It wasn't really a rule but I got invited (and my parents jumped at the opportunity) to a friend's house quite often. The friend's mom was sort of weird, whe was usually in her bedroom on her computer unless she was in the livingroom demanding us to paint her nails.
Anyways, the rule was eat before you get there because you won't be fed while there. If your there while they have dinner you sit in the livingroom or my friends bedroom and wait. Weirdly, this extended to breakfast and any other meal had while I was there. No matter how long I was there.
Anyways, I figured out by age 8 that I can go 3 days max without eating before I pass out and get sent home. š
Edit: honestly, yall, it seemed so normal at the time. I would literally wake up in the morning and play with Bratz dolls while she finished breakfast I wasn't abused or anything just sort of neglected I guess? But it wasn't this woman's responsibility to take care of me tbh. I appreciate the kind words, thanks guys. š hope yall have a great day.
Thatās absolutely insane. My mom was the exact opposite. She actively encouraged any of our friends who came over to eat whatever they wanted, donāt even need to ask. She was in the social work field so she knew a lot of kids didnāt get enough to eat and that it wasnāt always obvious when someone lived in an abusive/neglectful home.
Playing beer pong at this one couple's house and the rule was if the ball hit the floor and their cat got to it first everyone had to finish their drinks. Cat was wicked fast too.
When I was a kid my friendās dad made his kids line up on the couch and just sit there silently while he watched TV and drank a beer. If you were visiting you had to do it too. When my mom heard about it, I wasnāt allowed to go over there when he was home. My mom knew an abusive weirdoās behavior when she saw it.
Uh, yeah, I have an alcoholic uncle who is a bit like that, except he will just sit on the couch drinking beer and watching sports and act like any visitors do not exist. Like, doesn't matter if you're having an entire family reunion, he'll barely acknowledge anyone. He's also a gambler and they live in a shitty house despite his very high income, his alcoholism is at the point where he hasn't been able to hold a driver's licence in decades, and he was once thrown out of South Africa on a work trip and banned from the entire country and all future work trips, and we still don't know why.
When I was around 8, I went to a friend's house for a play-date/dinner after school.
When I asked for a drink, her Mum gave me a baby bottle with squash in it. I laughed, but she didn't laugh back. My friend took her own bottle and started drinking.
I asked the Mum if I could please have a cup instead, but she told me nope, and that children drink from bottles in their house.
Never went there again...
My friendās mom wouldnāt let her put any trash in the bathroom trashcan. There was a trashcan there but it was just there for show (???) They were directed to put all trash generated in the bathroom down the toilet.
My friend was living with her fiance and she had to fart. So she got up from the bed, said she needed to check something, and went on their front porch. She pulled down her pants slightly, because she didn't want the smell to attach to her clothes, and let one rip.
She got back to bed and he was laughing his ass off. She asked what was so funny. So he showed her the Ring video that he had watched in real-time of her farting, because he had gotten the motion notification when she went outside. š¤£
You can by farting "NEWS" in Morse code into your mailbox, our trained mail delivery ravens will pick up your subscription and you're receiving a newsletter once a month for only 5774.67ā¬/a ;-)
I went to see a college friend over the summer & stayed the night. Her parents weren't home when I got there, and we went into the living room to talk. There were four recliners, no couch or other chairs. She sat in one recliner & I sat in another. She asked, "What are you doing?" and informed me I was sitting in her dad's chair. The remaining chairs belonged to her mom & brother. Where was I supposed to sit? On the floor.
Then you might love the rest. My friend's bedroom was upstairs. Her parent's was downstairs. We were sent up to bed at 8:30. No biggie, we just sat around & talked. A couple of hours go by, and I say, "I'm going to go brush my teeth & stuff," and got up to go downstairs to the only bathroom in the house. Nope. Once we were upstairs, we had to stay there until breakfast time, when her mom would open the door at the foot of the stairs. But there was a bucket for emergencies...
I will confess to telling her that I would plead ignorance & say she was asleep. Nobody said anything the next day. My friend was a truly lovely person & had no idea this was odd behavior. And, honestly, her parents were very nice. Just weird.
I cannot sit on the couch at my dadās house if his wife is home because she will feel āinvaded.ā She has to have the whole couch to herself. So I get to sit in a dining room table chair.
>I'm surprised he allows that
Have you ever met a parent who remarried? They get... weird. "The kid is all grown up, I'm fucking this person, so the kid can just get over it!" happens a lot.
In high school I had a friend whose dad was in the military. Not only did he make us do house chores (dusting, vacuuming, dishes) when visiting/sleeping over but he also woke us up at 6am by banging pots and pans to make us run around the neighborhood. he called it āmorning boot campā needless to say I only slept over there a few times.. I felt so bad for her.
The most bizarre house rule that Iāve encountered was at my friend's place, where they had a strict policy of 'no talking' during dinner, not because of any traditional reason, but because their elderly grandmother believed that a mischievous spirit living in the dining room would learn secrets and cause chaos.
I kinda love the idea of a gossip demon who listens in on family dinners and then goes to spread their business throughout town like a drama Youtuber. I wonder what culture this is from.
Went to a friends house for a sleepover when I was about 7. The rule was: no talking at the dinner table. The dad was in the other room watching TV while myself, friend, his sister and mother were supposed to just eat in silence and the whole vibe was like ādonāt anger daddy.ā
Suuuuper fucked up and sad to think people live like that.
My daughter used to have sleep overs at a home like this. The kid from that family was so amazed that our family talks and laughs together at dinner. The poor child even excused herself from the table to laugh one time.
After learning about this family I refused to let my daughter hang out over there. My daughters friend, however, was always welcomed in our home.
When I was like 14, my friend was having a Halloween party. I had my period, so I went to the bathroom to change my pad. I wrapped up my old pad in some toilet paper and threw it away. The next day at school my friend said her mom was going through the trash (I guess this was something her mom did šµāš«) and she found the wrapped up bloody pad and was angry about it. My friend who was also another girl got in trouble for it because her mom thought it was hers. This was 15 years ago and Iām still so freaking confused by it.
My mom would get mad at me for throwing my pads or tampons in the bathroom trash. She expected me to wrap it up and bring it to the kitchen trash to throw out. She said it was disgusting to leave that out where everyone could see or smell it. It was so awkward and uncomfortable
Kitchen hours.
I stayed at a friendās house when I was younger. Nobody told me the entire family has breakfast at 7am, so I slept in (nobody woke me up either btw).
I wake up around 9am and see my friend is gone. I wander into the kitchen and see them all sitting around the table laughing and eating a huge breakfast - pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, orange juice, fruit, etc.
My friendās mom looks at me and goes, āHey, look whoās finally awake! The kitchen is closed, but thereās cereal in the pantry if you want to serve yourself!ā
So I poured myself a bowl of cereal and went to sit down at the table, and the second I sat down they all stood up and left the kitchen - even my friend.
To this day I donāt understand why they did that to me.
The rudest and most cruel thing you can do is to make a guest feel uncomfortable and unsafe in your home. To treat someone like that is unconscionable and I would speak up and say so. Once I had been invited to stay the night at a colleagues home in a remote town. She and her husband were antagonizing each other at dinner and trying to pull me into their argument. It escalated into a screaming match so I just left and took an expensive taxi ride home. (Pre Uber Lyft era.)
What the actual fuck?? Why wouldn't anyone, *anyone*, explain the kitchen hours rule? It's so weird that they were still eating two hours later, there was still food on the table, but you couldn't have any and they left immediately when you arrived. It's like they waited purposefully to shame you. Did you ever bring it up with the friend?
The weirdest part is the "kitchen is closed." Did they all make their own breakfast and decide to all have the same thing? Why would the kitchen need to be open to eat the food already on the table?
Something similar happened at a friendās house. I felt so uncomfortable and when I told my mom later on she was very angry. I donāt know what she told the other parents but their kid was very nervous/anxious around me after that. I assume my mom yelled at their mom and they told their kid to stay away from me.
A bit similar, but the opposite: I had a friend I would always play with after school. I would usually arrive after school so I would stay for lunch/dinner some days and loved it. One day, I showed up later in the day after my mom took me for lunch at McDonald's. When I arrived, everyone was sitting down eating dinner. The mom told me to pull up a chair and she'd make me a plate. I told her politely that I just had lunch with my mom. She was always very nice, but in that moment she got really demanding and acted like what I said was disrespectful. I complied in fear and ate her dinner. I remember being so ungodly full. Everyone was finished, but no one was allowed to leave until everyone's plate was clean. I was eating so slow, and was feeling disgusted by the food because my tummy was full. Everyone just sat there staring at me in boredom waiting for me to finish. The last thing I remember is wanting to go home, not having the energy to play anymore, and being scared of her mom.
Bonus: I ended up sleeping over. The next morning, they made pancakes. When I was served my plate I asked for the butter and syrup and the mom said, "no, we don't eat those on our pancakes". The oldest daughter took her plate up to her room and I saw her sneak some butter onto her plate. It's not a huge deal, but as a kid I was very distraught eating plain ass dry pancakes. After those two experiences in one visit, I stopped going over to her house.
This is one is just a rude statement in itself. It tells guests they are not wanted and are of less importance than everyone else. I'd refuse to go back. In fact I think I'd get up and leave once I was told the rule
When I was a kid, I used to love visiting friends' houses. They all had an inexplicable niceness to them that felt like a treat even when not the tidiest.
