Thinking I'd just modify my plans, I tried this:
Image 1: Not-so-bright idea
Just as an FYI, there is a reason chicken pot pies are made for oven and microwave use. They are not meant to be casseroles or stove top mixes. It did not taste good.
A week later, an appliance repairman finally made it to my complex, took a look at my oven, and determined the piece that had stopped working. Several days passed and he called to inform me that the part replacement didn't exist anymore, so he was just going to bring a new oven. (I'm not gonna lie, I danced a little bit.)
Well, when they measured for my newer, bigger, more functional oven, they did not take into account the fact that I have baseboards in my kitchen. The oven was 1/2" too wide for the space allocated between my wall and counter.
Image 2: Baseboards FTW?
The appliance guy just left it like this in my apartment. He said he'll be back sometime this week with either a plan to rip out my baseboard (with my landlord's permission) or another small oven. And I know it's not a big deal, but I'm legitimately upset about this. I'm frustrated that I have an oven I can't use in the middle of my kitchen and that instead of leaving me with that one, they might bring back another small oven that looks kind of like a toy. What is my problem??
For the past two years, I haven't even had an oven to call my own. It was definitely not considered a "necessity". But after having one for the past semester, suddenly it's a huge inconvenience to be limited to a microwave.
Karl Marx outlined four premises of history in The German Ideology, and this situation speaks wonderfully to the first two. The first premise was that we produce what is necessary to satisfy our basic needs (there would be no history if we could not produce food for our survival). The second is that once the first needs are satisfied, they create a whole new set of needs (for example, a fork is suddenly a "need" as well as the food that warrants its use).
A year ago, an oven was an amenity, not a basic need.
I have become incredibly spoiled.
And maybe I'm not the only one.
So there's some food for thought. (Pun intended.)
