It's not uncommon for everyone to have their own house rules, but sometimes other people's rules seem a little, well, unconventional...
So, when u/Ok-Marzipan6892 asked "what's the most bizarre rule you've had to follow in someone else's house?" we decided to round up some of the best responses:
1. "It was an unspoken rule of no eating. A few friends spent the night at a former friend's house when we were teenagers. She offered us a small bowl of macaroni and cheese at about 4pm. We thought it was an after school snack, but that was it. Food wasnt mentioned again."
2. "I had a friend who kept plastic Ziploc bags on his SNES controllers, even while playing."
3. "I visited my bestie's family farm for a week. Once you left the house you could not return until dinner time. You can chill in the old farm house or farm garage. When you return to the house they live in, you strip down in the garage, put on a robe and fresh socks."
4. "I visited a friend at a lake house for two weeks in the summer and no one was allowed to get up before their dad. This guy would drink until 1-3am and not wake up till 11am, and would throw a tantrum if anyone made noise before he was able to get up again. My friend's mum strictly enforced this the entire time I was there too."
5. “You’re our houseguest, but family dinners are for family only. Here’s your plate, you can have your dinners this week in the basement.”
6. "At my best friend's growing up, if we wanted to go do something together like go to the lighthouse or visit the old sugar mill ruins, we had to write a research paper first. We would give our papers to my friend's mum and then she would decide if we could go or not."
7. "My old friend's mum had a room in her house that NO ONE was allowed in. No significance to the room, it was the 'viewing room'."
8. "When I was little, my friend's mum would not let us drink at the same time as eating because she said it was a choking hazard to mix liquid and solid."
9. "Absolutely no petting the dog. This was at my friend's house when we were kids. Nobody was to pet, touch, scratch, or feed the dog. I guess it was some kind of forbidden dog or something. I dunno. I never understood it."
10. "I had a friend growing up whose mother ran an in-home day care. We weren’t allowed to talk during meals. Imagine a handful of 3-6 year olds trying to eat mac and cheese with sliced hot dogs in silence."
11. "I was a guest staying for a few days at someone's house. I had an iPhone in their Android household and wasn’t allowed to have their wifi password because of that. I was a college student at the time and brought my MacBook to do homework. I thought they were kidding when they first said that, but when I asked about having it for my laptop, their answer was the same."
12. "Kids were not allowed to bring any books with anthropomorphic characters into the house. We could play with Lego for hours, but were banned from bringing any material with talking animals, or animals wearing clothes. The mum didn't want 'her children growing up thinking that cats and dogs wore sweaters'. I hated that house."
13. "We were not allowed to use the dishwasher. The dishwasher was used as a drying rack for the dishes you had to hand wash in the sink. Yes, the dishwasher worked fine."
14. "I was invited for a sleepover in middle school, and told I couldn't wear solid black clothing in the house. Black dress shoes for church were the only exception her parents allowed."
15. My childhood friend’s parent would not allow us to see their house. We could play in her bedroom or living room but had to have our eyes covered to walk to the bathroom."
H/T to u/Ok-Marzipan6892 and AskReddit for having this discussion!
Note: All submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.