One small kitchen habit sparked a heated debate when a friend accused someone of being unhygienic for reusing a glass to boil water.
Let’s Break It Down
The Backstory and Early Dynamics
It started as an ordinary moment.
The person had already drunk from a glass of water. Later on, they rinsed the glass with tap water, refilled it with fresh tap water, and poured that water into a kettle to boil.
To them, it was practical. No food. No spit. And boiling water would kill any bacteria anyway.
The Moment Things Shifted
A friend happened to witness this and immediately reacted.
He called the act “unhygienic” and “disgusting,” insisting it violated basic social conventions.
The accusation wasn’t about health risks alone — it was about what felt wrong.
The Final Confrontation
The two disagreed sharply.
The glass-user argued:
- The glass was rinsed
- The water was fresh
- The kettle would boil the water
- This was for personal use, not serving others
The friend pushed back with a comparison:
“It’s like a chef double-dipping a spoon into soup. You never see that.”
The response was simple:
That rule exists when cooking for others. This wasn’t a restaurant. It wasn’t shared food.
The Fallout
The friend refused to budge.
Even if it was technically safe, he argued, it was still wrong and gross by convention.
The disagreement lingered, leaving one person confused — was this really about hygiene, or just about disgust?
What Reddit Thinks
Most Redditors would likely side NTA (Not the Asshole) — with a few dissenters.
Top reactions might include:
- “NTA. Boiling water kills bacteria. People confuse ‘icky’ feelings with science.”
- “NTA. If it’s your kettle and your water, who cares?”
- “Soft YTA. It’s not unsafe, but I get why someone might find it gross.”
Overall consensus:
👉 Social discomfort doesn’t automatically equal unhygienic behavior.
A Final Thought
Is something actually wrong — or does it just feel wrong because of unwritten social rules?
When practicality clashes with convention, which one should win?