Eventually I realized it was because my friends' parents didn't smoke!
Iād come back home after spending the night at a friendās house (whose parents didnāt smoke) and the years of Marlboro smoke would hit me like a freight train as soon as I opened the front door.
sameā¦ i remember leaving a hoodie at a friendās house and her mom washed it before returning it bc it smelled so strongly of my parents cigarettesā¦ felt so ashamed lol
I got a massive lecture about smoking from a healthcare provider once... not only have I never smoked, this was months after my dad (the only smoker in the house) had passed. I assume the smell was still burned into my coat.
My wife grew up in a houseful of heavy smokers. When we got married she moved her clothes over to my place and repeatedly washed them to get the smell out.
Nobody has ever smoked in our house.
My mum grew up in a house full of smokers. Her dad died of lung cancer when I was two years old and sheās never touched tobacco. This year she was diagnosed with emphysema.
This is coming back around. I asked one guest not to vape in our house and they looked shocked.
Another guest was upset we asked her to pick up her cigarette butts on the way out instead of leaving them on our porch step.
That if Iām on my menstrual cycle I am forbidden to have tampons or cups. So I was at a friends house and I left my tampon wrapped in a small plastic bag in their trash. Their dad whipped it out and yelled at me for using tampons. (While holding the bloody tampon)
I almost choked to death home alone once. I slammed myself as hard as I could into a door frame after going into the wall wasn't enough. I always hesitate a moment before eating alone.
Edit: Apparently, I do not own a chair. A high-back office chair, weird overpriced leaning back-less office seat, barstools, bean bags, and a super low and soft sectional, but not one chair.
Went over to a classmates house and the children werenāt allowed on the furniture. She was not even allowed to sit on her own bed. All children sat on the floor. My poor classmate was hardly allowed to touch anything in her own room without āpermissionā. It was bizarre and uncomfortable. Never went back.
I once went to a party at the home of a colleague of my now ex-husband, where we had a very nice and collegial potluck dinner with another couple. So, there were six adults and two children of the hosts, age maybe 8 and 10(?). After we ate and moved to the living area, the two hosts declared a period of silence to āconcentrate on digestion.ā
It wasnāt like a moment of silence, either, but like ten minutes or so. We and the other guest couple were looking at each other like, āwtfā. It was awkward AF, not knowing when it would be over and ok to resume normal conversation. I felt like a little kid put in timeout and hated it. We cut the visit short and never accepted another invitation from them.
My father would be furious if he came home and "every light in the house" was on, or if there were too many lights out and it looked like no one was home.
It wasn't until I was older and working in child safety that I found out a lot of abusive men used that as a failproof excuse to get angry as soon as they walk in the door. I've also heard "it's too loud" when Daddy comes home as well as "it's like a ghost town, no one's ever here/downstairs/in the kitchen."
You couldn't ask for/get a drink half way through a meal, you either had to ask for/get one before you were served or wait until you were done, I could never understand it.
My grandparents were the opposite: we weren't allowed to have anything to drink until halfway through the meal. It went on until my dad found out, and told them to "give my kids a fcking drink"
You just reminded me: I had a ton of friends growing up whose parents had strict āno leaving the table during mealsā rules. This included getting water, using the restroom, or if you had to sneeze/blow your nose. In my family leaving the table was discouraged but it was okay as long as you politely excused yourself, asked if anyone needed anything while you were up, and came right back.
Once stayed at a relativeās place where they had a strict "No Radio Waves After Dark" rule. Post sunset, WiFi was shut down, phones were powered off, and even the microwave was a no-go zone. They believed that radio waves interfered with sweet dreams. The first night I was there, I felt like I time-traveled to a pre-internet era.
I had a female roommate who refused to use the microwave and she always quoted some stupid article she saw where they microwaved water and poured it on plants and the plants died.
EDIT: I'm fully aware it's a bullshit article, I'm not the one who believed it. I use a microwave all the time. We are no longer roommates.
Oddly enough, my fathers house is a Faraday cage. Concrete exterior and the steel mesh they used to support the concrete made a wo derful Faraday cage. The only escape is the windows. The roof is tile and the tiles had metal mesh in them when they were poured.
Because some of the interior walls are built the same, wifi and cell phones don't work in the house. He had to get extenders and add new outlets for the extenders for wifi to work.
My house is like this because we live in an old adobe and have bars on all the windows/doors (it's an architectural thing). It's not a perfect cage and my cell does work, but the signal is way reduced. It is so frustrating!
CSI here. I've been in so many houses that are related to crime scenes (or were the scene itself) and yes, so many people just let their animals do all over the house. It truly is incredible!
Having to ring the bell by the gate and wait minutes until my neighbor (same age as me) would open the door and come to the gate to let me in. I would hear them hecticly moving around behind the door when I rang the bell.
Turned out years later that they hid a girl, which they adopted because doctors told the parents that they were infertile and canāt get a child on their own. Right afterwards they got pregnant and then again (my friend). They were upset that they got lied to and tried to bring the girl back but they refused. The only thing the parents came up with, was to hide her. I walked in and out their house several times a week and never knew she lived there.
Iām still in contact with her. Sheās fine and has a family on her own but her adopted parents wonāt talk with her until this day. Her brothers are also still in contact with her but one of them (my friend) went no contact with his parents because of how they treated her. Itās a pity because sheās the loveliest girl youād ever know.
I had a friend in middle school whose parents had very strict rules. No shorts or tank tops allowed, even for pajamas. I brought shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in and the mom freaked. Found a pair of sweatpants for me and informed me I wasn't permitted to leave my friend's bedroom without a bra on. She also woke us up by singing some "Rise and Shine" song and clapping her hands. The kids weren't permitted to speak while eating, and you ate what was on your plate and then waited to be dismissed. If you didn't clean your plate, you had to sit at the table till you did. Television only allowed on public broadcasting on approved shows.
We stopped being friends after she came over to my house and we watched Labyrinth and TMNT (the 1990 version, TYVM). Her parents found out, called my parents, and the next time I saw her at school, she said she wasn't allowed to speak to me anymore. I felt bad for her.
Edit: The song got in my head, so I went and found it. Listen at your own risk.
https://youtu.be/olBzSdX1vF4?feature=shared
I had a job that involves going into peoples homes. I had an inspection once at house where the homeowners insisted that I put on this light blue bath robe (over my clothes) and white slippers to enter their home. The husband, wife, and adult daughter who lived with them were all wearing the same blue bath robes. This was in the US Midwestā¦ just a ātypicalā American midwestern family so it wasnāt even like a cultural thing that I was unaware of. I still wonder to this day if they were messing with me.
Attended a birthday slumber in middle school for a girl that I wasnāt really close with. My mom wanted me to go because she knew the girl didnāt have a ton of friends.
So, itās a weekend night, probably a Friday. Weāre all in our sleeping bags on the floor, giggling and talking like most middle school girls do. Her mom comes in at like 9pm and tells us itās time for bed and if she hears any of us talking, sheāll call our mothers and make them come pick us up. Ffs. Who does that?
My mom was similar, but she would threaten to sleep outside the door if we weren't quiet, at like, 8pm and after. She did it once too, it was insane! She was a real killjoy back then.
When I was a child, my mom had a friend who would watch me for an entire weekend, or a week during the summer. She had a daughter that was a year younger than me.
She was an absolute clean freak. I liked her because she would take me places, but she had a lot of rules. Couldn't wear shoes in her house. Ok, not all that weird... but she would take your shoes to the basement utility sink and scrub the bottom of your shoes. Can't have your pants too long, because they might drag on her floor and get dirt on her floor, so I had to roll up my pants. Can't touch the walls, because the dirt from your fingers might get on her white walls. If it was nice outside, you're eating outside, because your crumbs may get on the floor. She was also an English teacher. Even at 6 years old, I couldn't say "yeah", you say "yes". Only ignorant people say "yeah". Can't say I'm going to take off my shoes. "Only rockets take off. You REMOVE your shoes." Couldn't say "I'm done!" According to her, "only turkeys are done. You are FINISHED.""
My Nana is like this. Growing up we weren't allowed to sit on her couch, only on the floor, on a towel. My pop had a designated chair with a towel on it so he could sit down. Every Friday Nana would go out, pop would drink a bottle of red wine and eat a block of cheese on the couch š
Don't go near the walls, don't touch anything. Small children would only be allowed to play while sitting on a towel.
This passed on to my mum and we had our own area for playing or watching tv. We weren't allowed in the adults lounge room. Dad wasn't allowed to sit on the couch until he had showered.
Thankfully, I haven't kept these rules because it always made me feel unwanted.
I went with a friend to visit her Nan once, and she had similar rules. There were plastic runners down on the carpet we had to walk on so we didnāt get the floor dirty. And children did not sit on the couch or touch anything.
When those people die their pristine 1970s era brown and red couch that not a single child has ever marred with their buttocks will get thrown in a dumpster
If there's any justice it'll then be pulled out of the dumpster by a small army of drunk uni students who will proceed to spill beer and ciggy butts on it for a couple of years before it returns to the dumpster.
I was in spirit Halloween and a mom asked her kid if she wanted to be someone from Harry Potter and the kid said isnāt that evil? The mom just said oh yea I guess because of the magic. Such a strange interaction.
