What is the strangest rule you had to follow at someone else's house?

My eighbours elderly mother insisted people kept shoes ON indoors, we'd recently lived in Sweden and automatically took off our shoes as it would have been seen as incredibly rude not to in scandinavia.

We used to have just butter with sugar sprinkled on. Sugar butties were all the rage in our street! No wonder my teeth are rotten!

I'd rather people left their shoes on . I can't bear the thought of sweaty socks or feet on my carpets . I went out with someone once who had the most awful sweaty foot problem. I couldn't bear it and finished with him after two dates . He insisted on taking his shoes off indoors . His own carpets reeked of sweaty foot odour. I tried tactfully to get him to acknowledge it but he insisted he didn't have a problem and I was too picky.

when we had visitors you had to take the nearest cake off the cake stand, even if it was one you didn't like.

When staying with someone the rule was you don't look at the cat! The cat liked to sleep in the airing cupboard which was left open for it, but when you passed by to the bedroom you were not allowed to look at it.....because it was very shy, apparently!

1summer

I used to regularly stay with my cousin for overnight stays and my aunt always gave us tinned fruit with carnation milk for pudding which was OK. But she insisted we eat a slice of bread and butter with it! I thought it odd and only wanted the fruit and milk.

When I was young there was a large family and the children often came out with condensed milk and sugar sandwiches for lunch

The house rule of A school friend of mine was to sit quietly for half an hour after a meal. If I called round to play too early I had to sit with them until half hour was up.

I remember having to eat bread and butter before jelly and ice cream, I thought it was punishment before a treat.

Years ago a colleague of OH invited up for a meal. His wife was a chef so I was really looking forward to it. We all sat on the floor on small cushions and his wife gave us all a plate to help ourselves She had prepared 4 dishes of curry, which were very very hot ie Vindaloo strength. Also on the floor stretched out asleep was their rescue greyhound nearby. I only eat mild curry but did try a little. I have dogs of my own but tbh I found it pretty disgusting putting food on the floor with a dog, or cat for that matter. Most unhygienic. They said they ate all their meals like this. No sofa either just lots of floor cushions. Both were in late 40s so not a young hippy couple and husbands colleague was a professional businessman.

Following the porridge theme...
I stayed at a B&B in Pitlochry with my parents and younger sister. We had a choice at breakfast and we all eagerly ordered porridge.
Of course we'd forgotten the Scots make their porridge with salt. Younger sister gave up first, then me. My mother soldiered on for about half a bowl.
So ingrained was it to eat everything offered that dad, bless him, finished the whole lot.
(But this is the fella that, when on a business trip, visited a Chinese restaurant and was astounded when dish after dish of food arrived at his table. He ate the lot and only realised his 'mistake' when he received the bill. The restaurant wasn't well lit and he'd mistakenly ordered the set meal for 4.)

I don’t ever return to a house that asks me to remove my shoes.
If they have cream carpets, that’s their choice. It’s just rude rude rude to ask to remove shoes. It seems to have started when foreign holidays became popular.
I have one friend who had new cream carpets and we went to visit. She asked me to remove my shoes and gave me slippers.
I’ve not been to that house again and that was 2o+ years ago.
There are so many lovely customs we can adopt from holidays abroad. This is definitely not one of them. ??????

Calendargirl

Going to a friend’s house, I was about 12, and staying for dinner (lunch), was quite taken aback when her mum served up the main course, and my friend whispered to me to clean my plate well. It was a nice meal with gravy, but when we had finished and the pudding came, it was served on the same plate! I then realised why it was best to leave no gravy traces.

Apparently to save on the washing up!

That is the weirdest thing I have ever read!! To do that with guests no matter what age they are is disgusting.

