"I Called My Mom To Come Get Me": Adults Are Revealing The Strangest Rule They Had To Follow At A Friend's House When They Were Young

Visiting a friend's house is supposed to be a joyous occasion — but sometimes, things don't go according to plan. So when Reddit user u/Center_Power_Unit asked : "What was the strangest rule you had to follow when at a friend’s house?" so many people had stories to share. Here's what they had to say below.

1. "Your butt must be in the dinner chair at 6 p.m. 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."

2. "I had a friend whose dad was obsessed with the vacuum lines in the house and would vacuum multiple times a day. We weren’t allowed to walk on them because it would mess them up, so we had to tip-toe around the edges of rooms if we wanted to go anywhere in the house. I witnessed him beating the crap out of her for 'messing up one of the lines.' My parents didn’t let me go over after that."

— u/castironskilletmilk

3. "My friend's mom's boyfriend had one of those rooms we weren't allowed in for any reason. Problem was, it was the living room. It was impossible to get to the kitchen without going through that living room, and I couldn't reach the door to the backyard. So, I never once entered the kitchen in that house, and any trips to the backyard meant walking out the front door and going through the gate on the side of the house."

4. "I wasn’t allowed to throw away any 'female waste products' in the house, aka I’d have to wrap my tampon or pad and throw it out in the outside trash. I went home."

— u/SketchAinsworth

5. "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. It was a serious mind fuck."

6. "I had a friend in elementary school who had a controlling asshat of a father who also worked some wacky hours like he had to be at work at 3 a.m. God bless him for providing for his family, but he forced everyone to adhere to his schedule. He needed to go to bed at 4 p.m., so 'dinner' was at 2:30 p.m., the landline phone was taken off the hook at 3 p.m., and everyone was expected to complete their evening baths/teeth brushing, etc, and go to bed at 4 p.m. No TV, nothing."

"He expected the house to be quiet. In addition to these ridiculous rules, he insisted that if his daughter was going to come to my house for a sleepover, then I had to go to their house. Every other sleepover had to be at their house with his ridiculous rules. Every other friend bailed. I think the 'no TV' was the dealbreaker.

But as young girls, the no giggling probably also played a role. I can still close my eyes and picture that ape of a man losing his shit and screaming at other people’s children for giggling. Anyway, I did it. I stuck it out because my friend needed somewhere else to go, and I could do that for her."

— u/Select_Locksmith5894

7. "No one was allowed to swim in the swimming pool because it was 'only for decoration.' Other than that, they were normal parents."

8. "My friend’s family had this nice house with a nicely finished walkout basement with a kitchen, main area, bathroom, and two bedrooms. It was furnished as if it was an apartment, and the entire family, including three kids, lived down there full time while the four-bedroom upstairs was fully furnished, and they would only use the main part of the house if they were hosting company. It was bizarre going over there because we’d get in trouble if we tried to play in the big unused part of the house. When I asked him why they all lived in the basement, he said his mom didn’t want to have to clean it all the time, so they just didn’t use their big house. It was so weird."

— u/Navyblazers2000

9. "This rule was enforced for their children but not their children’s friends: Whenever they used the bathroom, their mother made them specify if it was a 'tinkle' or 'kerplunk.' We were all around ten years old, not toddlers, who needed bathroom supervision. I was always embarrassed for them."

10. "'Nobody feels up my wife.' They had a plaster casting of his wife's stomach and (large) breasts from her pregnancy on display in the living room."

— u/WoolaTheCalot

11. "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. Be clear: these were nice people."

12. "Not a friend's house but a girlfriend's dad's house. He was pretty well off but cheap AF. The rule was if you went into the bathroom to pee and the bowl water 'was fresh,' you didn't flush. I was not aware of the 'yellow is mellow and brown goes down' rule until after I used the bathroom and flushed. My girlfriend heard the toilet flush and gave me the heads up. Apparently, he would spot-check the bathrooms and flush them when he felt they needed."

— u/LT_Dan78

13. "Children could only drink warm Kool-Aid or water. You couldn't put it in the fridge, and you couldn't use ice cubes. It had to be room temperature. Any child who 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."

14. "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 fucking miserable."

— u/Empty401K

15. And finally, "I was 11 and spent the weekend at a friend's house. Her mom got us (me, my friend, and her 9-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 p.m. 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."

Do you remember a strange rule you had to follow at a friend's house? Tell what it was in the comments below.