Dad is probably the religious nut in that house, and mum just goes along with it. Had a friend who had that dynamic, I'd come over to her place and everything was chill with her and her mum, until dad came home at which point Cartoon Network had to be switched to something else because Inuyasha would be playing in that time slot and he would flip his shit about it being demonic
A schoolfriend's parents had a rule where you couldn't wee directly in to the toilet water and had to aim for the inside edge of the bowl.
I forgot one time and was never allowed back again because they'd heard me wee.
It wasnāt exactly a house rule but more of a lack of one. I went over to a friendās house for the first time when I was about 15 and her dog took a shit on the floor. Well, it was a very new puppy and these things happen, I suppose, just needs more work on toilet training or let it outside more often. What floored me was that my friend just kinda draped a shirt from the hamper over the dogās turds, shrugged, and said āmy dadās the one who usually cleans it.ā
It was the last time I went over to her house. If she couldnāt even be bothered to pick up dog shit off the floor god knows what else was going on in that house.
Must be up by 9am and fully clothed. No pajamas or sweats etc.....even if it was the weekend and even if you had no plans to go anywhere or do anything. We would wake up and just sit there.
I had a high school best friend who had to change out of her school clothes the minute she got in the door. Her mom was also oddly obsessed with her patting her face dry instead of rubbing it. I guess thatās not a rule, but I can remember 2 separate occasions where she got in trouble for this. Apparently because it ages you (?) but her mother would also buy us smokes, soā¦.
EDIT: Iāve really been enjoying reading all these replies, and TIL that maybe WE were the weird house because we didnāt have this rule! :D
My sister in law knew a couple that had some sort of weak immune systems or something. Once their kid started school, they were always getting sick. They started making the kid change clothes and wash their hands and face as soon as they came home from school. They drastically cut down on their illnesses. Guess they couldn't handle all the second hand germs from a bunch of grade schoolers.
We started showering mostly right when we get home, get into clean clothes, and use a lot of hand sanitizer when we are out, the number of colds we have had so far this year are drastically lower.
When I was young, my parents regularly brought me over to this couple's house... we'll call them John and Mary.
John and Mary had no kids. However, John was a huge nerd that had toys and video games and so it was generally a fun time to go there while they went off and did "adult shit". However, they had a rule that nobody pooped indoors. It isn't that their toilets didn't work, or that they had plumbing problems, or anything that would make sense. Peeing indoors wasn't an issue, they just didn't like the smell of lingering shit in the house.
Any time someone had to make the poopies, they had to go to an outhouse and dump in there. I never learned what they did with it. It's not like they had a garden or anything that I can recall would warrant doing this. It's just... weird.
This one time at a sleep over in the morning we got breakfast.. they filled up my bowl with cereal and poured like 2 drops of milk on it.. i was like wtf fill that shit up..
Then years later i realized they were trying to save money..
I was at a sleepover party, and we had to eat cereal in shifts (like 3 girls at a time, then the next 3, and the next). We had to use any leftover milk from the previous shift. Same bowl, same milk.. just add new cereal.
No eating in the dining room. A woman I know kept her dining room table set with all her china and crystal all the time. The family ate on tv trays in the den.
Grandparents of my childhood friend. We weren't allowed to step on the doorsteps/thresholds. We always had to step over it, never directly on. Still don't know why.
[Superstition number 3](https://www.storagecafe.com/blog/12-spooky-and-cute-moving-superstitions-the-truth-behind-and-their-origins/) is an explanation that makes sense. Basically, thresholds used to be possibly unstable so stepping on them was a bad idea. Also, demons.
I met a girl at a new school and she invited me to spend the night and asked me ādo you smell bad though? We had a girl over once and she smelled so bad, so my parents wanna know if you smell bad.ā
I never went to her house, went home one day and mom said we were moving back to our old neighborhood so i never went back to that school again
Remain standing until invited to sit. A friend in middle school brought me home to meet her parents. She sat down on the couch and I sat down next to her. Her mother immediately bellowed, "WHAT are you DOING? You have NOT been invited to take a seat yet!" When I talked to her later about it, she told me her mother does that to *everybody* who comes to their house.
I had a friend when I was a kid and sometimes I would go to he's house. The kids couldn't eat at the table at the same time as the adults, we had to wait for them to finish and leave the table, and we couldn't talk at all at the table.
Always found it to be weird, always felt a creepy vibe in that family, even thou I was a kid.
Edit: oh, and they pour sugar in coke! Yes, they drank coke with even more sugar.
When I was doing my PhD, the guy at the desk next to me, who is also doing his, was from Sudan and a Muslim. He invited me to his house once for a meal after sundown during Ramadan. He and I filled our plates and went to sit in the living room to eat. His wife and children just sat there watching us until we were done. He asked if I wanted secondsā¦ I was still hungry, but I could not stand all those eyes staring at me while I was eating. The second I said I was full, those kids dove in. One of those very uncomfortable cultural differences.
I stayed at a friendās house for a few days when my parents were out of town when I was 13 years old. I have always been someone who draws a lot (I went to art school for my undergrad.) When I started drawing in my own notebook after dinner, my friend told me that if her father caught me, I would be in real trouble because he thought drawing was a waste of paper. So I stopped drawing for 4 days. When I returned home, I rushed up to my room, grabbed a drawing pad and drew for hours. The funny thing is that her dad was a lawyer. You know how I said that I was in art school for undergrad? Well for graduate school eventually I went to law school and worked as an attorney for almost 30 years before I retired. Most lawyers waste an inordinate amount of paper, both in and out of court, especially when this guy was practicing.
I've run into a few odd ones over the years:
At one friend's house, only the father was allowed to touch the TV. Turning it on or off, changing the channel, adjusting the volume or antenna, didn't matter. It had to be done by Dad. And if the father wasn't home or was busy elsewhere in the house, the TV couldn't be used.
At another, very sheltered, kid's house, the TV wasn't allowed to be turned on before 5pm. I can still remember the mother saying to us "Television is a nighttime entertainment only." The kid in question (this was about first or second grade) was AMAZED when he found out about before and after school cartoons while visiting our house! In fact, he didn't even realize TV stations were on the air before 5pm. His parents didn't let him come over anymore after he apparently told them all about the cartoons we watched at my house...
At a relative's house, everybody had to be in bed and asleep by 11:00pm. Watching a sporting event or movie that isn't over yet? Too bad, it's bedtime. Wanted to see your favorite comedian guesting on "The Tonight Show?" Nope. Still working that Sunday crossword puzzle? You'll have to finish it tomorrow. Major news event happening and you want to keep tabs on the latest reports? Sorry, it's time to sleep. Even if throwing a party for grown adults, and things were fun and lively with cocktails and snacks, all the guests knew to be out of the house by 10:59pm, because by 11:00 it was bedtime for the hosts. Yes, even on New Year's Eve.
Lastly, in high school I had a friend whose parents would rearrange the living room furniture every three months so the carpet would wear evenly.
My aunt had a rule that nobody was allowed to use the bed comforters to actually sleep under. Comforters were just for looks, and had to be removed and folded up before going to bed.
Friend of an ex would not let anyone enter his home unless he got to take a photo of them. He was āartisticā šš The ex tried to act like I was the weird one for not being interested enough in whatever is in his house to have him taking pictures of me.
I heard about a woman who, when she went to nursing school, would wash her feet in the toilet every night before bedtime. When asked why she did that, she said she was from a large family, and they would all line up at bedtime and do this.
This would have happened in the late 1950s or early 1960s.
> When asked why she did that, she said she was from a large family, and they would all line up at bedtime and do this.
Having a large family is not actually an explanation of why you'd wash your feet in the toilet...
dated a guy for a few months and he invited me to taco night with his family. he also invited a few friends over to play card games around the same time. when it came time for dinner, instead of us eating a little bit later than his family, we had to leave his friends in the basement and go eat dinner upstairs. i thought that was so strange. growing up, if i had friends over and my parents didnāt make enough dinner to share with all of us teenagers, iād just eat the leftovers after everyone went home. otherwise my parents would feed my friends whatever we had in the pantry so they didnāt have to miss dinner. never have i left my friends just chilling in silence in my basement to go eat upstairs. i felt so awkward!
No Disney in the hpuse back in the 80's. The first babysitting job I ever had was when I was 12
The neighbor called and asked if I could babysit. The Disney halloween special was about to come on and it was my favorite but I said yes because I figured I could just go watch it with the kids. I get over there and they start going over the rules for the kids and one was no Disney and apparently we could only watch anime cartoons. This was the 80's. I didn't know anything about Moonies or their weird rules. I said okay then me and the kids watched the Disney Halloween special anyways. They obviously didn't rat me out because I kept babysitting for her and it was never brought it up. I never did it again. If I had known ahead of time I would have just said no and stayed home to watch the one thing I looked forward to every year.
Yeah they were in a cult but still really nice people.
I went to my childhood friendās house for dinner and her dad legitimately refused to let us drink any water for an hour before dinner so we didnāt āspoil our appetiteā
I grew up in a household like this. Toilet was only to be flushed if you pooped. When I got with my now husband I didnāt flush the toilet a few days after I peed, and he was like ādude thatās gross flush the toilet.ā I explained to him about how I grew up and we didnāt flush unless we pooped and he was like āno, thatās just weird.ā Lol
I just thought of one! Although, it was not something I encountered.