When staying with my sister, our side of the family are not 'allowed' to remain in the house when she has to go out to one of her many activities.... On the one occasion my husband stayed there on his own, he did not want to accompany her to her various meetings etc and is not a pub goer at all so he had to prowl the streets waiting for her to finish whatever she was doing. Fortunately it wasn't raining..... He does not carry a mobile either so had to guess when she was ready to go home and hang about it outside till she appeared. Our son had an extended stay with them once and eventually rebelled and insisted on being 'allowed' to stay but only he would get away with such a rebellion... I can only think it goes back to the early 1990's when she asked me and my mum to stay in her home ( a previous one) and we managed, between us, to set the alarm off by mistake while trying to get in. Hardly anyone had alarms in the area then. The current house is also alarmed... We have moved around far more than she has but never felt the need to install an alarm in any of our homes..... We hardly ever visit now and only for a couple of days at a time... Otherwise we get on fine. She is coming to see us for a week this Friday...and if she wants to stay in on her own...that's fine with us...

James Herriot mentions in one of his books that it took him a while to get accustomed to the fact that Yorkshire farmers ate their meals in complete silence.

As a Glaswegian he had been brought up to converse politely at the table, so it is or was obviously a regional habit.

The "either butter OR jam, dear, " rule came into play whenever my parents were, or felt they were, short of money, which happened with monotonous regularity in my childhood home, and embarrassed me horribly when school-friends visited, as did my mother's rule that we wore slippers indoors and APRONS!

nzborn

Poo in one Bathroom,wee in another

The logistics of this are troubling me?

If we had our tea at my Nana's house, she always gave us tinned 'fruit salad' with evap but we had to have bread and butter with it because it was otherwise too sweet. Similarly, if she gave us fruit cake, we had to eat it with bread and butter, otherwise it was too rich.

When we went to visit a relative of my husband, and I asked to use the loo, she said, "Don't forget to wipe down after yourself - it's pink for the sink, blue for the loo..." (Referring to colours of cloths!)

I have a good friend who only drinks coffee…. so when you visit her you have to take a tea bag AND whatever sugar you want as she uses sweeteners( gross!!!) . Lucky we’ve been friends a long time. I don’t drink coffee…in fact I hate the smell of it… but I still keep it in house for people.??‍♀️

Not allowed chip sandwiches, nor lifting anything to eat with your fingers. Even lamb chops or chicken legs.

Once my brother wouldn’t say ‘Thank you Mummy, may I get down from the table please?’.

He sat there until 3 pm when he gave in.

Our neighbour used to hang teabags on the line too.

My grandma had a saying, “Bum inside, bottom outside”.

It basically meant we could be a bit less formal at home, but if we were out, we weren’t to use slang ?.

1summer

I used to regularly stay with my cousin for overnight stays and my aunt always gave us tinned fruit with carnation milk for pudding which was OK. But she insisted we eat a slice of bread and butter with it! I thought it odd and only wanted the fruit and milk.

Yep! My mum and dad had the same for tea on a Sunday. We are talking about the 50’s in my case. I always thought it was very strange even then. Couldn’t eat it myself.

Sloegin

We thought it very weird, and a bit rude, when visiting rather twee friends in Surrey about 40 years ago, to be asked to remove shoes! Haven't experienced that since or ever occurred to me to remove shoes unless muddy.Didn't realise it was a 'thing' until I discovered Gransnet and Mumsnet. I grew up on a farm so was used to removing wellies at the back door but not any other shoes. Have lived in N.ireland, Kent and Devon and never came across this with any friends or neighbours. I must move in mucky circles!

Me too - I cringe at the thought of all the dead skin, germs etc from people's feet being spread over my carpet - but I have friends who always do it (even though I've asked them not to).
I live in a home - not a show house, and only remove my shoes in someone else's house if a) they ask me to and b) they supply me with (clean/new) foot coverings to wear -otherwise my feet will pick up all their dirt etc and transfer it into my shoes...! Why would anyone want to do that..?? ?

As a child my parents would say If food is presented to you eat it whether you want to or not. On holiday We visited several relatives houses one day and ate 2 roast dinners and 3 fancy teas. The teas started with bread and butter and tinned fruit. The cold meats, salad,cakes,trifles.. We waddled back to our holiday accomodation that night!

Poo in one Bathroom,wee in another

I bet that was fun, grannypiper. Good mix. When my kids were young they used to bring their friends in for tea so most nights there were at least 10 of us round the table .Those were the days “sigh”

MissAdventure

We weren't allowed to talk during meals.
The odd word, but nothing more.

I would have gladly swapped, we are Scottish Greek so our meals were loud and long but at least the food was the best.