20+ guests share the most bizarre house rules they have encountered: 'No closed doors. Bedroom, bathroom, closet, whatever'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
May 12, 2024 4:00 PM EDT

Being a guest in someone else's house means adjusting to new rules, some of which can be, well, ridiculous. 

Sure, there are the common ones that visitors are used to, such as taking off your shoes at the front door or house rules regarding how pets are treated (how they're fed, where they're allowed to go, etc.). Unfortunately, these folks had to deal with a lot more than the average house guest. For instance, one of these guests had to endure leaving doors open at all times. Yes, that included the bathroom door. Another online commenter admitted that it was his own house growing up that was known for its weird rules, including the rule that no one was allowed to eat or drink at the same time because it was wrong to mix solids and liquids. What was wrong with this kid's mother? 

Keep scrolling below for this full collection of unforgettable house rules. For more content like this, feel free to take a look at this week's top Karen stories. 

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  • 01
    "What's the most bizarre rule you've had to follow in someone else's house?"
    via Vu Anh
  • 02
    Spare Refrigerator59. 18 hr. ago 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.
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 03
    _youronlyHope · 20 hr. ago edited 10 hr. ago 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 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 yo
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 04
    bugwrench 14 hr. ago 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.
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 05
    plz-be-my-friend - 22 hr. ago no poping on the floor. which is a fine request but weird they had to call it out
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 06
    CookDane6954. 16 hr. ago "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."
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 07
    sdss9462 18 hr. ago Had a friend who kept plastic Ziploc bags on his SNES controllers. While playing.
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 08
    Away-Sound-4010. 18 hr. ago 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 f₁ 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 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.
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 09
    Saltriverjohnny. 16 hr. ago 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 who 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 en
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 10
    RoseWould 20 hr. ago "No pringles, they catch fire too easily"
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 11
    moonrulesnmbr1 · 18 hr. ago 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.
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 12
    darybrain 18 hr. ago 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.
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 13
    gb2020 17 hr. ago Man, reading all these stories makes me realize I just had no idea how many people out there are F CRAAAAAAZY.
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 14
    CheapComb 16 hr. ago When I was little, my friends mom would not let us drink at the same time as eating because she said it was a ch☐ng hazard to mix liquid and solid???
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 15
    Pastor Dale 17 hr. ago . edited 4 hr. ago My old friends mom had a room in her house that NO ONE was allowed in. No significance to the room. It was the "viewing room.” Edit: this room was all white like the majority of people with similar experiences. WHY WERE THEY ALWAYS WHITE?!
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 16
    Recoveringfrenchman. 16 hr. ago The guest toothbrush.
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 17
    narddog81 18 hr. ago A friend's family was super strict on water use. If I took a shower (which wasn't that often, but I did occasionally after a sleepover) I had to turn off the water while I washed my hair and body, and only turn it back on when I rinsed. It wasn't the worst rule ever, but dang were those showers cold as her water heater wasn't the greatest.
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 18
    Electronic Job1998. 20 hr. ago Was in someone's house doing some work. I was not allowed to drink soda directly out of my can. The lady provided a glass to pour it into
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 19
    Love-Thirty 20 hr. ago Back in the '50s my friend's mom would check every kid coming in for head lice.
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 20
    GameRoom 16 hr. ago 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
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 21
    jacobwebb57 · 19 hr. ago nothing too strange, but my friends house we were always at we were NOT allowed upstairs except for rare occasions. we had to stay in the basement. granted the basement had its own entrance, bathroom, kitchen, tvs, pool table, couches.
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892
  • 22
    jester29 16 hr. ago 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,'
    via u/Ok-Marzipan6892

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rules karens family drama entitled parents house neighborhood askreddit neighborhood-drama neighborhood-stories family reddit thread Reddit funny
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