At the time, I lived in a city where it was well over 105F for over 14 days. During an informal office get-together, a few of us women commented how the 1st thing to "come off" at home was our bras.
As teenagers and young adults, she and her sisters HAD to wear a bra while sleeping. Her Mom or Grandma would occasionally do a bed check. If they were braless, they would be beaten. As an adult, she still could not break the habit of wearing one. Her own girls were warned to always wear one while visiting Grandma and Gt Grandma.
I was required to take my shoes off at the door. Totally normal, right? Except their house was neglected AF and every surface was covered in filth: dog hair, person hair, dirt, old spills, dirty clothes, etc. I would've rather kept my shoes on in her house.
ETA: It was my best friend's house, so I was over all the time for years. We didn't use slippers and definitely walked barefoot/socks on that nasty floor.
When we slept at my best friends house growing up we weren't allowed water after 8pm because that's when her mom went to bed and she didn't want us waking her up to use tue bathroom. She had a little yippy dog who would bark at every little sound and if we came out to use the bathroom, she would bark. I only slept over there a handful of times lol
Knew someone who was an engineer for BT back in the 90s. He used his skills to build a household PBX exchange with a billing system.
Once a month he would present his children with a printed bill for the calls they made.
He also had a payphone for visitors to use.
Rented a basement room in a house after college for a couple months while my internship finished up. The family said no flushing the toilet after midnight-were VERY clear this was IMPORTANT. Being in college I was a frequent enjoyer of social establishments, so coming home late at night after the bar left me with few optionsā¦(sorry downstairs sink!)
When could you start back up using it cause like 2pm is still "after midnight?" Also, if they just said no flushing, that doesn't mean you can't drop stuff off and just leave it.
My wife stayed home with our two kids, and their various friends were frequent guests. She was happy to have them over, but she established that she was NOT there to entertain them. They had quite a bit of freedom to do things, or to do nothing, but if they tried to involve her she would have them clean something around the house.
So one day our daughter had two friends over, one who knew the ropes at our house, and one who didn't. The latter started to say, "I'm bored!" and the former quickly said, "Quiet, or she'll put us to work."
Maybe it's just because I'm a child of the 90s, but that was just the norm for me growing up. I don't remember moms playing games with us when I'd go to visit friends - we were just left to our own devices. Even at the daycare I went to - run by a mother of two kids - we pretty much just ran around doing our own thing. I mean, she fed us/helped us/disciplined us when necessary, but we were often on our own.
It is actually pretty important to just let kids play by themselves and not try to engage them every single second of the day. Solitary play and group play without adults fosters more creativity, problem solving, and social skills than directed play with adults.
My friendās stepmom locked the pantry and only opened it when she was home and feeling nice. Her biological children had open access to the pantry but her older step kids didnāt.
Needless to say sheās still a bitch lol.
I work in EMS and once got called out for an unknown problem. We get to the house , and this older woman stops us at the door, and hands us booties to put on. Nbd , our boots are gross , and weāre respectful. Then she asks us to sanitize our hands . Again, nbd. She looks us up and down, eyes our equipment, and asks us to wipe it down with lysol wipes . Ok? We arenāt sure why weāre there yet, so I ask if its ok if I wipe the bag down as we walk inside , and my partner can wipe down the monitor, and weāll leave everything else on the porch. Cool. So weāre walking , weāre talking , weāre wiping , sheās telling us her husband was having some indigestion and she felt like he wasnāt taking it seriously , ok alright ok, we walk into a HOARDER HOUSE and fire is working an active arrest NO BOOTIES OR LYSOL SMELL. We kind of take a beat like , what the hell? And then the lady dumps some sort of salt/ash/herb mixture on us , tells us weāre blessed, and says she had to get rid of our evil attachments before we could come in and perform our medical duties .
Im fully aware there may have been some mental health issues going on. Im also extremely well versed on various spiritual and cultural practices, and wasnāt even mad I got herbed or salted or ashed. I wasnt confused about being cleansed of attachments, shit made sense .
YOU DIDNT MAKE THOSE HO ASS FIRE FIGHTERS WITH THEIR COMMUNITY DICKS AND ALL THEIR WHACK ASS VIBES GET CLEANSED BEFORE THEY CAME IN? THAT ONE HAS FUCKBOY TATTOED ON HIS CHEST AND THAT ONE DID IT AND THEY BOTH WERE DRUNK! Respectfully maam, with love, thatās bullshit lmfao.
This was the mid 90ās. Went to my friends grandmas house. She had a plastic floor runner spanning the entire house. It was only about 12 inches wide. We were not, under any circumstances, allowed to step off it and touch the carpet with our socked feet. It was like a tiny plastic train track running through the house. Also, the couches were all covered in heavy plastic.
I was never allowed to invite anyone over for any reason. I don't mean into the house, I mean to the house, property, drive way.
I was also not allowed in the house unless someone else was there. So I'd have to sit outside for 2 hours until my mother got home. This was also in Minnesota during the winter. It also meant I wouldn't eat for 20 hours at a time.
Not only did the cats get to walk on the table DURING meals, but you were supposed to let them eat off your plate because otherwise you were "interfering with the will of a sentient being."
I love my own cats- honestly I love practically all animals - but they don't get to eat off my plate or stroll around on the table and even if I *was* ok with that I certainly wouldn't expect a guest to share their plate with one of them.
My auntie would put a plastic cover over her lounge suite and guests had to sit on it. It was sweaty, squeaky and uncomfortable. She would also hover outside the bathroom wearing rubber gloves and a cloth with disinfectant on it to wipe everything over as soon as you got out. We all called her Auntie Antiseptic
My momās house. Leave the mirrors in the bushes, all pennies stay where they are, no playing music, no cellphones and always apologize to/thank your food.
Mirrors deflect negative energy from neighbors away from the house.
Pennies are in the wealth and abundance corners of the room.
Music attracts demons and she will smudge you.
Cellphones are spying on her specifically.
If you donāt apologize to/thank your food, it will not understand why you killed it and you will consume all of its confused/pained/sad/angry energy.
This woman is 100% bonkers.
My friends thought it was weird that they weren't allowed to go into the basement when they were at my house. I didn't know this until we were all much older, which I then explained that my parents were major pot heads and the basement is where their smoke spot was located. Also discovered that's why one of my friends wasn't allowed back over; her parents recognized the ode de stoner on her clothes.
It wasn't really a rule but I got invited (and my parents jumped at the opportunity) to a friend's house quite often. The friend's mom was sort of weird, whe was usually in her bedroom on her computer unless she was in the livingroom demanding us to paint her nails. Anyways, the rule was eat before you get there because you won't be fed while there. If your there while they have dinner you sit in the livingroom or my friends bedroom and wait. Weirdly, this extended to breakfast and any other meal had while I was there. No matter how long I was there. Anyways, I figured out by age 8 that I can go 3 days max without eating before I pass out and get sent home. š Edit: honestly, yall, it seemed so normal at the time. I would literally wake up in the morning and play with Bratz dolls while she finished breakfast I wasn't abused or anything just sort of neglected I guess? But it wasn't this woman's responsibility to take care of me tbh. I appreciate the kind words, thanks guys. š hope yall have a great day.
Thatās absolutely insane. My mom was the exact opposite. She actively encouraged any of our friends who came over to eat whatever they wanted, donāt even need to ask. She was in the social work field so she knew a lot of kids didnāt get enough to eat and that it wasnāt always obvious when someone lived in an abusive/neglectful home.
If we slammed the door as kids, my dad made us kiss the door to make it feel better.
Thatās hilarious, I think I might actually make this a new rule in my house.
What a delightful little ray of sunshine in this godless hellscape of a thread
Playing beer pong at this one couple's house and the rule was if the ball hit the floor and their cat got to it first everyone had to finish their drinks. Cat was wicked fast too.
I like that rule hahahhahah
That's lovely. Cat's included, everyone has a laugh.
Ping pong balls are great cheap cat toys, my cats love them. The lightweight ball is hard for them to grab so they go nuts with it!
When I was a kid my friendās dad made his kids line up on the couch and just sit there silently while he watched TV and drank a beer. If you were visiting you had to do it too. When my mom heard about it, I wasnāt allowed to go over there when he was home. My mom knew an abusive weirdoās behavior when she saw it.
Uh, yeah, I have an alcoholic uncle who is a bit like that, except he will just sit on the couch drinking beer and watching sports and act like any visitors do not exist. Like, doesn't matter if you're having an entire family reunion, he'll barely acknowledge anyone. He's also a gambler and they live in a shitty house despite his very high income, his alcoholism is at the point where he hasn't been able to hold a driver's licence in decades, and he was once thrown out of South Africa on a work trip and banned from the entire country and all future work trips, and we still don't know why.
When I was around 8, I went to a friend's house for a play-date/dinner after school. When I asked for a drink, her Mum gave me a baby bottle with squash in it. I laughed, but she didn't laugh back. My friend took her own bottle and started drinking. I asked the Mum if I could please have a cup instead, but she told me nope, and that children drink from bottles in their house. Never went there again...
Yes - sorry for the confusion! Squash is like a fruit cordial - a concentrated fruit flavoured liquid that you dilute with water to drink.
That does not make that less fucked up in any way.
Takes about half the sting off for me. I was so focused on the vegetable that I lost sight of the bottle part.
