# For cooking or for raising baby chicks?



## Leolady (Aug 30, 2008)

In June, I had a big country dinner party at a friend's farm.  

During that dinner, I had brought my own three stainless steel aluminum clad Vollrath small stockpots to make the dinner.  My friend did not have anything appropriate.  They look like the bottom pot in this double boiler and are about 12qts.







Well, my friend fell in love with my pots, so since I use them so very seldom, I loaned them to her.  My friend has used them almost daily since and that is cool.  

I went to the farm yesterday, and she showed me her baby chick she had to raise in her kitchen.  Then, she told me that she put the chick in one of my pots at night -- every night!

I freaked!  But I quietly suggested she use her own large pot for the chick because my pots were for food, not incubating baby chicks.

Joyce had a fit, and told me to take my pots because I have no business telling her what she could use them for!

I quietly took them.  My question is.........

Was I out of line to tell her that the pots I loaned her were for cooking?

What would you have done?


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## buckytom (Aug 30, 2008)

poured in some stock, a few chopped carrots and celery, some onion, parsley... 
then she'd get the idea!


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## kitchenelf (Aug 30, 2008)

Well.............I probably would NOT have used a stockpot in the first place and I would not have used my friend's pot, but, one of my own....but I don't think I would even consider it so... 

I'm sure you were shocked...she was shocked that you said something and came back with a snarky response out of embarrassment.  

I don't know what I would have done in the same spot - sometimes these things have to actually happen before we know what we will TRULY do.

Now, the question for you is...how good a friend is this?  Is it worth salvaging the friendship?  Your stockpots can be cleaned satisfactorily for cooking again, I feel sure.


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## Leolady (Aug 30, 2008)

You are just too, too Bucky!   LOL!


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## GhettoRacingKid (Aug 30, 2008)

there your pots.  she shoudl be showingyou some respect and giving you thanks not lip especialyl sicne she was using them all the time....

some people.

You should take one of her pots and use it as a toliet and then react the same way to her when she says something


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## Leolady (Aug 30, 2008)

Elf, if she was so embarrassed, why would she do such a thing?

I don't use them much, but I love these pots.  I had to protect them if they weren't being treated right in my mind.

I am going to put them in storage, and when I take them out I will scour them within a inch of their lives and soak them in bleach!


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## kitchenelf (Aug 30, 2008)

LL - she reacted that way because she didn't know how to say....oh, you're right, sorry.

I would clean them NOW and not wait...then store them!


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## Leolady (Aug 30, 2008)

Good idea!

I will clean them today, then store them away.


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## kadesma (Aug 30, 2008)

I would just put water in them bring it to a boil let it go 20 min..This would sanitize them..Add a little vinegar if you feel that will help I'd not scour them, it might cause scratches.. Just disinfect them they will be fine. And never loan something you take such pride in..It's much easier to say NO I can't these are/were a special gift..
kadesma


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## Leolady (Aug 30, 2008)

I guess my weakness for trying to do nice things for people is probably something I should control.

The boiling and the vinegar are good ideas.  Thanks.


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## jpaulg (Dec 4, 2008)

She was using the pot for food.

While you were at it did you do a HAACP check to make sure her kitchen was properly sterile and that she hadn't put any bacterielly contaminated food into the pot in the months she had it?


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## sattie (Dec 4, 2008)

Leolady... I think I would have been a bit put-off by it as well.  I mean really... If I borrowed someones cook ware, I would not be using it for anything other than what it was intended.  Show respect for OPP!

Bucky... behave!!!!


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## deelady (Dec 4, 2008)

Kitchenelf asked if this was a good friend...? I think if they treated my property as such that I was nice enough to loan them I would be asking my self the same thing....
Has this friend ever showed other signs of selfishness or thoughtlessness in the past? Usually you are able to see a trend.....if it is not typical of this friend then I would chaulk it up as a moment of insanity and forgive and forget. Maybe you guys will get a good laugh about this when time passes and you see your pot is still in good working condition.....but ONLY if this was a fluke situation!


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## bethzaring (Dec 4, 2008)

my guess is that your friend had not one clue as to the quality and value of the pot that she was using for baby chick diggs. That would also explain why she did not understand your most appropriate shock when you realized how she had used your pot.


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## pacanis (Dec 4, 2008)

I was going to say BT beat me to the punch, but he would have beat me by several months... I missed this post the first time around and am glad it was resurrected.  I know I would be put off if someone was using something I loaned in a manner not really intended. That said. Other than the taboo thought of it, I doubt the pot suffered any lasting effect.


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## pdswife (Dec 4, 2008)

... I'm so in love with baby animals... that I just would have thought about how cute the chick was.   I would have given her the pan and bought another one for myself or...since I hardly ever used it gone with out.


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## GrillingFool (Dec 4, 2008)

What would have bothered me was the "You can't tell me what I should be
doing with the item I BORROWED from YOU."

Well, it is mine, so yes I can. 

