Every household is just a little bit different. Whether it’s family habits , religious beliefs, or any number of other cultural influences, you’ll never find yourself in a house that’s quite like your own.
This r/AskReddit thread asked Redditors about the weirdest things they’ve had to do at someone’s house because of their culture, and they came up with some real doozies.
Crinkle crinkle.
“I had to sit on furniture that was covered in plastic. My boyfriend, at the time, had a friend whose parents invited us all over to their house for a party.
The mom was a clean freak or something because every piece of furniture was covered in plastic. It crinkled strangely when you sat on it. There were also plastic runners everywhere so the carpets wouldn’t get dirty. We were all afraid to drop any food crumbs — it felt like we were in some kind of museum.”
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Watch out for those philandering 10-year-olds.
“I was prohibited from going to the lobby of the house or get out of the room without giving a warning first because I was prohibited to meet the wife of the host since I am a man. I was 10 years old by the way.”
If you didn’t grow up with it, you probably won’t like it.
“Eat gefilte fish, the ready-to-serve kind that’s in some sort of gelatin. That and the rest of that evening Seder was culturally enlightening, but to 18-year-old me back then it was weird. As an Asian I was used to fish cake type stuff, but the gelatin threw me.”
When you’re welcome, but not really welcome.
“I slept over at a friends house. When we woke up, he said hes going downstairs for a few minutes. After about 15 minutes I go on the stairs to see wtf is happening and they’re eating breakfast. They see me and tell me hes almost done and will be up there soon.”
Well, it’s a cheap housewarming gift.
“My friends father was a Geordie and his grandad was Scottish. Each hogmanay it was my job to leave their house and re enter bearing a gift of coal. This was my task as I was the only one there with dark hair.”
Weird way to do cheat night.
“I had a friend growing up whose parents didn’t allow any snacks in the house. Every time he invited me over to spend the night, I was expected to bring boxes of snack food because it could be allowed if brought in by an outsider. And yes, his parents would partake, too. So there was junior high school aged me bringing boxes of snacks for an entire family to have a ‘cheat night’ at my expense.”
Orange you glad you remembered this story?
“I am reminded of the story on Reddit where a girl went to her boyfriend’s parents’ house to meet them, and they had a ritual where they gather around a table and savagely consume an entire orange, skin and all. She didn’t do it, and she upset the entire family. I think it’s my favorite story from Reddit.”
Editor’s note: here’s the story .
My fav is the…book…of Jesus?
“I once went to have dinner with a girl from uni who came from a super nice but very religious family. Her dad turned out the be the pastor. Absolutely no problem being silent while they’re praying before dinner, however after dinner the whole family got their bibles out, and asked me politely, which my favourite verse was so we could read it together. Eh…?”
– u/Qihai7
This one actually sounds alright.
“Went to stay with distant relatives in Lithuania during winter. It’s nothing for them to all get naked in the sauna and pat each other with birch branches then run out and roll in the snow. After a while I just went [expletive] it and gave into my inhibitions but at first it was a bit confronting being naked, exposed and vulnerable. On the flip side, their snow chilled vodka was primo which broke the ice so to speak; would 100% do again.”
Was his mom the Dairy Queen herself?
“Must have ice cream after dinner, even a spoonful was enough. My friend invited me for a sleepover and his dad took out a small bucket of ice cream, turns out they have a separate freezer just for ice cream. Friend’s mom didn’t want any so she just took a spoonful from her husband. His dad would offer me ice cream whenever he could.”
Don’t display peace signs in this house.
“I went over to a friend’s house for a sleepover and when I changed into my pajamas her mom started demanding I put something else on and throw my pajamas out. I was really confused, she was yelling about how my pajamas were sinful and bore signs of the devil! I ended up just calling my mom to take me home because I was so uncomfortable, but that woman just kept scolding us for allowing me to wear satantic symbols. The symbols on my pajamas? Peace signs. She said they were broken crosses, so clearly a sign of the devil.”
I think there’s a more pressing issue.
“I work for the ambulance service and I was asked to take my shoes off before attending to their mother in cardiac arrest. Politely reminded them that there was a time and place.”
Just ask someone else to do it.
“When I lived in Antwerp (Belgium), I once was stopped by an elderly, woman on the street. She was asking for help inside her house. Guiding me through a house where the temperature was way too hot, she stopped at every radiator and asked me to turn them down. In the end we went to the kitchen, where some Jewish women and children were watching me silently while I was putting all the burning gas stoves on a low heat. Then she showed me out, thanked me and closed the door.
In Antwerp there is a big community of Hasidic Jews, I can imagine this was during sabbath.”
I had to look up ‘wassailing.’
“I once got roped into a wassailing.
Marching by torchlight (literal flaming torches) down to the guy’s orchard to sing at the trees was a new one on me. It wouldn’t have been so bad but it was just a handful of us, as in just me, my schoolfriend, his brother, and his parents.
Still, we got some cider out of it…”
-u/ -Satsujinn-
Trial by fire.
“My sister was dating a man that had been raised in a nudist colony. He took her to meet his family at their house at the colony. She was a tad surprised when his mother immediately says ‘there is a hook on the bathroom door for your clothes.’ My sister proceeds to spend the entire evening naked with his folks. Her BF had told her before they went that it would be her option but I guess his parents didn’t think so.”
Et tu, Mario?
“We got yelled at for ‘playing that devil game again!’
We were playing Mario Kart. And Bowser kept freaking his mom out. So we muted it and all was fine from then on.
Meanwhile his little brother was literally playing Diablo 2 at the time in the same room. But he already had it muted so it wasn’t a problem I guess.”
– u/Qix213
This one’s just strange.
“Went to a friend’s house for dinner a lovely meal. The whole family cleaned their plates of food then turned them over and ate dessert on the back of their plates like it was the most normal thing in the world. I copied them just to be polite.”
Might be time to let it go.
“When I was 11 I stayed at my aunt’s house over the school holidays with my 13-year-old brother, she had a rule that we couldn’t watch any tv shows that she considered ‘impressionable.’ That meant no cartoons, namely Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon. We missed the end of the Cell Saga. My brother was pissed, he hasn’t let it go to this day, over 20 years later.”
Giving your kid a cauldron? Don’t be surprised when they play witches.
“I was kicked out of a elementary school friend’s birthday party because another friend and I played ‘witches’ in her treehouse. She was Southern Baptist. There was a literal cauldron in her treehouse, I stand by my decision.”
At least they meant well.
“Went over to my Laotian friends house when I was little and upon entering his house he said I had to remove my shoes and bow to his grandfather. When he said ‘grandfather’ he pointed to a fish mounted on the wall. Thinking it was some kind of reincarnation thing I did it and was instantly berated and laughed at by his whole family.”