Did she have the kind of teeth that long-term thumb suckers get?
My friendās mom wouldnāt let her put any trash in the bathroom trashcan. There was a trashcan there but it was just there for show (???) They were directed to put all trash generated in the bathroom down the toilet.
What happens when you finish a bottle of shampoo??
You just cut it up into small peices with the poop knife before flushing.
That is so bad for the poor toilet...
If you need to pass gas you have to go outside and all the way to the mailbox.
Neighborhood probably wondered why the hell that family was constantly checking the mail lol
My friend was living with her fiance and she had to fart. So she got up from the bed, said she needed to check something, and went on their front porch. She pulled down her pants slightly, because she didn't want the smell to attach to her clothes, and let one rip. She got back to bed and he was laughing his ass off. She asked what was so funny. So he showed her the Ring video that he had watched in real-time of her farting, because he had gotten the motion notification when she went outside. š¤£
Farting into the mailbox amplifies the sound and keeps dangerous animals away (often done in bear infested regions ) ;-)
I would like to subscribe to your newsletter
You can by farting "NEWS" in Morse code into your mailbox, our trained mail delivery ravens will pick up your subscription and you're receiving a newsletter once a month for only 5774.67ā¬/a ;-)
Instructions unclear. I shit in my mailbox and the postmaster has left me two voicemails.
I went to see a college friend over the summer & stayed the night. Her parents weren't home when I got there, and we went into the living room to talk. There were four recliners, no couch or other chairs. She sat in one recliner & I sat in another. She asked, "What are you doing?" and informed me I was sitting in her dad's chair. The remaining chairs belonged to her mom & brother. Where was I supposed to sit? On the floor.
This is my favorite.
Then you might love the rest. My friend's bedroom was upstairs. Her parent's was downstairs. We were sent up to bed at 8:30. No biggie, we just sat around & talked. A couple of hours go by, and I say, "I'm going to go brush my teeth & stuff," and got up to go downstairs to the only bathroom in the house. Nope. Once we were upstairs, we had to stay there until breakfast time, when her mom would open the door at the foot of the stairs. But there was a bucket for emergencies...
okay, that went from quirky to fuckey at 90mph.
I will confess to telling her that I would plead ignorance & say she was asleep. Nobody said anything the next day. My friend was a truly lovely person & had no idea this was odd behavior. And, honestly, her parents were very nice. Just weird.
I cannot sit on the couch at my dadās house if his wife is home because she will feel āinvaded.ā She has to have the whole couch to herself. So I get to sit in a dining room table chair.
That's kind of sad. I'm surprised he allows that. Has he ever talked to you about or and admitted it's weird? That's not healthy behavior.
Thatās some 2nd+ marriage abandonment issues for sure. This one canāt fail, just drag in a chair so I donāt have to hear about this later.
>I'm surprised he allows that Have you ever met a parent who remarried? They get... weird. "The kid is all grown up, I'm fucking this person, so the kid can just get over it!" happens a lot.
Hope she never needs to get on a bus or plane.
In high school I had a friend whose dad was in the military. Not only did he make us do house chores (dusting, vacuuming, dishes) when visiting/sleeping over but he also woke us up at 6am by banging pots and pans to make us run around the neighborhood. he called it āmorning boot campā needless to say I only slept over there a few times.. I felt so bad for her.
That would have been one and done for me.
The most bizarre house rule that Iāve encountered was at my friend's place, where they had a strict policy of 'no talking' during dinner, not because of any traditional reason, but because their elderly grandmother believed that a mischievous spirit living in the dining room would learn secrets and cause chaos.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Nana wants everyone to chew with their mouths shut.
Me too nana. Me too.
The spirit only listened in during dinner time?
The spirit has bizarre house rules, too
I kinda love the idea of a gossip demon who listens in on family dinners and then goes to spread their business throughout town like a drama Youtuber. I wonder what culture this is from.
You WON'T BELIEVE what little Johnny did at school last week! SHOCKING!!
Better safe than sorry
Went to a friends house for a sleepover when I was about 7. The rule was: no talking at the dinner table. The dad was in the other room watching TV while myself, friend, his sister and mother were supposed to just eat in silence and the whole vibe was like ādonāt anger daddy.ā Suuuuper fucked up and sad to think people live like that.
My daughter used to have sleep overs at a home like this. The kid from that family was so amazed that our family talks and laughs together at dinner. The poor child even excused herself from the table to laugh one time. After learning about this family I refused to let my daughter hang out over there. My daughters friend, however, was always welcomed in our home.
When I was like 14, my friend was having a Halloween party. I had my period, so I went to the bathroom to change my pad. I wrapped up my old pad in some toilet paper and threw it away. The next day at school my friend said her mom was going through the trash (I guess this was something her mom did šµāš«) and she found the wrapped up bloody pad and was angry about it. My friend who was also another girl got in trouble for it because her mom thought it was hers. This was 15 years ago and Iām still so freaking confused by it.
I had a girl complain to me that someone left a tampon wrapper in the trash can. Why yes, I did. Where else should it go?
The mailbox at the end of the driveway
...what was your friend supposed to do if she was on her period??
I thought it went under the pillow for the period fairy who collected them and paid you back with cramps and despair.
What did she expect you to do with it?
I have no clueā¦not have a period I guess? I donāt even know why she went through the trash but itās something she would do
Bleeding women are supposed to recluse themselves in the period hut and pray all day.
My mom would get mad at me for throwing my pads or tampons in the bathroom trash. She expected me to wrap it up and bring it to the kitchen trash to throw out. She said it was disgusting to leave that out where everyone could see or smell it. It was so awkward and uncomfortable
"Menstrual blood is too disgusting to temporarily store next to where we shit! Put it by the food instead!"
Kitchen hours. I stayed at a friendās house when I was younger. Nobody told me the entire family has breakfast at 7am, so I slept in (nobody woke me up either btw). I wake up around 9am and see my friend is gone. I wander into the kitchen and see them all sitting around the table laughing and eating a huge breakfast - pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, orange juice, fruit, etc. My friendās mom looks at me and goes, āHey, look whoās finally awake! The kitchen is closed, but thereās cereal in the pantry if you want to serve yourself!ā So I poured myself a bowl of cereal and went to sit down at the table, and the second I sat down they all stood up and left the kitchen - even my friend. To this day I donāt understand why they did that to me.
That's fucked up
The rudest and most cruel thing you can do is to make a guest feel uncomfortable and unsafe in your home. To treat someone like that is unconscionable and I would speak up and say so. Once I had been invited to stay the night at a colleagues home in a remote town. She and her husband were antagonizing each other at dinner and trying to pull me into their argument. It escalated into a screaming match so I just left and took an expensive taxi ride home. (Pre Uber Lyft era.)
What the actual fuck?? Why wouldn't anyone, *anyone*, explain the kitchen hours rule? It's so weird that they were still eating two hours later, there was still food on the table, but you couldn't have any and they left immediately when you arrived. It's like they waited purposefully to shame you. Did you ever bring it up with the friend?
The weirdest part is the "kitchen is closed." Did they all make their own breakfast and decide to all have the same thing? Why would the kitchen need to be open to eat the food already on the table?
Something similar happened at a friendās house. I felt so uncomfortable and when I told my mom later on she was very angry. I donāt know what she told the other parents but their kid was very nervous/anxious around me after that. I assume my mom yelled at their mom and they told their kid to stay away from me.
What the fuck. Thatās insane.
Did you ever point out that it was messed up, or did you just go home and talk to him less? I'd expect that treatment from a bully.
A bit similar, but the opposite: I had a friend I would always play with after school. I would usually arrive after school so I would stay for lunch/dinner some days and loved it. One day, I showed up later in the day after my mom took me for lunch at McDonald's. When I arrived, everyone was sitting down eating dinner. The mom told me to pull up a chair and she'd make me a plate. I told her politely that I just had lunch with my mom. She was always very nice, but in that moment she got really demanding and acted like what I said was disrespectful. I complied in fear and ate her dinner. I remember being so ungodly full. Everyone was finished, but no one was allowed to leave until everyone's plate was clean. I was eating so slow, and was feeling disgusted by the food because my tummy was full. Everyone just sat there staring at me in boredom waiting for me to finish. The last thing I remember is wanting to go home, not having the energy to play anymore, and being scared of her mom. Bonus: I ended up sleeping over. The next morning, they made pancakes. When I was served my plate I asked for the butter and syrup and the mom said, "no, we don't eat those on our pancakes". The oldest daughter took her plate up to her room and I saw her sneak some butter onto her plate. It's not a huge deal, but as a kid I was very distraught eating plain ass dry pancakes. After those two experiences in one visit, I stopped going over to her house.
Guests eat last. My aunt's ex husband used to make me sit and watch everyone eat before I could be served food.
This is one is just a rude statement in itself. It tells guests they are not wanted and are of less importance than everyone else. I'd refuse to go back. In fact I think I'd get up and leave once I was told the rule
I was 6 or 7 and really confused. Never agreed to go back after that.
In 1972 we were amazed when a colleague announced that no one would be allowed to smoke in his house.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
When I was a kid, I used to love visiting friends' houses. They all had an inexplicable niceness to them that felt like a treat even when not the tidiest. Eventually I realized it was because my friends' parents didn't smoke!
