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I honestly don't know how I would handle it, but it does seem extremely rude of them to not do anything but joke about it. I would expect them to at least chip in for a new one, and unless they just really can't afford it I would expect them to pay for it entirely. So I say your feelings are totally valid, but not sure what to do about it.

Eh, we had something similar happen with our oven and footed the repair bill. I think it's a one off situation that will likely happen once or twice in a lifetime.

I have a friend (with a toddler) who had a 2,000 Apple laptop out and their friends who also have a toddler spilled a drink on it and the parents who were visiting paid for a new one. I can't say I would do the same, keep your brand new laptop put away when you are offering food and drink to little ones.

You could mention to her that a perfect baby shower gift would be a gift card to wherever you are buying the new grill. But now that so much time has passed it sounds like you remember the details and she may not. I'm not saying it's right, but insisting outright now may cause more harm than the cash amount you could be given.

I think it's just something you live with. I know my husband would have been furious and expected them to pay for it (or help pay for a replacement). That sucks and I'm sorry it happened to you but I think I would stop joking about it/bringing it up and just get a new one. Let the subject drop because if it keeps coming up, even after you get the new grill, it will still irk you when she jokes about it.

I would buy a new grill (because you need it), but I probably wouldn't let other people use it unattended.

I never would accept money for it (accidents happen!) but I would be pretty annoyed at the jokes but no offer to replace it.

@LuLu Mom: I think it's probably best. You may want to say something very direct to her next time she "jokes" about it that you did have to replace it and would appriciate her not talking about it anymore.

@Mae: ha this reminds me of the Sex in the City episode where Carrie resisters for the one pair of high heels.

@youboots: thats what i was thinking of-- same situation!

I don't think hinting is really fair. If you want something, I think you should have a more straightforward conversation. I grew up hinting and was taught it was polite. When I met my husband he told me that he has nothing but good intentions and that he DOES NOT pick up on hinting. So imo, you cannot consider her not offering to be a rude offense. In fact, if she is someone that communicates like my husband does- she may consider hinting to be rude (and my husband helped me to see that hinting can be considered passive aggressive.)

To answer the question: I would let it go. Accidents happen. If however, it is very important to you, have a straightforward talk.

It's incredibly rude, but I'd give up on any hope of getting that money back. But next time I would say, "I'm a little sensitive to the jokes about you ruining the grill since I miss having it and it's just not in our budget to buy a new one right now." If she says the boys should've been helping I would flat out say, "I seem to remember you telling DH that you had it under control." If she gets mad...well, she broke your grill after being insistent about not letting anyone help and then proceeded to not give you any money and be completely insensitive about it - she is NOT the one with a reason to be mad.

@Greentea: But she shouldn't even have to hint! It's incredibly rude to insist on using your friend's expensive appliance without help, ruin it, and then not follow up on your offer to help buy a new one.

@LuLu Mom: Sorry, on my phone I can't reply to more than one @person at a time. So, was your husband like, "okay. Let's do that. Thank you," (and then the friends never mentioned it again?) or was your husband more like, "don't worry about it." Maybe she didn't know he offered to pay for it? (Trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.)

@LuLu Mom: If her husband promised your husband to pay for it, I'd have him contact her husband and ask if the offer is still good!

I think if they just said sorry and didn't offer to pay for it, it wouldn't be such a big deal. Accidents happen. Now them offering to pay for it makes the situation worst... especially if they are not following through.

Something a long time ago happened to me... I have special mirror in my car which widens my back view. One of my friends wanted to drive and I'm pretty okay with that. He didn't like the mirror and wanted to remove it.... I told him to wait... and that I would remove it... but he went to remove it on his own and broke. He felt bad and offer to pay for it. I use that mirror a lot so I went to buy it again right away and so a few days a later I told him I bought it and this is how much it is. I think he was shocked by the price and then said... he *never* offered to pay for it. He wouldn't even offer to pay for *some* of it. He stopped talking to me after that. I was kind of shocked by the whole thing.

I know you said you wouldn't end a friendship over this but I feel these types of things really shows the true colors of a person. Just saying.

To anwer your question : I would just pony up the money, and buy a new grill if I needed and not bring it up to those friends again.

I think I would just suck it up and pay for it and also be super, super pissed about it... But I agree with what you plan to do to politely tell her to shush if she wants to make any more jokes about it. In fact, I would probably say something like, "I know you think its funny that you ruined our $400 grill but its actually not funny to me at all so can you please stop making light of it?" That should shut her up....

also, she must be a pretty bad cook to ruin a grill with bacon. That takes talent.

This happened two years ago. If your friends were going to chip in and pay they would have done so already. I'm not a fan of hinting as I believe straight talk makes for straight understanding and resolutions. Even if you straight up asked them for compensation now it's likely to annoy them even if you comply. Why wasn't this settled two years ago? Holding on to this and brining it up just seems petty. I agree with the PP that said you should try to get her to stop with her non-funny jokes. That just reopens up the costly wound.

@mrbee: I think this is a recipe for a ruined friendship (see what I did there?? )

@LuLu Mom: I too would be super annoyed...especially with her joking around about it. I think the chances of you seeing anything for the grill is slim to none. If this were me, I'd just suck it up and buy myself a new one.

We actually ruined a friend of mine's blender. We felt absolutely awful and went out right away and bought her a new one. She kept telling us not to b/c they hardly ever use it, but dude...I'm the one who burned out the motor. Of course I'm going to replace it!