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AIBU?

What just happened here? Was I unreasonable in some way?

73 replies

Trills · 07/12/2014 18:13

I walk into the kitchen - kettle is full and nearly boiled. Mug is next to kettle with teabag in.

Me: "I'm going to have some of your water if that's OK - shall I fill up your mug?"

Other person: "It's OK I'll do it"

I take some of the water (leaving more than half a full kettle)

Other person: "It wasn't done yet"

Me: "Yes it was it had just clicked off"
(kettle is still in my hand)
"Do you want me to put it on your tea?"

Other person: "No I'll sort myself out"

Other person fills up kettle and puts it on to boil again.

Me: "Sorry did you need the whole kettle? I thought you were just making tea"

(note that this person always fills the kettle up all the way immediately after using it - not just before using it - so I should not have assumed that full kettle = more than just a cup of tea planned as you might with someone who only filled up kettles as much as they needed)

Other person: "It's alright"

I hang around in the kitchen a bit more doing a couple of other things.

Other person waits for kettle to boil again, makes cup of tea.

Cup of tea that could easily have been made with the over-half-a-kettle of just-boiled water that was already there before they filled it up again.

I busy myself in the kitchen for a few more minutes to just check that I saw what I thought I saw, and that nothing else was needed from the kettle.

What happened here exactly?

OP posts:

Report

SoleSource · 07/12/2014 18:40

How petty.

FreeWee · 07/12/2014 18:41

The person you have described is my MIL who can only pour water from a full to the brim kettle even if it's just one cup. Drives me nuts in my own house!!! Energy wasting nobber.

MarshaBrady · 07/12/2014 18:42

They didn't hear it click off, probably dreaming away and missed it.

DealForTheKids · 07/12/2014 18:49

Freewee if I had a DB then I'd assume you were married to him - my DM and DF cannot boil a kettle unless it's completely full. Drives me crackers. Waste of water, waste of energy AND it takes longer! Bananas.

Merrylegs · 07/12/2014 18:51

Ha, in this house we call that 'making tea for the whole street'. As in if someone fills the kettle up too much the other person is likely to say 'blimey - you making tea for the whole street?'

But actually this sounds v much like the way I make tea. I hate the idea of dreggy water so it must be poured from a full, rolling boiled kettle. Mind you I have an aga and a private water supply, so the heat is always on and I can do what I jeffing well like with my own water.

NewNamePlease · 07/12/2014 18:58

Why would they fill the kettle immediately after using it? Then the water would be all stale when you next use it and the inside of the kettle would get slimey! You fill the kettle immediately before using it and then you also know how much water you need to put in it.

Trills · 07/12/2014 19:01

must be poured from a full, rolling boiled kettle

I can understand this - but if you are doing that you need to stay close enough to the kettle to hear it click off so you can pounce on it, no? Not sit across the room playing with your computer and then claim that "it wasn't done yet" when it was.

OP posts:

simbacatlivesagain · 07/12/2014 19:05

You only get limescale in certain places (london) not an issue in north yorkshire.

Trills · 07/12/2014 19:06

Cambridge has terrible hard water too.

OP posts:

LynetteScavo · 07/12/2014 19:07

Why hadn't the other person asked if you wanted a drink?

AwfulBeryl · 07/12/2014 19:10

Oh I have a funny trigger happy kettle finger, I often re boil the kettle, not too sure why. I half forget and subconsciously push the button even though I half know its boiled.

ithoughtofitfirst · 07/12/2014 19:10

My dad does stuff like this. He has OCD though. He can't even be in the kitchen if there's someone else is using it.

Trills · 07/12/2014 19:11

Beryl would you re-fill and re-boil, when there's more than enough water for what you wanted? Or just re-boil what was there?

OP posts:

Merrylegs · 07/12/2014 19:14

Ah yes, true. I have a whistler so it can whistle for a while getting nice and rolly-boily, no need to pounce. But elecrtrically speaking you would have to switch it back on again to get it up to temp. By pouring the water first you have dissipated the true boil so the kettle must be reboiled. Perhaps the sitter was intending to get it up to boil and then when they were good and ready, reboil it so they only needed to stand by and pounce for a shorter time. But you got in first and interrupted the rhythm.

Trills · 07/12/2014 19:15

Lynette I like your style but we were not spending time together so I would not expect to have been offered a drink.

OP posts:

AwfulBeryl · 07/12/2014 19:16

I do both I just zone out a bit and forget, especially if something interrupts me or if I am deep in thought.

Pipbin · 07/12/2014 19:17

this person always fills the kettle up all the way immediately after using it

So are you saying that in the normal run of things this person will make a cup of tea, then fill the kettle up so it is ready for the next use?

Am I alone in thinking that it unusual? That means that the water is sat there getting stale. Also the next person then has no option but to boil a full kettle, even if they only wanted enough for one cup. Added to that it saves you no time, either you fill the kettle at the start of the process or the end.

ArthurShappey · 07/12/2014 19:19

Perhaps you make awful tea and the didn't want to say.

Trills · 07/12/2014 19:20

Apparently one time a kettle was killed by "burning out" the elements, after it was emptied and not filled with water.

I don't know if this is possible. I don't think so.

If it is possible, I think it could only happen if the auto-shutoff was already broken (the thing that makes electric kettles turn off once they have boiled).

OP posts:

Trills · 07/12/2014 19:21

Haha Arthur - maybe I do, if it had only been "no don't put the water on the teabag for me you do it wrong " then I probably wouldn't have started a thread, it was the refilling and reboiling that made me go

OP posts:

JennyBlueWren · 07/12/2014 19:22

Not sure why she filled it right to the top but some of us are fussy about our tea. If it had been me I might have put the kettle on to boil again (with the same water) as she clearly hadn't believed it to have boiled yet (it has to be just boiled water!). Some people believe tea should be made with freshly drawn water so would need to empty and refill kettle (but don't need to refill right to the top).

Think this is one to let go.

Trills · 07/12/2014 19:25

Oh I am letting it go, I didn't comment at all and don't intend to, just thought that some of you might enjoy sharing in the oddness.

As highkickindandy said, perplexing behaviour is interesting.

OP posts:

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AwfulBeryl · 07/12/2014 19:29

It is interesting. I love peoples idiosyncrasies, I find it fascinating. I am a nosey bugger though, I always want to know why do they do that.
my dp uses soap to wash with on a work day and shower gel on his days off

Trills · 07/12/2014 19:30

Your DP doesn't want to smell too alluring to his colleagues with his irresistible shower-gel smell.

OP posts:

asmallandnoisymonkey · 07/12/2014 19:30

I'd be cross at the wasted electricity, never mind the ridiculously odd behaviour!

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