the convenience and warm up the next portion manually.”
“But…from the limited Info?”
“You do seem to be conceding they’re doing everything they can to minimize the niffs you find upsetting.”- Whole-Lychee1628
“YTA.”
“Sounds like you need to find yourself a different living situation.”- Inevitable-Ninja-539
“YTA.”
“You can’t ask your roommate who also lives there to not make food.”
“Should they also not use the toilet?”
“Workout?”
“Shower?”
“Idk sneeze.”- RIPCarlGrimes
“YTA.”
“Make a simmer pot, use a cleaner, open windows, something other than demand someone stop cooking because you dislike it.”
“Not trying to be like this, but maybe figure out if there are any health reasons why you are so sensitive to smells, if you genuinely can’t handle them.”
“Either way, you not liking something doesn’t give you the right to demand anything of your roommate.”- XVI3
“YTA.”
“You are being a big baby.”- Invisible_Friend1
“It’s under a running vent.”
“YTA.”- GreatPlainsFarmer
“I am sorry to say it, but YTA.”
“The joys of communal living.”
“You could get an air purifier, which might help.”- platypusandpibble
“Yes it’s unreasonable to ask someone to stop cooking.”
“YTA I think you may be very sensitive to odors and probably need to live alone.”
“I don’t think the crockpot is the problem.”- MsLidaRose
“YTA.”
“If you don’t want to share a space, then get your own place.”
“If that’s not an optio,n you compromise on things, and ‘you’re not allowed to cook pork in the slow cooker’ isn’t a compromise.”- DylanTonic
“YTA.”
“This is an unrealistic request.”- Less_Mirror5274
“YTA.”
“Sounds like no matter what, they make you will have an issue with it.”
“I mean, he could cook up a nice steaming Crock-Pot of water that might not smell.”- MooseTek
“Soft YTA, your roommate has a right to slow-cook protein.”
“The smell does linger, but it’s not that much worse than cooking meat in the oven or on the stovetop.”
“A crockpot is a common cooking method, and food smells are par for the course when you live with roommates.”
“I have sympathy because my first year of college, I lived with a girl who was gung-ho on fermenting things: cabbage, cucumbers, garlic, soybeans.”
“Our flat stunk to high heaven because I’m fairly sure she had no idea what she was doing, but she still had a right to do it.”- Affectionate_Beach45
Not all roommates share the same taste in everything, as seems to be the case with food between the OP and their roommate.
However, even if the OP doesn’t love the smells left by the OP’s cooking, that still doesn’t give the OP the right to tell them to stop using their crockpot altogether.
As just about any cooking, even reheating a frozen dinner, will result in a lingering odor, it does seem that the OP will likely be better off living by themself.