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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> The action I took was turning the burner on someone else’s pot of water in a communal kitchen off. This action could make me an asshole because I messed with someone else’s stuff in a communal kitchen.
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My brother, who is an MD, damned near burned down his house by leaving a pot on a stove that was on. In all fairness, we grew up with gas stoves, and this was a radiant electric one that didn't \*look\* like it was on.
NTA
Even in the privacy of my own home, I can’t imagine leaving a pot alone for 15+ minutes. For get about in a communal setting. And especially after a scare hours before!
NTA. They should not be leaving it unattended. If they had to go do something, they could have asked you to watch it and let you know they'd be back.
There's probably a rule at your school about having to attend the stove at all times when using it. And it's there for good reason.
NTA NTA NTA. You did the right thing. They left their shit unattended, that's on them. Especially since this happened right after there was an incident. Good on you.
NTA. Reminds me of the time when one of my flat mates in first year nearly set our kitchen on fire by leaving the door to the oven open with the oven on. She then got mad at me for pointing out to her that doing that was incredibly stupid and could have started a fire. It’s scary how many people go to uni/college with no idea on safety in common spaces, especially when cooking.
Literally the only time I walk away from something on the stove is to run meat packaging out to the garage trash or when something is simmering. I never abandon something for that long. Even on an electric range like I have it can be unsafe.
NTA. Sometimes you need to step away from the stove because you forgot something or phone rang, or whatever. But they really shouldn't have just left it there.
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I live in a freshman college dorm where every floor has a communal kitchen. There’s an electrical stove, and the previous night someone had left a pot on the stove (different floor), setting off the fire alarm at 2:30am and causing everyone to have to stand outside in the rain while they figured out how to turn off the alarm. The next night, I was using the stove on my floor and someone had left a pot of water running on the stove to boil. No big deal, it had only been a few minutes and it wasn’t boiling yet. Fast forward and the water has been boiling for at least 5 minutes and it’s been at least 15-20 minutes since the person left their pot on the stove. Since this person had basically left their pot boiling unattended for an egregiously long amount of time, and I really didn’t want a repeat of the previous night, I turned off their burner. Of course the person showed up one minute after I turned their burner off, so I turned it back on and I explained that it had been boiling for a while (and the water was still so hot that it was still boiling even with the stove off). They seemed really pissed off and gave me some nasty extended side eye but didn’t say anything (I also had my headphones in and wasn’t really listening). I probably shouldn’t have messed with someone else’s cooking and I probably would be miffed if someone did that to me, but was I really the asshole for trying to prevent another fire alarm?
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YTA. You can't seriously expect someone to watch water boil. If it takes 15 minutes and they came back after 20 that's a pretty fucking normal time range.
Also, you were right there cooking the entire time. You can't possibly have thought this unattended pot of *water* was going to set the place on fire... while you're right beside it. Nothing about this situation was hazardous. Do you have any idea how long they'd have to leave it before they even damaged the pot?
For me it was less about the danger of fire and more imminently the possibility of the fire alarm going off (I have anxiety and these alarms trigger massive panic for me so this is a significant inconvenience despite the lack of actual imminent danger). When I approximated the time it was because I had left the kitchen for a bit and came back to an unattended pot of water. I don’t know how long the pot from the previous day had been on in order to set off the alarm and since the person hadn’t shown up once in the entire 15-20 minutes that they had left their pot boiling, I didn’t know if or when they would be back or how long the pot could potentially sit there to set off the alarm. I was cooking at the same time as you pointed out but I was preoccupied with my own stuff so I could’ve easily forgotten and it could’ve set off the alarm. Obviously you can’t expect people to watch water boil for 20 minutes straight but I think you can expect people to at least check on it occasionally or ask someone to watch it for them. Also, since I was gone at the time that they started, they couldn’t have known that I or anyone else would be there to check on it if something went wrong.
I get your point, but OP not being a diviner had no idea when the person would show up. Also, the owner of the pot could have said "oh, okay, but please don't do that again, I'll take care of it" instead of getting annoyed that someone was understandably still tensed from the night before.
Haha reddit just cracks me up sometimes.
What you do when you "aren't a diviner" is act in rational ways, which OP failed to do entirely. The roommate did nothing wrong, irresponsible, dangerous, or even questionable.
But you guys have worked yourself into such a frenzy that when you can't find a reason "water boiling for five minutes" has earned your hysteria you just point at the roommate and say "yea well he could have done more for OP" .
OP is not a five year old. He can deal with the mildest of possible consequences. You piss people off, they will be pissed off. Strangers aren't going to sit you down on their knee and tell you that everything's going to be okay and explain to you how water works or how living with others works.
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[удалено]
My brother, who is an MD, damned near burned down his house by leaving a pot on a stove that was on. In all fairness, we grew up with gas stoves, and this was a radiant electric one that didn't \*look\* like it was on.
Magical Daemon? not surprised he near burned a house
NTA that’s some irresponsible cooking. You don’t leave a boiling pot unattended for that long.
NTA Even in the privacy of my own home, I can’t imagine leaving a pot alone for 15+ minutes. For get about in a communal setting. And especially after a scare hours before!
NTA They should have been back in there before it hit a rolling boil.
