Some of us came from families with unusual practices, traditions, and beliefs, and we often didn't realize how strange these were until we grew up and moved out to start our own home.
But sometimes while growing up, we may have visited someone else's house and were shocked by how different their households were from our own.
Redditor Center_Power_Unit asked:
"What was the strangest rule you had to follow when at a friend's house?"
Reserving Power
"I had a friend whose mom was very strict about power usage. They were far from struggling, but she would still shut off the power to every room besides the kitchen and maybe things like the AC, heater, and water heater at night for some reason."
"At first, I thought it was due to noise or something, but my friend confirmed it was just something she did all the time."
- Honk-Beast
"A friend of mine's mom did not like it when a wall power socket was turned on at the switch but there was nothing plugged in. According to her, it would leak electricity onto the floor."
- saamii_xx
Self-Proclaimed Nice People
"At a friend's house, I was asked to pay for dinner. I thought it was a joke, but they legitimately asked me to bring money next time if I expected to eat. They said it didn’t have to be the exact amount."
"The same family asked me to bring my own sheets, blankets, and pillowcases because they thought it was more sanitary than me using theirs. They were especially worried about pillowcases."
"To be clear, these were supposed to be nice people."
- emmascarlett899
Cold Reception
"We had to go to bed at 9:00 PM sharp. She lived in the country so she didn't get home off the bus until 4:30 to 5:00 PM. Dinner was probably an hour."
"Then we got up at 8:00 to 8:30 AM, ate breakfast, and she immediately made me pack up, insisted I never leave anything at their home, and dropped me off at my house by 10:00 AM. I could only come over on a Friday. I didn't like being pushed out like that."
"I left my hairbrush at their house once. They immediately returned it by leaving it on the front porch as we weren't home. I had other hair brushes and it could have waited until Monday on the bus or at school."
"The mom didn't like me. She literally said I wasn't decent. I was 10 years old."
- Ethel_Marie
When The Hindsight Is Cringeworthy
"My best friend in school lived with her mom (after her parents divorced) in a massive three-story home. My friend had the entire third floor as her bedroom, and after 9:00 PM until mid-morning, we weren’t allowed down on the first floor unless it was an emergency, and we could only go to the second floor to use the bathroom."
"As a kid, it was weird. As an adult, we alllll know why the single mom wanted us to stay upstairs, lol (laughing out loud)."
- pinkyeti123
What Was Up With That?
"Never use the decorative towels in the bathroom to dry your hands... The problem is, they were the ONLY towels in the bathroom!"
- ChrisTRD289
Cutting As Many Corners As Possible
"Children could only drink warm Kool-Aid or water. You couldn't put it in the fridge. You couldn't use ice cubes. It had to be room temperature."
"Any child that came over had an assigned solo cup with their name in permanent marker. You had to wash and reuse the same solo cup, over and over."
- boo99boo
"You would think they'd just assign regular cups to each person or visitors and make them rewash? But OK, keep buying Solo cups."
"At my friend's house, if we wanted pop/soda, we had to drink the cheap brands only. So no Pepsi or Coca-Cola. Lemonade was also cheap brands, no homemade lemonade."
- HairTmrw
Looking At The Bright Side
"No one was allowed to laugh at the dinner table or talk other than to ask, 'Please pass the. . .' No one was allowed to leave the table (even for a potty emergency) until the dad was done eating."
- meyou2478998
"Mine was like this. No talking when we were younger (under 14) while we were eating. We had to finish what was on our plate before we were allowed to be done (we served ourselves)."
"It probably was good to teach us to focus at the main task on hand: eating dinner. It also probably kept us from fighting at the dinner table. I feel like it additionally taught me something about only taking what I need and can handle."
"I am also a notoriously slow eater. But my dad wouldn't leave till everyone was done. Everyone else could, but he chose to stay till I was done."
- ComradePotkofff
"Man, you really see the good in things; it's impressive."
- Toasterinthetub22
Straight Out Of A Horror Movie
"I stayed at a friend's house one night and the family communicated exclusively through whispering... not just hushed voices but full-on hand-to-ear whispering. It was a serious mindf**k."
- Soft_Whisperxo
"That's creepy as s**t."
- _Chonus_
"I think you spent the night in a Jordan Peele movie."
- DonatedEyeballs
Quite The Way To Welcome Your Guests...
"At a friend's house, you had to take your shoes off and then walk down the plastic runner in the hallway."
"The main problem was that the floor was hardwood, and instead of getting an appropriate runner for hardwood flooring, they had a runner that was meant for carpet, which has the little spikes on the bottom to stick into the carpet."
"But to avoid scratching up their hardwood floors, they turned that runner upside-down."
"So your socked feet were walking on the tops of hundreds of plastic spikes running the length of the hallway."
- ohbenito
The Logic Went Out With The Trash Long Ago
"I wasn’t allowed to throw any 'female waste products' away in the house. I’d have to wrap my tampon or pad and throw it out in the outside trash… When I found that out, I went home."
- SketchAinsworth
A Fair Friendship Deal Breaker
"I don't know if it was a rule, but we stayed the night at my mom's best friend's house. For breakfast, we had cereal. Her kids had it with milk, and my siblings and I had to eat it with water."
"I asked why, and she just told me, 'No, you can use water, the milk is for my kids.'"
"I told my mom, and she flipped out on her for that bulls**t and never talked to her again. It doesn't sound like much, but it was a terrible betrayal, especially since my mom did a lot for her."
"My mom is the best."
- SgtGorditaCrunch
No Matter What
"I was 11 and spent the weekend at a friend's house. Her mom got us (me, my friend, and her nine-year-old brother) up super early. After breakfast, she told us we had to go outside, and no matter what, we couldn't come back in until 6:00 PM."
"I asked her what we were supposed to do for 12 hours. She said, 'Have fun!' She left a pitcher of water and three cups on the porch swing and locked us out."
"Apparently, they were used to being locked out all day every Saturday and Sunday while their mom was in the house alone. I went to her neighbor's house and called my mom to come get me."
- caffinated-anxious
Be On Time Or Else
"Your butt must be in the dinner chair at 6 PM sharp, even if dinner is not quite ready. No speaking at the dinner table unless asked a question by an adult. You must eat everything on your plate, and cannot ask for seconds. No leaving the table before the Father (you could hear the capital F) dismisses you."
"Coming from a family where dinner was a joyful affair where everybody talked about their day, I was shocked."
- 4-stars
"A friend's parents were like this. If you missed dinner by a second, you weren't eating. One evening, we were in my buddy's room playing video games and lost track of time. We both rushed down there at 6:05 and were told we weren't eating that night."
"I told my dad about it and he immediately drove over there to yell at them."
- Conch-Republic
So Many Levels Of Messed Up
"I slept over and we had to go to bed at 7:00 PM. Then in the morning, his mother would not let me leave to go back home until I had a shower and dressed in identical clothing to my friend."
"We then went to McDonald's where his mother left me to figure out my own way home."
- Former-Ad-7561
Rules Are Made To Be Broken
"Rule: Blankets are only allowed to be used on the bed."
"I spent the night there only once because they kept their house freezing cold in the middle of winter and had me sleeping on the couch in the basement. I wore my winter coat to bed and used his coat as a blanket. I was nine or ten years old, and it was f**king miserable."
- Empty-401K
We've all heard about weird family traditions and beliefs, not to mention weird things that happen in the home, but some of these experiences truly put the cherry on top of the weird sundae.