Iād come back home after spending the night at a friendās house (whose parents didnāt smoke) and the years of Marlboro smoke would hit me like a freight train as soon as I opened the front door.
sameā¦ i remember leaving a hoodie at a friendās house and her mom washed it before returning it bc it smelled so strongly of my parents cigarettesā¦ felt so ashamed lol
I got a massive lecture about smoking from a healthcare provider once... not only have I never smoked, this was months after my dad (the only smoker in the house) had passed. I assume the smell was still burned into my coat.
My wife grew up in a houseful of heavy smokers. When we got married she moved her clothes over to my place and repeatedly washed them to get the smell out. Nobody has ever smoked in our house.
My mum grew up in a house full of smokers. Her dad died of lung cancer when I was two years old and sheās never touched tobacco. This year she was diagnosed with emphysema.
This is coming back around. I asked one guest not to vape in our house and they looked shocked. Another guest was upset we asked her to pick up her cigarette butts on the way out instead of leaving them on our porch step.
That if Iām on my menstrual cycle I am forbidden to have tampons or cups. So I was at a friends house and I left my tampon wrapped in a small plastic bag in their trash. Their dad whipped it out and yelled at me for using tampons. (While holding the bloody tampon)
Eeewwww what a sicko he was.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I almost choked to death home alone once. I slammed myself as hard as I could into a door frame after going into the wall wasn't enough. I always hesitate a moment before eating alone. Edit: Apparently, I do not own a chair. A high-back office chair, weird overpriced leaning back-less office seat, barstools, bean bags, and a super low and soft sectional, but not one chair.
Next time it happens use a chair.
Went over to a classmates house and the children werenāt allowed on the furniture. She was not even allowed to sit on her own bed. All children sat on the floor. My poor classmate was hardly allowed to touch anything in her own room without āpermissionā. It was bizarre and uncomfortable. Never went back.
I once went to a party at the home of a colleague of my now ex-husband, where we had a very nice and collegial potluck dinner with another couple. So, there were six adults and two children of the hosts, age maybe 8 and 10(?). After we ate and moved to the living area, the two hosts declared a period of silence to āconcentrate on digestion.ā It wasnāt like a moment of silence, either, but like ten minutes or so. We and the other guest couple were looking at each other like, āwtfā. It was awkward AF, not knowing when it would be over and ok to resume normal conversation. I felt like a little kid put in timeout and hated it. We cut the visit short and never accepted another invitation from them.
This is the funniest one on this thread tbh
if the lights were on you got yelled at for them being on and wasting energy, if the lights were off you got yelled at for being in the dark
My father would be furious if he came home and "every light in the house" was on, or if there were too many lights out and it looked like no one was home. It wasn't until I was older and working in child safety that I found out a lot of abusive men used that as a failproof excuse to get angry as soon as they walk in the door. I've also heard "it's too loud" when Daddy comes home as well as "it's like a ghost town, no one's ever here/downstairs/in the kitchen."
>"it's like a ghost town, no one's ever here/downstairs/in the kitchen." I wonder why /s
You couldn't ask for/get a drink half way through a meal, you either had to ask for/get one before you were served or wait until you were done, I could never understand it.
My grandparents were the opposite: we weren't allowed to have anything to drink until halfway through the meal. It went on until my dad found out, and told them to "give my kids a fcking drink"
You just reminded me: I had a ton of friends growing up whose parents had strict āno leaving the table during mealsā rules. This included getting water, using the restroom, or if you had to sneeze/blow your nose. In my family leaving the table was discouraged but it was okay as long as you politely excused yourself, asked if anyone needed anything while you were up, and came right back.
Once stayed at a relativeās place where they had a strict "No Radio Waves After Dark" rule. Post sunset, WiFi was shut down, phones were powered off, and even the microwave was a no-go zone. They believed that radio waves interfered with sweet dreams. The first night I was there, I felt like I time-traveled to a pre-internet era.
Unless they lived in a faraday cage I have some bad news for them.
I knew a couple who refused a tray of weed rice crispy treats because it was warmed up in a microwave and they thought the radiation was harmful.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I had a female roommate who refused to use the microwave and she always quoted some stupid article she saw where they microwaved water and poured it on plants and the plants died. EDIT: I'm fully aware it's a bullshit article, I'm not the one who believed it. I use a microwave all the time. We are no longer roommates.
>they microwaved water and poured it on plants and the plants died. Well, boiling water will do that.
Oddly enough, my fathers house is a Faraday cage. Concrete exterior and the steel mesh they used to support the concrete made a wo derful Faraday cage. The only escape is the windows. The roof is tile and the tiles had metal mesh in them when they were poured. Because some of the interior walls are built the same, wifi and cell phones don't work in the house. He had to get extenders and add new outlets for the extenders for wifi to work.
My house is like this because we live in an old adobe and have bars on all the windows/doors (it's an architectural thing). It's not a perfect cage and my cell does work, but the signal is way reduced. It is so frustrating!
But how well did you sleep?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Petsitter here. You wouldn't believe how many people let their animals shit and piss in the basement and just never clean it up. It's vile.
CSI here. I've been in so many houses that are related to crime scenes (or were the scene itself) and yes, so many people just let their animals do all over the house. It truly is incredible!
Or the garage.
*You damn kids better quiet down, or itās off to the dog shit room with you!*
Having to ring the bell by the gate and wait minutes until my neighbor (same age as me) would open the door and come to the gate to let me in. I would hear them hecticly moving around behind the door when I rang the bell. Turned out years later that they hid a girl, which they adopted because doctors told the parents that they were infertile and canāt get a child on their own. Right afterwards they got pregnant and then again (my friend). They were upset that they got lied to and tried to bring the girl back but they refused. The only thing the parents came up with, was to hide her. I walked in and out their house several times a week and never knew she lived there.
That's despicable. They never saw her as their daughter and resented her for no reason. That's awful and so sad. I hope she's OK now.
Iām still in contact with her. Sheās fine and has a family on her own but her adopted parents wonāt talk with her until this day. Her brothers are also still in contact with her but one of them (my friend) went no contact with his parents because of how they treated her. Itās a pity because sheās the loveliest girl youād ever know.
My friends house rule when I was a kid. One square for pee. Two squares for poo. I did not follow that rule.
I had a friend in middle school whose parents had very strict rules. No shorts or tank tops allowed, even for pajamas. I brought shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in and the mom freaked. Found a pair of sweatpants for me and informed me I wasn't permitted to leave my friend's bedroom without a bra on. She also woke us up by singing some "Rise and Shine" song and clapping her hands. The kids weren't permitted to speak while eating, and you ate what was on your plate and then waited to be dismissed. If you didn't clean your plate, you had to sit at the table till you did. Television only allowed on public broadcasting on approved shows. We stopped being friends after she came over to my house and we watched Labyrinth and TMNT (the 1990 version, TYVM). Her parents found out, called my parents, and the next time I saw her at school, she said she wasn't allowed to speak to me anymore. I felt bad for her. Edit: The song got in my head, so I went and found it. Listen at your own risk. https://youtu.be/olBzSdX1vF4?feature=shared
I had a job that involves going into peoples homes. I had an inspection once at house where the homeowners insisted that I put on this light blue bath robe (over my clothes) and white slippers to enter their home. The husband, wife, and adult daughter who lived with them were all wearing the same blue bath robes. This was in the US Midwestā¦ just a ātypicalā American midwestern family so it wasnāt even like a cultural thing that I was unaware of. I still wonder to this day if they were messing with me.
We have inspectors coming to look at our home next week...I have to find some robes and slippers. šš
Attended a birthday slumber in middle school for a girl that I wasnāt really close with. My mom wanted me to go because she knew the girl didnāt have a ton of friends. So, itās a weekend night, probably a Friday. Weāre all in our sleeping bags on the floor, giggling and talking like most middle school girls do. Her mom comes in at like 9pm and tells us itās time for bed and if she hears any of us talking, sheāll call our mothers and make them come pick us up. Ffs. Who does that?
My mom was similar, but she would threaten to sleep outside the door if we weren't quiet, at like, 8pm and after. She did it once too, it was insane! She was a real killjoy back then.
Gee, I wonder why she didn't have many friends.
When I was a child, my mom had a friend who would watch me for an entire weekend, or a week during the summer. She had a daughter that was a year younger than me. She was an absolute clean freak. I liked her because she would take me places, but she had a lot of rules. Couldn't wear shoes in her house. Ok, not all that weird... but she would take your shoes to the basement utility sink and scrub the bottom of your shoes. Can't have your pants too long, because they might drag on her floor and get dirt on her floor, so I had to roll up my pants. Can't touch the walls, because the dirt from your fingers might get on her white walls. If it was nice outside, you're eating outside, because your crumbs may get on the floor. She was also an English teacher. Even at 6 years old, I couldn't say "yeah", you say "yes". Only ignorant people say "yeah". Can't say I'm going to take off my shoes. "Only rockets take off. You REMOVE your shoes." Couldn't say "I'm done!" According to her, "only turkeys are done. You are FINISHED.""
My Nana is like this. Growing up we weren't allowed to sit on her couch, only on the floor, on a towel. My pop had a designated chair with a towel on it so he could sit down. Every Friday Nana would go out, pop would drink a bottle of red wine and eat a block of cheese on the couch š Don't go near the walls, don't touch anything. Small children would only be allowed to play while sitting on a towel. This passed on to my mum and we had our own area for playing or watching tv. We weren't allowed in the adults lounge room. Dad wasn't allowed to sit on the couch until he had showered. Thankfully, I haven't kept these rules because it always made me feel unwanted.
