People Describe The Strangest House Rules They've Seen

From Redditor /u/rainbowbright87:

I was about ten or eleven. I stayed over at a friend's house for the first time. Her family seemed normal; we had fun. The next morning, all four of us ate cereal together in the kitchen at the table. Her mom made a bowl for me, which was kind. I ate it, then tried to be nice back and poured my leftover milk down the sink. Her mom stopped me and gave me a partially full gallon jug. She said, "no need to waste! Pour it in the cereal milk jug." I remember feeling sick when I saw the milk I drank was recycled. I never returned.

From Redditor /u/bunnylajoya8:

A friend I visited as a kid had weird bathroom rules. If I needed to go, [my friend's mom] would ask, "one or two?" Then she counted the squares she thought I needed and handed them to me. This was embarrassing because I liked my friend, and he always saw me do what I had to do. It was never enough. I always poked my finger through the toilet paper, and they had no soap! I washed my hands with dog shampoo.

From Redditor /u/Mediocre-banana:

My friend's parents had cameras in every room, including their kids' bedrooms. If we were in a room without a parent, the camera had to be on. Many times, I walked into the kitchen after the game room or my friend’s room and saw the TV streaming the surveillance from the room I just left (it even streamed sound). If someone said something the parents disliked while cameras were on (they never told us they were on), a parent would enter and yell at us.

From Redditor /u/Kwasan:

The parents of a girl I dated in high school had a rule: "After dinner (usually 5 PM or 6 PM), lock yourselves in your rooms." So, for most of the night, she and her little sister stayed locked in their rooms, only leaving for the bathroom. Before bed on a school night, they called them downstairs for any last needs.

From Redditor /u/SuperMommyCat:

I got a summer babysitting job at fifteen or sixteen. I took Cheetos, Doritos, and Pretzels and put them all in one bowl. They were snack bags. I ate the whole bowl, but Sherlock mom found "crumb evidence." She said, "we don’t mix our food in this house." She fired me because she was not comfortable with me doing that around her kids.

From Redditor /u/Paretio:

A landlord rented me a room. I paid the first and last month's rent. Moving in, he claimed the room he showed me was gone. Instead, he showed a converted closet, a 12' by 4' space. He knew I was stuck. What were his rules?

No kitchen use.

No bathroom use.

He complained about my roll-on deodorant smelling too strong. No one else notices this. No strong smells.

I had to leave by 6 AM. I could not return until 10 PM.

This all cost $600 a month. He did not disclose or make these terms reasonable. We argued hard when he told me this, but I had no choice then. I stayed two months. He constantly made threats. He refused me access to the house randomly. I caught his friends stealing from me twice. He said, "lawyer up."

I did. I won.

Court threw me out. He drove back, smashed a window to take things from my car, and sold it to a friend. He threw everything else in the yard and urinated on it. We went back to court a week later. He lost the place because he sublet without permission. He still has bedbugs from a friend he let stay. I see him sometimes, covered in bites. He always threatens me with more "legal action because you took my house," but I think he is not worth the trouble.

From Redditor /u/oh boy, this is it.:

My friend threw a party. We were excited to come. Instead, she forced us into her garage and locked us inside. A door in the garage led to the kitchen. She would only unlock it if someone wanted the bathroom. She would take the person to the toilet, stand outside the door until they finished, and bring them back to the garage, locking the door again. The garage had nothing, not even a deck chair or box.

Guests did not stay long. I left in under an hour, and the rest soon after. She became offended after putting so much effort into having us over.

From Redditor /u/the Great was late.:

I had a babysitter when I was eight and my sister was five. Her rule was we had to sit on the stairs all day. No couch, no kitchen table, nothing. We stayed on the stairs all day, which was uncomfortable even for an eight-year-old. My sister and I behaved well, so we did it without much question. When my mom picked us up, we got to sit on the couch. Years later, I saw how weird that was.

From Redditor /u/pokemon-gangbang:

I work as a medic. We go into people's homes daily. We had a cardiac arrest, so we worked a man, and the wife reacted to the mess we made.

Yes, there was trash from the pads, needles, and medicine, but we put everything in our jump bag.

She screamed at us about it. I told her her husband was very sick and we did everything we could to help. She said she did not care if he died as long as we did not make a mess.

From Redditor /u/FurTheGigs:

My friend's family shared one towel after showering. They used one towel for one or two days. I asked where the towels were during my visit. They looked at me strangely. They explained the towel sharing: “You’re clean when you dry off, so it’s still clean!”

From Redditor /u/DaisyJaneAM:

A good friend's family avoided drinking while eating. They believed drinking after chewing food would crack their teeth.

From Redditor /u/waddlinmabel:

If you drop your fork while eating, EVERYBODY must drop theirs.

From Redditor /u/dogsbody014:

My husband and his brothers could only bathe once a week. More than that brought screams. The brothers ended up showering at a friend's house. I had to train my husband away from that.

From Redditor /u/TheLastSpoon:

My cousins had strange rules about which cups matched which drinks. I constantly went for water, only to have someone appear and yell, “THAT'S A SMOOTHIE CUP, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” I went for milk, only to be scolded for using a juice cup. This made my siblings uncomfortable, causing anxiety about using kitchens elsewhere.

From Redditor /u/Maximumdelirium:

At a friend’s sleepover in elementary school, duct tape covered the hallway floor. We had to jump or step over it because knives were dropped there.

From Redditor /u/laterdude:

My dad had a strict rule: no music with words. I still wonder how Beethoven's Ninth finished.

From Redditor /u/MantisToboggan14:

I grew up in Mexico. My school had many study abroad programs. In ninth grade, I went to Boston. I stayed with a guy from my high school and his dad. Their family was odd. His father told me I could not flush pancakes in the toilet. He meant actual pancakes. I asked his son, and he said, “Yeah, there was an incident once.”