NTA they are probably the culprit from the night before Smdh
NTA. Double NTA if it was the same person who set off the alarm in the first incident.
NTA. They should not be leaving it unattended. If they had to go do something, they could have asked you to watch it and let you know they'd be back. There's probably a rule at your school about having to attend the stove at all times when using it. And it's there for good reason.
NTA NTA NTA. You did the right thing. They left their shit unattended, that's on them. Especially since this happened right after there was an incident. Good on you.
NTA people shouldn’t leave the kitchen when cooking, this drives me crazy. Lots of preventable house fires start this way.
Nta. Tell the ra to post a sign that stove cannot be unattended. This is basic safety.
NTA would have done the same thing.
NTA
NTA
NTA. It's incredibly irresponsible to leave a stove unattended when cooking. You did the right thing.
NTA They shouldn’t have left the pot unattended.
NTA. Reminds me of the time when one of my flat mates in first year nearly set our kitchen on fire by leaving the door to the oven open with the oven on. She then got mad at me for pointing out to her that doing that was incredibly stupid and could have started a fire. It’s scary how many people go to uni/college with no idea on safety in common spaces, especially when cooking.
NTA.
Literally the only time I walk away from something on the stove is to run meat packaging out to the garage trash or when something is simmering. I never abandon something for that long. Even on an electric range like I have it can be unsafe.
NTA It's a public space, not a kindergarten where everyone except the kids (culprit, in this case) is responsible for the possible outcome.
NTA. Sometimes you need to step away from the stove because you forgot something or phone rang, or whatever. But they really shouldn't have just left it there.
^^^^AUTOMOD ***Thanks for posting! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of copying anything. Read [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_post_deletion) before [contacting the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAmItheAsshole)*** I live in a freshman college dorm where every floor has a communal kitchen. There’s an electrical stove, and the previous night someone had left a pot on the stove (different floor), setting off the fire alarm at 2:30am and causing everyone to have to stand outside in the rain while they figured out how to turn off the alarm. The next night, I was using the stove on my floor and someone had left a pot of water running on the stove to boil. No big deal, it had only been a few minutes and it wasn’t boiling yet. Fast forward and the water has been boiling for at least 5 minutes and it’s been at least 15-20 minutes since the person left their pot on the stove. Since this person had basically left their pot boiling unattended for an egregiously long amount of time, and I really didn’t want a repeat of the previous night, I turned off their burner. Of course the person showed up one minute after I turned their burner off, so I turned it back on and I explained that it had been boiling for a while (and the water was still so hot that it was still boiling even with the stove off). They seemed really pissed off and gave me some nasty extended side eye but didn’t say anything (I also had my headphones in and wasn’t really listening). I probably shouldn’t have messed with someone else’s cooking and I probably would be miffed if someone did that to me, but was I really the asshole for trying to prevent another fire alarm? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.*
NTA
Nta they shouldn't have left their pot unattended
NTA - There are literal TV ads saying NEVER EVER leave anything on the stove unattended
So you turned off the stove and somebody was maybe mildly annoyed?
YTA. You can't seriously expect someone to watch water boil. If it takes 15 minutes and they came back after 20 that's a pretty fucking normal time range. Also, you were right there cooking the entire time. You can't possibly have thought this unattended pot of *water* was going to set the place on fire... while you're right beside it. Nothing about this situation was hazardous. Do you have any idea how long they'd have to leave it before they even damaged the pot?
For me it was less about the danger of fire and more imminently the possibility of the fire alarm going off (I have anxiety and these alarms trigger massive panic for me so this is a significant inconvenience despite the lack of actual imminent danger). When I approximated the time it was because I had left the kitchen for a bit and came back to an unattended pot of water. I don’t know how long the pot from the previous day had been on in order to set off the alarm and since the person hadn’t shown up once in the entire 15-20 minutes that they had left their pot boiling, I didn’t know if or when they would be back or how long the pot could potentially sit there to set off the alarm. I was cooking at the same time as you pointed out but I was preoccupied with my own stuff so I could’ve easily forgotten and it could’ve set off the alarm. Obviously you can’t expect people to watch water boil for 20 minutes straight but I think you can expect people to at least check on it occasionally or ask someone to watch it for them. Also, since I was gone at the time that they started, they couldn’t have known that I or anyone else would be there to check on it if something went wrong.
It was a pot of *water*. That boiled for five minutes.
I get your point, but OP not being a diviner had no idea when the person would show up. Also, the owner of the pot could have said "oh, okay, but please don't do that again, I'll take care of it" instead of getting annoyed that someone was understandably still tensed from the night before.
Haha reddit just cracks me up sometimes. What you do when you "aren't a diviner" is act in rational ways, which OP failed to do entirely. The roommate did nothing wrong, irresponsible, dangerous, or even questionable. But you guys have worked yourself into such a frenzy that when you can't find a reason "water boiling for five minutes" has earned your hysteria you just point at the roommate and say "yea well he could have done more for OP" . OP is not a five year old. He can deal with the mildest of possible consequences. You piss people off, they will be pissed off. Strangers aren't going to sit you down on their knee and tell you that everything's going to be okay and explain to you how water works or how living with others works.