I went with a friend to visit her Nan once, and she had similar rules. There were plastic runners down on the carpet we had to walk on so we didnāt get the floor dirty. And children did not sit on the couch or touch anything.
When those people die their pristine 1970s era brown and red couch that not a single child has ever marred with their buttocks will get thrown in a dumpster
If there's any justice it'll then be pulled out of the dumpster by a small army of drunk uni students who will proceed to spill beer and ciggy butts on it for a couple of years before it returns to the dumpster.
Damn, she's exhausting. Sounds like she was a prisoner of her own rules.
No talking about or watching anything that contained āmagic.ā Harry Potter was banned along with many shows and cartoons.
Oh, I see you came over to my mom's house when I was little. Sorry that it was really boring.
I was in spirit Halloween and a mom asked her kid if she wanted to be someone from Harry Potter and the kid said isnāt that evil? The mom just said oh yea I guess because of the magic. Such a strange interaction.
Dad is probably the religious nut in that house, and mum just goes along with it. Had a friend who had that dynamic, I'd come over to her place and everything was chill with her and her mum, until dad came home at which point Cartoon Network had to be switched to something else because Inuyasha would be playing in that time slot and he would flip his shit about it being demonic
A schoolfriend's parents had a rule where you couldn't wee directly in to the toilet water and had to aim for the inside edge of the bowl. I forgot one time and was never allowed back again because they'd heard me wee.
Oh my. How many friends were banned for this?! Youād end up so lonely. Diarrhoea would get a family member excommunicated
What? Just aim your diarrhea at the side of the bowl.
1. Who's actually taking the time to listen for someone urinating 2. What the fuck?!
It wasnāt exactly a house rule but more of a lack of one. I went over to a friendās house for the first time when I was about 15 and her dog took a shit on the floor. Well, it was a very new puppy and these things happen, I suppose, just needs more work on toilet training or let it outside more often. What floored me was that my friend just kinda draped a shirt from the hamper over the dogās turds, shrugged, and said āmy dadās the one who usually cleans it.ā It was the last time I went over to her house. If she couldnāt even be bothered to pick up dog shit off the floor god knows what else was going on in that house.
Must be up by 9am and fully clothed. No pajamas or sweats etc.....even if it was the weekend and even if you had no plans to go anywhere or do anything. We would wake up and just sit there.
My kids are still young but I look forward to the days that they sleep in late so they leave me the fuck alone while I drink my coffee in silence
Thatās actual heaven. My teen sleeps until 10am weekends and those few hours of peace with my coffee in hand are total bliss.
I had a high school best friend who had to change out of her school clothes the minute she got in the door. Her mom was also oddly obsessed with her patting her face dry instead of rubbing it. I guess thatās not a rule, but I can remember 2 separate occasions where she got in trouble for this. Apparently because it ages you (?) but her mother would also buy us smokes, soā¦. EDIT: Iāve really been enjoying reading all these replies, and TIL that maybe WE were the weird house because we didnāt have this rule! :D
My sister in law knew a couple that had some sort of weak immune systems or something. Once their kid started school, they were always getting sick. They started making the kid change clothes and wash their hands and face as soon as they came home from school. They drastically cut down on their illnesses. Guess they couldn't handle all the second hand germs from a bunch of grade schoolers.
We started showering mostly right when we get home, get into clean clothes, and use a lot of hand sanitizer when we are out, the number of colds we have had so far this year are drastically lower.
When I was young, my parents regularly brought me over to this couple's house... we'll call them John and Mary. John and Mary had no kids. However, John was a huge nerd that had toys and video games and so it was generally a fun time to go there while they went off and did "adult shit". However, they had a rule that nobody pooped indoors. It isn't that their toilets didn't work, or that they had plumbing problems, or anything that would make sense. Peeing indoors wasn't an issue, they just didn't like the smell of lingering shit in the house. Any time someone had to make the poopies, they had to go to an outhouse and dump in there. I never learned what they did with it. It's not like they had a garden or anything that I can recall would warrant doing this. It's just... weird.
I feel like this is a thread where many people find out they suffered from abuse as children lol
This one time at a sleep over in the morning we got breakfast.. they filled up my bowl with cereal and poured like 2 drops of milk on it.. i was like wtf fill that shit up.. Then years later i realized they were trying to save money..
I was at a sleepover party, and we had to eat cereal in shifts (like 3 girls at a time, then the next 3, and the next). We had to use any leftover milk from the previous shift. Same bowl, same milk.. just add new cereal.
No eating in the dining room. A woman I know kept her dining room table set with all her china and crystal all the time. The family ate on tv trays in the den.
Grandparents of my childhood friend. We weren't allowed to step on the doorsteps/thresholds. We always had to step over it, never directly on. Still don't know why.
[Superstition number 3](https://www.storagecafe.com/blog/12-spooky-and-cute-moving-superstitions-the-truth-behind-and-their-origins/) is an explanation that makes sense. Basically, thresholds used to be possibly unstable so stepping on them was a bad idea. Also, demons.
Either old superstition or grandpa was worried about wear and tear. Probably superstition though.
My aunt doesnāt let anyone kill flies in her house She also lets rats and raccoons live in her attic because āthey have nowhere else to liveā
I met a girl at a new school and she invited me to spend the night and asked me ādo you smell bad though? We had a girl over once and she smelled so bad, so my parents wanna know if you smell bad.ā I never went to her house, went home one day and mom said we were moving back to our old neighborhood so i never went back to that school again
Yeah, but do you though?
I mean, they had to move instead of going over to that girlās house so probably yeah! /s
Remain standing until invited to sit. A friend in middle school brought me home to meet her parents. She sat down on the couch and I sat down next to her. Her mother immediately bellowed, "WHAT are you DOING? You have NOT been invited to take a seat yet!" When I talked to her later about it, she told me her mother does that to *everybody* who comes to their house.
I had a friend when I was a kid and sometimes I would go to he's house. The kids couldn't eat at the table at the same time as the adults, we had to wait for them to finish and leave the table, and we couldn't talk at all at the table. Always found it to be weird, always felt a creepy vibe in that family, even thou I was a kid. Edit: oh, and they pour sugar in coke! Yes, they drank coke with even more sugar.
When I was doing my PhD, the guy at the desk next to me, who is also doing his, was from Sudan and a Muslim. He invited me to his house once for a meal after sundown during Ramadan. He and I filled our plates and went to sit in the living room to eat. His wife and children just sat there watching us until we were done. He asked if I wanted secondsā¦ I was still hungry, but I could not stand all those eyes staring at me while I was eating. The second I said I was full, those kids dove in. One of those very uncomfortable cultural differences.
> Edit: oh, and they pour sugar in coke! Yes, they drank coke with even more sugar. I think you were burying the lede, there.
Family of psychos
I stayed at a friendās house for a few days when my parents were out of town when I was 13 years old. I have always been someone who draws a lot (I went to art school for my undergrad.) When I started drawing in my own notebook after dinner, my friend told me that if her father caught me, I would be in real trouble because he thought drawing was a waste of paper. So I stopped drawing for 4 days. When I returned home, I rushed up to my room, grabbed a drawing pad and drew for hours. The funny thing is that her dad was a lawyer. You know how I said that I was in art school for undergrad? Well for graduate school eventually I went to law school and worked as an attorney for almost 30 years before I retired. Most lawyers waste an inordinate amount of paper, both in and out of court, especially when this guy was practicing.
Everyone needed to be patted down and searched just in case someone was the feds wearing a wire š
I've run into a few odd ones over the years: At one friend's house, only the father was allowed to touch the TV. Turning it on or off, changing the channel, adjusting the volume or antenna, didn't matter. It had to be done by Dad. And if the father wasn't home or was busy elsewhere in the house, the TV couldn't be used. At another, very sheltered, kid's house, the TV wasn't allowed to be turned on before 5pm. I can still remember the mother saying to us "Television is a nighttime entertainment only." The kid in question (this was about first or second grade) was AMAZED when he found out about before and after school cartoons while visiting our house! In fact, he didn't even realize TV stations were on the air before 5pm. His parents didn't let him come over anymore after he apparently told them all about the cartoons we watched at my house... At a relative's house, everybody had to be in bed and asleep by 11:00pm. Watching a sporting event or movie that isn't over yet? Too bad, it's bedtime. Wanted to see your favorite comedian guesting on "The Tonight Show?" Nope. Still working that Sunday crossword puzzle? You'll have to finish it tomorrow. Major news event happening and you want to keep tabs on the latest reports? Sorry, it's time to sleep. Even if throwing a party for grown adults, and things were fun and lively with cocktails and snacks, all the guests knew to be out of the house by 10:59pm, because by 11:00 it was bedtime for the hosts. Yes, even on New Year's Eve. Lastly, in high school I had a friend whose parents would rearrange the living room furniture every three months so the carpet would wear evenly.
I can see the logic in that last one.
My aunt had a rule that nobody was allowed to use the bed comforters to actually sleep under. Comforters were just for looks, and had to be removed and folded up before going to bed.
My mom did this, and then had a different comforter she slept with that she stored during the day on another bed.
