No, this isn’t a cast iron thing. Using stainless pans, you can get nonstick effects that, in my experience, far outperform Teflon anyway. The process is called “spot seasoning.” I have cooked crispy, cheesy rice noodles with eggs with zero sticking.
I love my cast iron pans, but stainless is my daily go-to. Added bonus: use 100% copper wool to clean your stainless pan. The copper-coated wool at most grocery stores is problematic; you might get a few uses out of the coated garbage and then it starts shedding metal bits.
Yes. Poor people often dont get to choose their housemates. The landlord does.
I’m familiar with the situation. As said, I didn’t need to pick my housemates since the absolute mouthbreathers seem to be much rarer here. Or I got really lucky, since none of them were dimwitted enough to use metal on a pan.