As for using it for a chickery, wouldn't have bothered me. Metal is metal and it
wouldn't have hurt it. A good boil and it would be clean and ready to cook the chicks'
older siblings!


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## deelady (Dec 4, 2008)

Oh I didn't realize this post was old....So what ever happened with your friend Leolady??


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## vyapti (Dec 4, 2008)

I really don't see what the big deal is.  The pot is steel and easily cleaned.  Where's the harm?  My stock pot doubles as a barf bucket during flu season. Dogs lick food plates with no harm done.  And if not you, many people, including your friend, handle chicks and maybe don't even rush to the faucet the moment that chick hits the ground.


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## buckytom (Dec 4, 2008)

yeah, as soon as the chick hits the ground, it'll be across the street, anyway. 

plenty of time to wash up.


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## GB (Dec 4, 2008)

buckytom said:


> yeah, as soon as the chick hits the ground, it'll be across the street, anyway.


Yes, but WHY is the chick crossing the road?


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## buckytom (Dec 4, 2008)

to get away from the smelly plates and stockpots, of course...


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## vyapti (Dec 4, 2008)

I know I cross the road when I'm being stocked =)


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## RobsanX (Dec 4, 2008)

I give people cookware all the time, but not anything I would ever want returned. I gave my newly separated BIL a bunch of stuff including two really nice sauce pans. He can raise earthworms in them for all I care...


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## pacanis (Dec 4, 2008)

buckytom said:


> *yeah, as soon as the chick hits the ground, it'll be across the street, anyway. *
> 
> plenty of time to wash up.


 
Why?
Ohhhhh......


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## Leolady (Dec 4, 2008)

I guess I was just amazed at her audacity.  After all, I hadn't given the pots to her, they were a loan.

But then, I always feel that you should respect other's property.  Putting a chick in a stockpot didn't feel like respect to me.

But different strokes for different folks.


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## AllenOK (Dec 5, 2008)

Leolady, I know entirely how you feel.

I have invested money into my kitchen equipment.  Now, I won't say that it's A LOT of money, but, money is money.  I have some professional-grade equipment, and a lot of tools, "gadgets", etc.  I tend to get finicky about how my stuff is used.  Many times, I've come home and realized that my MIL has been "mishandling" and "misusing" my tools, or just using them in a manner I don't think is appropriate.  I'll usually give her a warning or two about how I feel, but she does as she pleases.  After a few "infractions" on my feelings about my equipment, I will go and hide the piece for awhile.

I realize that this is mostly just my "regimented training" in the culinary world, and that my MIL was brought up extremely poor and had to "make do" with EVERYTHING.  I still just don't like to see my tools used in a manner that I don't want them used.

Neither one of us are willing to compromise on these issues, so it just boils down to a simmering stale-mate of me waiting until she decides that she wants to live somewhere else.


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## RobsanX (Dec 5, 2008)

AllenOK said:


> I realize that this is mostly just my "regimented training" in the culinary world, *and that my MIL was brought up extremely poor and had to "make do" with EVERYTHING*.  I still just don't like to see my tools used in a manner that I don't want them used.



Someone who had to make do should respect your nice equipment even more than you do. Given that you have told her your feelings, this is simply passive-aggressive behavior on your MIL's part. Probably because she is not used to being the implied subordinate in the house.


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## pacanis (Dec 5, 2008)

RobsanX said:


> Someone who had to make do should respect your nice equipment even more than you do. Given that you have told her your feelings, this is simply passive-aggressive behavior on your MIL's part. Probably because she is not used to being the implied subordinate in the house.


 
That'll be one nickel


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## RobsanX (Dec 5, 2008)

^^^


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## Deathbysoup (Jan 18, 2009)

You definately have the right to tell her not to put live animals in your pots. You shouldn't have had to give her directions so specific that they specify whether what she puts in the pots is live or dead.


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## Leolady (Jan 18, 2009)

UPDATE:

Joyce has apologized for getting mad because I didn't like the stockpot hatchery thing.  She said she should have used her own pot for her chicks and didn't know what got into her for yelling at me like that.

I still had the pots in the car, so I loaned them back to her and she promised to take good care of them.

Joyce owns the farm where my sweet arabian mare Ashen boards.  They don't have much money and I try to help them wherever I can.


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## Scotch (Jan 18, 2009)

I think that anyone who would borrow another person's cookware to use as a toilet for an animal is an arrogant, thoughtless, moron. You were not out of line, she was -- big time! 

And as for the "what's the big deal comments" above, I suspect that about 90% of the population would never use the pot again, even though it can easily be sterilized. The picture of a chicken-poop encrusted pot is hard to get out of one's brain. 

That said, I suggest that you boil some water and vinegar in it and then give it a good scrubbing with some Barkeeper's Friend. 

YUCK!


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## Blondelle (Feb 1, 2009)

The guy who said a chicken in every pot--well, I don't think that's what he had in mind! . You should have told her the pot was for dead chickens--not live ones! I think you were right, and your friend should respect how you want your property used.


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