“The Answer Is 'Yes Sir’”: 40 House Rules That Weirded Out Residents And Guests Alike

In my own house. Never allowed to close a bedroom door. No secrets would be kept then, if all the bedroom doors were open. But I'm an only child. Why was this the rule?

Because it was the rule in my mother's house where there were many children. Why couldn't they keep their doors closed ever?

Because it was the rule in the convent/orphanage where my grandmother was raised.

Then, when I had kids, at first, blindly, I imposed this rule. And I had to ask myself why my own kids, who have their own rooms and aren't sharing rooms with siblings couldn't close their own doors? Because it was rule in the 1920s when my grandmother was growing up in an orphanage in another country. So I reevaluated and my kids are allowed to close their doors and have privacy.

I once went to visit my boyfriend’s parents house on the weekend Halloween happened to fall. That Halloween afternoon, they straight up barricaded the windows and doors, turned out all their lights, and insisted I sit with them and only speak in whispers while trick or treaters happily skipped past their home, blissfully unaware of the psychopaths residing in the only house with porch lights turned off. They believed all those kids were actually possessed by Satan, and made us hide away all night like those sweet little children would rip us apart if they smelled us out. I broke up with that guy as soon as I got home. I don’t need people so staunchly anti-trick-or-treater in my life.

“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.”.

I was probably 9 or 10, a girl staying the day with my friend that was a boy. His dad came in and asked a question and I answered, "Yeah." Friend audibly sucked in a breath before his dad swung around and screamed, "How many times do I have to tell you, the answer is 'yes sir '?"

There's literally no way it could have been mistaken for my friend's voice. I was terrified until my mom picked me up. My friend was super apologetic, but even then I knew it wasn't his fault so I tried to make him feel better about it.

Not sure what happened to him but I can't imagine living in that level of terror every day of my childhood.

My own house, I wasn't allowed to poop with people home. Like I had to hold it until my parents went shopping or something. It was f*****g terrible.

I visited a friend at a lake house for 2 weeks in the summer and no one was allowed to get up before their dad. This f*****g 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 and drag his a*s back to the real world. My friend's mom strictly enforced this the entire time I was there too. The things you look back on from your kid years man... that was just a hostage situation.

Kids not allowed to bring any books with anthropomorphic characters into the house. We could play with Legos for hours, but were banned from bringing a Richard Scary big adventure book, or any material with talking animals, or animals wearing clothes

The mom didn't want 'her children growing up thinking that cats and dogs wore sweaters'. I hated that house.

It was an unspoken rule..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 4 p.m. We thought it was an after school snack, but that was it. Food wasnt mentioned again. My friends and I woke up in the middle of night,starving, so we went to the kitchen and the cabinets and refrigerator were locked.

When I was 8 I was best friends with the girl across the street. She lived with her mom and aunt. And literally, directly across the street from me.
I slept over with her on saturday and her aunt and mother FORCED me to go to church with them because "you aren't allowed to walk across the street by yourself we won't let you go home until after church".

It's worth noting that I was raised atheist by a father who hates religion with a burning passion because he was abused by religious superiors in his childhood (exactly what you're thinking yeah) and so I was raised to believe religion is the root of all evil, and I was an 8 year old with an anxiety disorder and autism on top of being raised to be horrifically terrified of anyone who believed in God.

So needless to say the second they dragged me into the church I had a breakdown because I was so scared and I got yelled at for "making us look bad" by my friend's aunt and they yelled at my parents for my behavior when they finally brought me home.

My friend got really mad at me for not just toughing it out. And she was super angry with me when I stopped hanging out with her because of it.

No pooping on the floor. which is a fine request but weird they had to call it out.

Visited my besties 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. You can then enter the house, drop all your clothes in the washing machine and to go straight to the shower. After your shower the robe and socks go into the washer. Once inside and showered then you are in for the night, we were adults not kids. This wasnt a livestock farm and nor did we work in the corn or soy fields.

Edit: The mom has OCD. Her entire life is cleaning or mowing. It was never about bugs as my friend hid this rule from me until we were in the garage.

I had a roommate with a cat that just absolutely adored me. Every time I woke up in the morning to make breakfast, it would harass me for belly rubs, and if I didn't give it attention, it would bite my ankles. Precious little creature. Well, my roommate got jealous of this situation and demanded that I not interact with this cat anymore because they wanted themselves to be the cat's favorite human. I just want to emphasize that this cat loved me so much and would have no idea why I'd suddenly be neglecting it.

I, a fully grown adult, needed to ask permission to turn on any lights when I visited my mother at the apartment I grew up in. Not because they were worried about their electric bill or anything. No reason was actually given, I was just told off for turning on the kitchen light and was told I had to “ask permission” and apologise. Needless to say I have not visited since.

"No pringles, they catch fire too easily".

Not me but my mom had an aunt that would put down newspaper to walk on if you visited her house. She also gave her kids enemas every Sunday night so they would be "clean" for school. .

It was my house when my parents were still married.

No closed doors.

Bedroom, bathroom, closet, whatever. Only door fully closed was screen door going outside. Porch door, cracked at least 1-3 inches always, depending on weather. Taking a shower? Going #2? Parents intimate? Door is cracked open. I caught several whooping as a youngster and later as 12-13 year old for daring to close the door fully when in the bathroom. On rare occasion we actually had company over, rule enforced on them as well.

At my best friend's growing up (middle- H.S), 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 friends mom and then she would decide if we could go or not.

My best friends had a “girl’s bathroom” and a “boy’s bathroom”. It was a two bath house. The boy’s bathroom was in the parents’ bedroom.

I was there for a sleepover and had to pee in the middle of the night. I walked around for about 20 minutes trying to figure out what to do. I almost went outside, but I worried they had an alarm. I ended up peeing in my pj’s. I hid them behind the toilet in the girl’s bathroom.

I still don’t know why I just didn’t pee in the girl’s bath or wake up my buddies.

It was weird.

My friend's mom was adamant that we were NOT to fold a slice of pizza to be able to pick it up and eat it. The pizza was to remain flat, as we were not 'gluttonous beasts,'.

Wearing jeans meant the only place I could sit was on one of the kitchen island stools. Kitchen chairs, sofas or chairs around the house, or any beds were no bueno. Also no shoes inside which was fine, but also had to remove socks so walking on cold hard flooring was super annoying. They didn't like that I brought my own slippers the next time I visited. Avoid going there now as much as I can.