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

The first time I went upstairs for a coffee with my neighbour, she asked if I took sugar.
I said I took two, and she said "Not here you won't, you greedy mare. You can have one and a bit!"

*tine

Putting forks in a dishwasher time up. I actually still do it now.

Baggs Well we were not all brought up the same obviously. This particular lady is a fusspot of the highest order. She it vegetarian and won't eat this, won't eat that.
She had stayed with us previously and I made sure that I had plenty of provisions for her and her husband (who is not vegetarian).
We bought eggs, bacon, tomatoes, wholemeal bread, white bread, full and semi skimmed milk, various cereals, butters/spreads, jam, marmalade. They were guests. We wanted them to be happy. She could have offered me a slice of toast. It was rude not to. A case of 'If you don't like what we like. Tough'.

Baggs

If someone one is staying with makes porridge for breakfast surely one does not mention that one doesn't like it? We were brought up to eat what was put in front of you in someone else's house. Wasn't everyone?

The first time DD1 brought her partner to visit (stay) with us I made something eggy for dinner because we had hens and our eggs were really nice. It wasn't until more than a year later when his parents came to visit us on their way to somewhere else that his mother said: "I gather he ate eggs?" and told me he never ate eggs! Well, he never said a word so he was obviously well brought up, said I.

Similarly, DD1 doesn't like tinned baked beans but she jolly well ate them when her grandma served them with a meal.

The only time I felt justified in saying anything when eating in someone else's house was early in a pregnancy when liver pâté was served as the starter. I still said nothing – just couldn't! – and ate it (with no untoward results; not that I worried).

Actual allergies are different of course but one would mention those before arriving.

I would totally agree with that. I remember years ago going to visit relatives and being served tongue sandwiches. I got "the look" from my mother and knew I couldn't possibly refuse to eat them, and I did manage to somehow choke them down, but it was the one and only time I've ever eaten tongue.

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, bread and butter was always expected to be eaten with tinned fruit and evaporated milk. It filled you up, and so you ate less of the fancy food!

Not exactly a rule, but we used to visit friends in a very rural location, where windows were literally never opened. On a first visit, I tried to open our bedroom window, only to find it locked - I had to ask for a key.

They were all locked - even the kitchen windows were never opened - I once I had to go outside because the fatty smell of frying meat made me feel sick.

More than once it occurred to me that their seemingly endless colds must have been at least partly down to so little fresh air ever allowed into that house.

If someone one is staying with makes porridge for breakfast surely one does not mention that one doesn't like it? We were brought up to eat what was put in front of you in someone else's house. Wasn't everyone?

The first time DD1 brought her partner to visit (stay) with us I made something eggy for dinner because we had hens and our eggs were really nice. It wasn't until more than a year later when his parents came to visit us on their way to somewhere else that his mother said: "I gather he ate eggs?" and told me he never ate eggs! Well, he never said a word so he was obviously well brought up, said I.

Similarly, DD1 doesn't like tinned baked beans but she jolly well ate them when her grandma served them with a meal.

The only time I felt justified in saying anything when eating in someone else's house was early in a pregnancy when liver pâté was served as the starter. I still said nothing – just couldn't! – and ate it (with no untoward results; not that I worried).

Actual allergies are different of course but one would mention those before arriving.

I think it’s all a bit weird behaviour except for shoes in the house, I can’t stand it, you don’t know what they have walked in. If they come from their car and have clean shoes that’s ok, if not I would rather they were off. I don’t know anyone that doesn’t do that, especially with cream carpets. So far I haven’t had to ask anyone.

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.

Nope. In a mug.

AmberSpyglass

I take my tea strong and black and sometimes (most of the time) I just drop another tea bag on top of the previous one for maximum caffeine intake. Sometimes there’ll be three or four in by the end of the day and my wife is understandably horrified.

I assume you mean in a teapot!

Not strange but a bit 'off'. Staying with friends a few years ago, we got up in the morning and my friend said 'I've made some porridge'. I told her I didn't like porridge'. She replied that she hadn't got anything else and left me without breakfast!

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!

My mum used to wash cling film after she’d used it and peg it up to dry!

Baggytrazzas

Being told by my granny to choose either butter or jam on a sandwich but not both. And as a child when both visiting or being visited being told to NOT MENTION the ice cream van chimes, under any circumstances, in case people felt obliged to offer to buy ice cream for me and everyone else.

Wait... butter as a filling?

OK toast and butter yes but not sure about butter sandwiches and how dry would ham or cheese be without it!

On holiday in Cyprus visiting my new husband's relatives, there was a water shortage so the toilet could not be flushed at all! With 6 adults and 3 children, and only 2 toilets, I couldn't wait to leave and get back to our hotel that evening.

Being told by my granny to choose either butter or jam on a sandwich but not both. And as a child when both visiting or being visited being told to NOT MENTION the ice cream van chimes, under any circumstances, in case people felt obliged to offer to buy ice cream for me and everyone else.

Smileless2012

The 'if it's yellow let it mellow' one. It was so alien to me that I never managed it and always flushed.

Having honestly tried this one in an attempt to save water and help the environment, and having young children at the time who never flushed anyway, I do regret it.

Because of it being that way when guests came...too embarrassing.

Can't imagine asking a guest to do that

Now have a toilet with a long and short flush

I take my tea strong and black and sometimes (most of the time) I just drop another tea bag on top of the previous one for maximum caffeine intake. Sometimes there’ll be three or four in by the end of the day and my wife is understandably horrified.

shysal

At my granny's house tea bags were saved and hung on the washing line to dry for another day.

Oh my goodness

I have occasionally reused a teabag when I was ŕunning short and I hadn't put the milk in before taking it out but this is definitely strange

When I was a child I had a teacher/friend who lived in a barn conversion, the first one I had ever seen, and I thought it was so glamorous in every way.
But they had purple velvet sofas, and they were always covered in thick plastic sheeting, which wasn’t great to sit on.

Looking back, maybe she only covered them when mucky little children came visiting.

When staying overnight with a friend, whose mother was a light sleeper, I had to try to pee silently and not flush, if mother had gone to bed!

TBH, I was several decades old before I discovered guests taking off their shoes before they enter yoùr house was a thing. I always remember to offer but it feels like an alien ritual.

The 'if it's yellow let it mellow' one. It was so alien to me that I never managed it and always flushed.