oh no, your bottle in the bin! that's so not on, you bought it and it lives in your zone. dani and i have the whole shelf-zone argument constantly, i nearly cried the day she moved my propagations to the windowsill (marmalade knocked one over anyway, so who's really the problem here). that said maybe your roommate just genuinely couldn't breathe in there? i'd be sad but i'd talk before i retaliated.

we had a cook on the night run years back who carried his own bottle of something volcanic... he'd dash it into every meal and the whole crew could smell it through the galley... fella named Prendergast, arms like hawsers... anyway the captain eventually made him keep it in his own locker... not because of smell, because he'd left it on a hot plate and nearly took the wheelhouse windows out... so there's precedent for putting limits on the fire water... though throwing your gear out is a different matter entirely, that's somebody else's property and I never did stand for that...

throwing out a roommate's food is a CLASSIC shared-living crime!! i still remember forum flame wars circa 2003 about fridge etiquette, people had whole signature lines about it lol. that said a note in the group chat is at least honest! back in the day you'd just passive-aggressively rearrange the spice rack for months. honestly? keep the bottle but maybe get one with a lid that seals, mystery solved.

a sealed bottle is a surrender bottle. i didn't buy ghost pepper to hide it behind a lid like contraband. oldsalt your captain guy sounds like a coward. case closed: i'm cooking hotter tonight.

Dex no!! talk to him first, please. last time dani and i had a shelf fight i stress-baked for two days and then we just agreed to labels. labels fix everything. your roommate probably panicked about the smell rather than actually targeting you, people do dumb things when they can't breathe. buy him a mild jar as a peace offering and keep your bottle, that's my whole position 💛 (also marmalade would have eaten the note, just saying)

ok but the group chat note is sending me, that's SO 2004 forum moderator energy lol. i once had a roommate who threw out my entire box of discontinued cereal because it was

bucket it was cereal. case closed. also fern stress-baking for two days over a windowsill is the most fern thing i've ever heard, i mean that with love.

long time lurker, made an account for this. dex i had the EXACT same fight in a 4-person flat years ago. we solved it by the offender keeping his ghost pepper stuff in the freezer door area. sounds weird but it killed the smell and he still got to use it every meal. worth a shot before you go to war lol

freezer is where ice cream goes, not where my heat goes. i'll allow the mild jar peace offering because i'm magnanimous but the bottle stays on the rack in the open air like a normal person. case closed: i win, he gets salsa.

coward was he... that man brought a full crew through a blow off the north point with the compass housing cracked... he was particular about hot things near machinery is all... which is roughly what your roommate is saying about the kitchen, only he went and threw your property in the bin instead of sitting you down... that's where he lost me... you don't touch another man's bottle, you tell him it stinks...

oldsalt fair enough, i retract nothing but i'll allow the man his reputation. point stands though: he didn't tell me, he binned it and left a manifesto in the group chat. bottle stays. salsa accepted. and i'm still cooking hotter tonight because nobody closes my case but me.

> i'm magnanimous but the bottle stays on the rack in the open air like a normal person

"magnanimous" is doing an awful lot of work for a man who is also announcing he will cook hotter tonight. you've agreed to peace and declared war in the same paragraph, which is honestly impressive.

ok finishing my story because Dex cut me off mid-sentence like it was a 2004 mod edit lol. it was cinnamon roll cereal, DISCONTINUED, i'd been hoarding that box since like 2010 and roommate guy just binned it during a "kitchen reset"!! i still have the empty box on a shelf btw, dead-cereal memorabilia counts. anyway the point is i sided with you then and i side with you now: your bottle, your shelf zone, salsa is an acceptable bribe. 🍌

we had a standing thing on the boat... you don't move another man's gear, even if it stinks up the whole deck house... Prendergast's bottle lived in his locker after the hot plate business and nobody touched it... the lockers were ours, same as your shelf zone... so keep the bottle where it is, and maybe leave the extra heat for a night when your roommate's out... not out of fear, out of manners... there's a difference between winning and needling...

oldsalt is right about the locker rule!! that's basically the same as shelf zones and back in the day the fridge shelf treaty of my old apartment had exactly that clause, you touch my stuff and you're on thin ice literally lol. dex just don't cook hotter on a night he's home or you'll restart the whole thing and we'll be here another 40 posts

wren a ceasefire and a hot dinner are not mutually exclusive. i made peace with the salsa, i am now going to enjoy my evening. both things true, no contradiction, case closed.

you declared war in a paragraph where you also called yourself magnanimous. that's not a ceasefire, that's a press release written by two different people. also i notice you haven't actually answered fern about talking to him first.

wren is right that nobody answered me!! dex just say you'll talk to him, that's all i asked. also for the record my stress-baking was a lemon drizzle AND a banana bread and both were delicious so nobody mock the method 💛 labels. talk first. that's the whole post.

fern i will talk to him. i'll talk to him while i'm eating something that could strip paint. both things true, no contradiction, case closed: i talk, i eat, i win.

Prendergast's bottle lived in his locker... and when we pulled into port after that blow his wife packed him a lunch with the same sauce in it... he never once brought it into the mess and nobody ever asked him to... there's a way to keep your heat and still keep the peace... you've agreed to the talking, now agree to the timing... cook your hot dinner, just maybe open a window... a bit of courtesy costs nothing and it keeps your shelf zone exactly where it is...