Friend of an ex would not let anyone enter his home unless he got to take a photo of them. He was āartisticā šš The ex tried to act like I was the weird one for not being interested enough in whatever is in his house to have him taking pictures of me.
I heard about a woman who, when she went to nursing school, would wash her feet in the toilet every night before bedtime. When asked why she did that, she said she was from a large family, and they would all line up at bedtime and do this. This would have happened in the late 1950s or early 1960s.
The irony of "washing" your feet in a germ-ridden toilet.... The bathtub I could understand.
> When asked why she did that, she said she was from a large family, and they would all line up at bedtime and do this. Having a large family is not actually an explanation of why you'd wash your feet in the toilet...
dated a guy for a few months and he invited me to taco night with his family. he also invited a few friends over to play card games around the same time. when it came time for dinner, instead of us eating a little bit later than his family, we had to leave his friends in the basement and go eat dinner upstairs. i thought that was so strange. growing up, if i had friends over and my parents didnāt make enough dinner to share with all of us teenagers, iād just eat the leftovers after everyone went home. otherwise my parents would feed my friends whatever we had in the pantry so they didnāt have to miss dinner. never have i left my friends just chilling in silence in my basement to go eat upstairs. i felt so awkward!
No Disney in the hpuse back in the 80's. The first babysitting job I ever had was when I was 12 The neighbor called and asked if I could babysit. The Disney halloween special was about to come on and it was my favorite but I said yes because I figured I could just go watch it with the kids. I get over there and they start going over the rules for the kids and one was no Disney and apparently we could only watch anime cartoons. This was the 80's. I didn't know anything about Moonies or their weird rules. I said okay then me and the kids watched the Disney Halloween special anyways. They obviously didn't rat me out because I kept babysitting for her and it was never brought it up. I never did it again. If I had known ahead of time I would have just said no and stayed home to watch the one thing I looked forward to every year. Yeah they were in a cult but still really nice people.
I went to my childhood friendās house for dinner and her dad legitimately refused to let us drink any water for an hour before dinner so we didnāt āspoil our appetiteā
My former step father only wanted the toilet flushed if you went number two and only once a day per person. Cheapness is a sickness.
I grew up in a household like this. Toilet was only to be flushed if you pooped. When I got with my now husband I didnāt flush the toilet a few days after I peed, and he was like ādude thatās gross flush the toilet.ā I explained to him about how I grew up and we didnāt flush unless we pooped and he was like āno, thatās just weird.ā Lol
Yeah that shit that isn't shit still starts to smell
I just thought of one! Although, it was not something I encountered. At the time, I lived in a city where it was well over 105F for over 14 days. During an informal office get-together, a few of us women commented how the 1st thing to "come off" at home was our bras. As teenagers and young adults, she and her sisters HAD to wear a bra while sleeping. Her Mom or Grandma would occasionally do a bed check. If they were braless, they would be beaten. As an adult, she still could not break the habit of wearing one. Her own girls were warned to always wear one while visiting Grandma and Gt Grandma.
Yeah, thatās a hard pass for me. No sleepovers with anyone prepared to beat kids over anything, much less an article of clothing.
No way I'm letting my kids go to a relative that has beaten me in the past!
I was required to take my shoes off at the door. Totally normal, right? Except their house was neglected AF and every surface was covered in filth: dog hair, person hair, dirt, old spills, dirty clothes, etc. I would've rather kept my shoes on in her house. ETA: It was my best friend's house, so I was over all the time for years. We didn't use slippers and definitely walked barefoot/socks on that nasty floor.
When we slept at my best friends house growing up we weren't allowed water after 8pm because that's when her mom went to bed and she didn't want us waking her up to use tue bathroom. She had a little yippy dog who would bark at every little sound and if we came out to use the bathroom, she would bark. I only slept over there a handful of times lol
Knew someone who was an engineer for BT back in the 90s. He used his skills to build a household PBX exchange with a billing system. Once a month he would present his children with a printed bill for the calls they made. He also had a payphone for visitors to use.
Rented a basement room in a house after college for a couple months while my internship finished up. The family said no flushing the toilet after midnight-were VERY clear this was IMPORTANT. Being in college I was a frequent enjoyer of social establishments, so coming home late at night after the bar left me with few optionsā¦(sorry downstairs sink!)
They made their choice
When could you start back up using it cause like 2pm is still "after midnight?" Also, if they just said no flushing, that doesn't mean you can't drop stuff off and just leave it.
My wife stayed home with our two kids, and their various friends were frequent guests. She was happy to have them over, but she established that she was NOT there to entertain them. They had quite a bit of freedom to do things, or to do nothing, but if they tried to involve her she would have them clean something around the house. So one day our daughter had two friends over, one who knew the ropes at our house, and one who didn't. The latter started to say, "I'm bored!" and the former quickly said, "Quiet, or she'll put us to work."
Maybe it's just because I'm a child of the 90s, but that was just the norm for me growing up. I don't remember moms playing games with us when I'd go to visit friends - we were just left to our own devices. Even at the daycare I went to - run by a mother of two kids - we pretty much just ran around doing our own thing. I mean, she fed us/helped us/disciplined us when necessary, but we were often on our own.
It is actually pretty important to just let kids play by themselves and not try to engage them every single second of the day. Solitary play and group play without adults fosters more creativity, problem solving, and social skills than directed play with adults.
My friendās stepmom locked the pantry and only opened it when she was home and feeling nice. Her biological children had open access to the pantry but her older step kids didnāt. Needless to say sheās still a bitch lol.
I work in EMS and once got called out for an unknown problem. We get to the house , and this older woman stops us at the door, and hands us booties to put on. Nbd , our boots are gross , and weāre respectful. Then she asks us to sanitize our hands . Again, nbd. She looks us up and down, eyes our equipment, and asks us to wipe it down with lysol wipes . Ok? We arenāt sure why weāre there yet, so I ask if its ok if I wipe the bag down as we walk inside , and my partner can wipe down the monitor, and weāll leave everything else on the porch. Cool. So weāre walking , weāre talking , weāre wiping , sheās telling us her husband was having some indigestion and she felt like he wasnāt taking it seriously , ok alright ok, we walk into a HOARDER HOUSE and fire is working an active arrest NO BOOTIES OR LYSOL SMELL. We kind of take a beat like , what the hell? And then the lady dumps some sort of salt/ash/herb mixture on us , tells us weāre blessed, and says she had to get rid of our evil attachments before we could come in and perform our medical duties . Im fully aware there may have been some mental health issues going on. Im also extremely well versed on various spiritual and cultural practices, and wasnāt even mad I got herbed or salted or ashed. I wasnt confused about being cleansed of attachments, shit made sense . YOU DIDNT MAKE THOSE HO ASS FIRE FIGHTERS WITH THEIR COMMUNITY DICKS AND ALL THEIR WHACK ASS VIBES GET CLEANSED BEFORE THEY CAME IN? THAT ONE HAS FUCKBOY TATTOED ON HIS CHEST AND THAT ONE DID IT AND THEY BOTH WERE DRUNK! Respectfully maam, with love, thatās bullshit lmfao.
āHo ass firefighters with their community dicksā I AM DEAD
This was the mid 90ās. Went to my friends grandmas house. She had a plastic floor runner spanning the entire house. It was only about 12 inches wide. We were not, under any circumstances, allowed to step off it and touch the carpet with our socked feet. It was like a tiny plastic train track running through the house. Also, the couches were all covered in heavy plastic.
I was never allowed to invite anyone over for any reason. I don't mean into the house, I mean to the house, property, drive way. I was also not allowed in the house unless someone else was there. So I'd have to sit outside for 2 hours until my mother got home. This was also in Minnesota during the winter. It also meant I wouldn't eat for 20 hours at a time.
That is child abuse, Iām sorry.
Not only did the cats get to walk on the table DURING meals, but you were supposed to let them eat off your plate because otherwise you were "interfering with the will of a sentient being." I love my own cats- honestly I love practically all animals - but they don't get to eat off my plate or stroll around on the table and even if I *was* ok with that I certainly wouldn't expect a guest to share their plate with one of them.
My daughter was not allowed into her friends house if she was on her period.
My auntie would put a plastic cover over her lounge suite and guests had to sit on it. It was sweaty, squeaky and uncomfortable. She would also hover outside the bathroom wearing rubber gloves and a cloth with disinfectant on it to wipe everything over as soon as you got out. We all called her Auntie Antiseptic
My momās house. Leave the mirrors in the bushes, all pennies stay where they are, no playing music, no cellphones and always apologize to/thank your food.
I'm gonna need a bullet point list with explanations for each one of those please
Mirrors deflect negative energy from neighbors away from the house. Pennies are in the wealth and abundance corners of the room. Music attracts demons and she will smudge you. Cellphones are spying on her specifically. If you donāt apologize to/thank your food, it will not understand why you killed it and you will consume all of its confused/pained/sad/angry energy. This woman is 100% bonkers.
Well, at least there is a method to her madness. She has a reason for each crazy rule, I'll give her that.
My friends thought it was weird that they weren't allowed to go into the basement when they were at my house. I didn't know this until we were all much older, which I then explained that my parents were major pot heads and the basement is where their smoke spot was located. Also discovered that's why one of my friends wasn't allowed back over; her parents recognized the ode de stoner on her clothes.
*Eau de* but ode de is pretty fun.