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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be surprised she couldn't use the oven?

151 replies

LemonSherbetFancies · 13/05/2021 12:31

Last night partners sister came round and as I was on a potential new job call, I asked her to turn the oven on (Had a chicken in there already). When I got off the call, I checked and saw it had not been turned on. Aibu to say a grown woman should be able to turn an oven on?!
She said she thought she had done it.

OP posts:
Scarby9 · 13/05/2021 13:18

Some are really tricky!

At a holiday cottage last summer, we could not work out how to switch the oven on, nor could we find the instructions.

I rang the owner on my mobile in the kitchen, leant back against the oven, and switched it on with my behind!

PhannyPharts · 13/05/2021 13:18

I had a new oven installed. Thought it would be idiot proof based on the symbols. Spent the first three weeks fan grilling everything and wondering why the fishfingers were both raw and burnt. A special skill indeed.

I like to think I'm capable in most other areas of life so I'm going with YABU.

RitaFires · 13/05/2021 13:19

I'm very tech savvy, I have multiple qualifications in computer science but I couldn't turn on my mother's new oven last time I tried because I didn't know it wouldn't work without the timer set. Similarly my mother couldn't work my oven because she's baffled by the settings wheel. I think you're being a bit harsh, not being able to turn on the oven only proves she's not familiar with that particular oven it's not some kind of demonstration of her intellect or character.

Ahhwoofwoof · 13/05/2021 13:21

I can't believe more people aren't talking about why there is a chicken just sat in a cold oven.

So many questions

wigjuice · 13/05/2021 13:21

Do you not preheat your oven?

AfterSchoolWorry · 13/05/2021 13:23

I only know how to switch my oven on. I don't know any of the other functions on it. I have never used them, including the timer.

Same with the microwave, I can heat stuff up, that's it. I don't know how to use any of the other functions.

When I had one of those microwaves that can also be a convection oven and grill etc, I never used any other function other than microwaving things.

I'm just not interested in cooking.

Bluntness100 · 13/05/2021 13:23

Do you not like her and just want to have a go and this is all you could come up with?

It’s very easy to not know how if it’s not An oven you’re familiar with.

Just start a thread saying I can’t stand my sister in law. It’s much more honest and to the point.

NewlyGranny · 13/05/2021 13:24

I have a bells and whistles Fisher & Paykell which is idiotproof, (2 knobs, temp and function, and the rest of the front is a black glass screen that tells you what you've dialled) but I have struggled with my sister's oven which has had all the markings cleaned off!

Notapheasantplucker · 13/05/2021 13:25

You just don't like her do you?

naemates · 13/05/2021 13:25

My DH likes to switch ours on to light but not heat, so we can clearly watch our dinner not cooking

lockdownalli · 13/05/2021 13:26

You don't like her much do you?

DonttouchthatLarry · 13/05/2021 13:27

I think that's pretty unanimous that YABU OP Grin

UpTheJunktion · 13/05/2021 13:27

I have owned about 7 ovens, used many in the houses of family, holiday accommodation etc, but recently flat sitting for someone and then moving into a new house I had to use the microwave for days until I had mastered the particular quirks of the not-outlandishly technical ovens.

I have been using my Mum's oven for years but recently managed to turn the knob to the wrong setting just by ordinary accident.

Don't be so picky and critical.

Such a big deal that you needed to start a thread about it? I hope the back story is worth it!

FOJN · 13/05/2021 13:27

My oven needs a "phone a friend" option. I've had the same brand before and it wasn't quite so complicated. I've always turned it to the right temp and left it to do as asked, now I need to select from 21 different modes (most of which I can't see the point of) , set the temp and then press start. I have to press start again everytime I open the oven door.

I'm a keen and competent cook but I can't operate my closest friends oven at all.

ThursdayWeld · 13/05/2021 13:29

So, the chicken was in the oven - and you were in the house - but you couldn't turn the oven on yourself? Hmm

YABU, she said she thought she had turned it on. You sound very passive aggressive towards her.

Cocomarine · 13/05/2021 13:33

The chicken might not have been roasted, but @LemonSherbetFancies certainly has been 🤣

NeedNewKnees · 13/05/2021 13:35

Poor lass, she thought she was being helpful and you snark about her on MN.

Ponoka7 · 13/05/2021 13:38

I have to Google my DD'S oven model if I want to cook in her house. Likewise one of her friends, who I babysit for. In my boyfriend's I've managed to melt a mixing bowl by switching on the wrong ring. I've grown up with gas and stuck with it.
To echo other posters, why was the chicken in a cold oven?

HoppingPavlova · 13/05/2021 13:42

My oven needs a master's degree in engineering or an hour with the manual to figure out, so I have sympathy for her.

Ditto. I once had a cleaner who fiddled with knobs that need to be pushed in or pulled out or god knows. I couldn’t work it for days after that and needed the help of Google. It’s not as though you could just look at it and work it out.

I have the same question about the chicken.

ViceLikeBlip · 13/05/2021 13:49

Well, they seem to do it on bake off all the time 🤷‍♀️

MishMashMummy · 13/05/2021 13:49

Everyone thinks they’re clever until they have to operate someone else’s shower or oven.

Confusedandshaken · 13/05/2021 13:51

. I cook and bake a lot and could probably turn on any one of our three ovens blindfold. But we also have a holiday flat and after 5 years I sometimes have to get the instructions out to remind me how it switches on. The hob is even more complex.

ThursdayWeld · 13/05/2021 13:51

Took me about 10 minutes to work out the washing machine where we're staying, 5 of which involved me shouting "Why are you blinking! Just start the water running!!!" and then randomly stabbing a button. Was only sheer chance that I eventually got the right combination.

I'm glad I don't have a bitchy SIL to come running to Mumsnet about me Hmm

Cocomarine · 13/05/2021 13:53

@ViceLikeBlip

Well, they seem to do it on bake off all the time 🤷‍♀️
I suspect there’s a run through off camera though - don’t you?
ChloeCrocodile · 13/05/2021 13:56

I'm the only one who can switch my oven on to the correct temperature because the numbers have been rubbed off. I like to think I'm magic because I always manage to remember how far to turn the dial to get the right temp.

At the other end of the spectrum though, I am incapable of switching on my bathroom light without first switching the landing light off by mistake, swearing, and then flicking the correct switch. I'm convinced the switches randomly change which light they control just to confuse me!