23 People Share The Weirdest House Rules They Encountered While Visiting Someone
When I was growing up, going to a new friend’s house was anxiety-inducing to a degree. The unknowns were endless. Oftentimes, they had better snacks than we did. My mom never had the good stuff. But to be fair, my mom also didn’t have weird rules other kids had to follow. I’d take a boring snack over having to learn a whole new set of rules just to hang out for an afternoon.
Everyone’s lives are different, and these people experienced that firsthand. They shared the bizarre house rules they encountered while visiting someone else, and now I’m feeling a little more grateful for whatever off-brand snacks my mom had in the pantry.
1. A Dinner Invitation With An Unexpected Catch
“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 mom gave me a baby bottle with squash [a fruit cordial] in it. I laughed, but she didn’t laugh back. My friend took her own bottle and started drinking. I asked her mom if I could please have a cup instead, but she told me nope, and that children drink from bottles in their house. I never went there again.”
2. One Bathroom Visit Ended The Friendship
“A school friend’s parents had a rule where you couldn’t pee directly into 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 pee.”
3. This House Had A Dress Code
“I had a job that involved going into people’s homes. I had an inspection once at the house where the homeowners insisted that I put on this light blue bathrobe (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 bathrobes. This was in the US Midwest. Just a ‘typical’ American midwestern family, so it wasn’t even like a cultural thing that I was unaware of. I still wonder to this day if they were messing with me.”
4. Grandma Had Her Reasons For Keeping Dinner Quiet
“The most bizarre house rule I’ve ever 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.”
“Nana wants everyone to chew with their mouths shut.”
— u/kplis
5. The Cat Had A Very Important Role In Beer Pong
“I was playing beer pong at this one couple’s house, and the rule was if the ball hits the floor and their cat got to it first, everyone had to finish their drinks. The cat was wicked fast.”
6. Some Things Required A Trip To The Mailbox
“If you need to pass gas, you have to go outside and all the way to the mailbox.”
7. The Door Deserved An Apology
“If we slammed the door as kids, my dad made us kiss the door to make it feel better.”
8. Dinner Was Followed By A Mandatory Quiet Period
“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, ages maybe 8 and 10(?). After we ate and moved to the living area, the two hosts declared a period of silence to ‘concentrate on digestion.’ It wasn’t like a moment of silence, either, but, like, 10 minutes or so. We and the other guest couple were looking at each other like, ‘WTF?’ It was awkward not knowing when it would be over and okay 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.”
9. Sunset Meant Shutting Down More Than The Wi-Fi
“I once stayed at a relative’s place where they had a strict ‘No Radio Waves After Dark’ rule. Post sunset, Wi-Fi 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.”
10. Sleeping In Came With A Very Weird Breakfast Penalty
“Kitchen hours. I stayed at a friend’s house when I was younger. Nobody told me the entire family has breakfast at 7 a.m., so I slept in (nobody woke me up either by the way). I woke up around 9 a.m. and saw that my friend was gone. I wandered into the kitchen and saw them all sitting around the table laughing and eating a huge breakfast: pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, orange juice, fruit, etc. My friend’s mom looked at me and said, ‘Hey, look who’s finally awake! The kitchen is closed, but there’s cereal in the pantry if you want to serve yourself!’ 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 don’t understand why they did that to me.”
11. The Entire Couch Was Already Spoken For
“I cannot sit on the couch at my dad’s house if his wife is home because she will feel ‘invaded.’ She has to have the whole couch to herself, so I get to sit in a dining room table chair.”
“My brother and stepmom both worked at my dad’s company. He had to build a separate entrance for my brother because his wife didn’t want him using ‘her’ door. It was just the main door that everyone including the other dozen employees used, but my brother wasn’t allowed. People are so weird and territorial sometimes.”
12. Four Empty Recliners And Nowhere To Sit
“I went to see a college friend over the summer and 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, and 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 and brother. Where was I supposed to sit? On the floor.”
13. This Sleepover Included An Unrequested Fitness Program
“In high school, I had a friend whose dad was in the military. Not only did he make us do house chores (i.e. dusting, vacuuming, dishes) when visiting/sleeping over, but he also woke us up at 6 a.m. by banging pots and pans to make us run around the neighborhood. He called it: ‘Morning boot camp.’ Needless to say, I only slept over there a few times. I felt so bad for her.”
14. There Was No Correct Way To Use The Lights
“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.”
15. Getting A Drink Required Perfect Timing
“You couldn’t ask for/get a drink halfway 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 he told them to ‘give my kids a [expletive] drink.’”
16. Their Guest Policy Left A Lot To Be Desired
“Guests eat last. My aunt’s ex-husband used to make me sit and watch everyone eat before I could be served food.”
— u/tooful
17. Getting Dressed Was Mandatory, Having Plans Was Optional
“Must be up by 9 a.m. and fully clothed. No pajamas or sweats, 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.”
18. Even The Bathroom Trash Was Under Investigation
“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?), and she found the wrapped-up 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 I’m still so freaking confused by it.”
19. Visiting Friends Had To Follow This Rule, Too
“When I was a kid, my friend’s 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 wasn’t allowed to go over there when he was home.”
20. The Slumber Party Had A Strict Deadline For Fun
“I attended a birthday slumber party in middle school for a girl who I wasn’t really close with. My mom wanted me to go because she knew the girl didn’t have a ton of friends. So, it’s a weekend night, probably a Friday. We’re all in our sleeping bags on the floor, giggling and talking like most middle school girls do. Her mom comes in at, like, 9 p.m. and tells us it’s time for bed and if she hears any of us talking, she’ll call our mothers and make them come pick us up.”
21. The TV Rules Eliminated A Lot Of Options
“No talking about or watching anything that contained ‘magic.’ Harry Potter was banned along with many shows and cartoons.”
22. The Sleepover Invitation Came With A Screening Question
“I met a girl at a new school, and she invited me to spend the night and asked me, ‘Do you smell bad, though? We had a girl over once, and she smelled so bad, so my parents want to know if you smell bad.’ I never went to her house. I went home one day, and my mom said we were moving back to our old neighborhood so I never went back to that school again.”
23. A House Rule That Sounds Much Less Bizarre Today
“In 1972, we were amazed when a colleague announced that no one would be allowed to smoke in his house.”
“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.”