People Share The Craziest Things That Are Somehow Legal In Certain Countries
Reddit user fittingpenguin asked: 'What’s the craziest yet still legal thing in your country?'
As foreigners who travel, it's easy to be overcome by culture shock while taking in the sights of different countries.
But we may behave in ways that are completely normal for us back home but are not acceptable in the places we're visiting.
Which makes sense.
There are rules and restrictions we should be aware of before we arrive in a foreign country.
Redditor fittingpenguin solicited input from strangers online to weigh in on conflicting international rules by asking:
"What’s the craziest yet still legal thing in your country?
You probably didn't know these were actual rules.
No Complaining
"A direct ancestor/descendant or spouse of an individual cannot file a theft complaint against that individual except if it's essential documents, like an ID."
– ObjectiveMountain900
Who's The Baby Daddy?
"I always thought the paternity test one was worse for France. Your not allowed to perform one even if you've good suspicion the child may not be yours and you could be liable to child support for another person's kid."
– SoloWingPixy88
Bees Take The Lead
"In Germany, you are allowed to enter private property to follow your honey bee swarm if the swarm is escaping and looking for a new hive."
– lizaahunn
"this is actually the case in lots of countries, where I am they can legally enter your yard to come to get them."
– WRA1THLORD
Things get very specific and downright shocking.
Gotta Be Pitch-Perfect
"In Belgium, anybody can sing or play an instrument in the Streets. In the city of Leuven however, you can be fined if you play your instrument off-key."
– Zuid-Dietscher
"To be fair to Leuven, with all the students running around doing it, I don't blame them."
– Blasmere
Careful The Things You Say
"Someone can be found guilty of defamation even if what that person said or wrote is 100 percent true."
– EHonda92m
"Japan. e.g. if you expose someone for having an affair, that person can sue you for defamation. I suppose it's an expectation of privacy. The only exception is if it's in the "public interest" to know this information."
– TheOvy
Everyone's Playground
"You can freely walk, bike or ski in the nature on any private property. As long as it's not counted as a breach of domestic peace or you are not ruining their crop field or something. For example, even though you see a sign 'private property' in the forest. You are free to go pick mushrooms and berries there. Or you can even fish there freely (only with basic worm fishing rod though) if there's a lake on the property. You can even set up a tent on someone's private property for a short time (1-2 nights) as long as you aren't littering or disturbing anyone for example being noisy or on the way. The country is Finland, and these things are in the Finnish constitution as 'every man's/everyone's rights.'"
– RamuPamu1
What happens if you break the law? There doesn't seem to be consequences here.
Prison Break
"I don't know if it's really crazy, I personally think it's good and reasonable, but here in germany it's not punishable to escape from prison."
"Of course in reality they might charge you with other things like property damage or assault etc. if you damage something or someone on the way out but the act of breaking out itself can't prolong your sentence because the need to be free is a fundamental human desire."
– PetrosiliusZwackel
The Warden's Story
"I watched a doc on European prisons some years back and in a Croatian prison they talked to the warden. He told a story about a man who escaped. A week or so after the escape the prison received a package containing the man’s prison uniform."
"Since he had committed no crimes while escaping (just walked out the doors) and while an escapee, the only thing they could have charged him with was stealing his prison uniform. But since he returned it, there was nothing to charge and he just had to finish out his original sentence."
– CornyCornheiser
Leaving Civilly Is Not A Crime
"Basically, the normal rules of society apply. If you punch a guard to get past them, that's still a crime. If they leave you unattended with the door open or you sneak out under a lorry, that isn't a crime. They can still catch you and return you, but you can't be charged with attempted or successful escape, just any crimes committed in the process."
– Death_God_Ryuk
It's The Soldiers' Call
"Also Germany, soldiers are allowed to disobey orders if they think it violates human dignity. There are other nations with similar rules or even obligations regarding human rights and violation of geneva convention, but protecting even their own dignity is unique (I think)"
– f_cysco
This doesn't have legal consequences but slurping noodles at the dinner table is perfectly acceptable in Japan.
As a matter of fact, the Japanese encourage it.
The Japanese believe that eating noodles while they're piping hot is the best way to enjoy them.
Also, what is perceived as rude etiquette in other countries is actually a sign of validation that the cook prepared the dish well.
People Share The Dumbest Reason They Ever Got Fired From Their Job
Reddit user strykazoid asked: 'What's the dumbest reason a job ever fired you?'
Alex Kotliarskyi on Unsplash
I once worked in a cubicle farm doing finance and accounting. A new employee disappeared just a few hours after the day started.
Eventually they were found.
On the floor.
Under their desk.
Sleeping.
They were promptly fired once they woke up. I wonder how their version of the story goes.
While that was a ridiculous way to be fired, for these folks, the employers were the ones with questionable judgment.
Reddit user strykazoid asked:
"What's the dumbest reason a job ever fired you?"
Heartless
"I was 17. My Grandpa died unexpectedly from a heart attack. My Mother called my work’s office to let me know."
"I was called to the office to talk on the office phone to my mother, and staff (who were told what was going on) left the area so my mother could privately break the news to me."
"I was obliterated of course, and walked outside for about 15 minutes to clear my head. I then went back to work."
"The woman who was in charge of the entire operation fired me for leaving the building."
"Human Resources stepped in and stopped the situation before I could be notified that I had been fired."
"I only found out that this had happened after my grandpa's funeral days later."
"I quit immediately."
~ moochir
Weekly Occurrence
"I had an alcoholic handy man who was promoted to manager. This was a family owned restaurant and this guy had known the father of the current generation."
"He 'fired' me several times a week for not bumming him a cigarette or not wanting to work the second dining room when we had 5 reservations or taking my approved unpaid time off."
"But he was a drunk who started with scotch and moved into amaretto so never remembered."
"I'd just come back the next day."
~ Shababajoe
Going Surfing
"For surfing the internet."
"Punchline: part of my job was to surf the internet and find content for their social media platforms."
"I wish I was making that up. I am not."
~ Sea-Woodpecker-610
Throwing Their Voice
"Fast food manager said a customer complained that he could hear me cussin' in the back."
"It was a couple days later when they fired me, but they said the incident happened on a day I happened to be off."
"I had a feeling the manager didn't like me much and planned poorly on when they'd claim the so called 'incident' happened."
~ Cool1Mach
"'I heard you cussin' when you weren't here. Don't ask me how that's possible'."
~ probablythrowaway71
Not an Escort Service
"I was 16 and refused to date the owner’s niece."
~ VosTutZich
"Do people think other people are property???"
~ Crackheadwithabrain
"Yes. Many, many people who own or manage businesses think exactly this."
~ G0-N0G0-GO
Last In, First Out
"In the days after 9/11 my employer (multinational bank) instantly fired the last 2 people hired in every department where there was redundancy, hedging against a financial collapse whenever the markets reopened."
"I just happened to be the last guy hired in my department."
~ ClmrThnUR
Poor Pandemic Planning
"Covid-19 forced everyone to work from home on hastily setup computers and infrastructure."
"Then they fired the IT staff because we were deemed ‘nonessential’."
"Bit them in the a** hard enough to remove chunks."
~ wkarraker
Not a "Team Player"
"Not 'fired' but let go with severance. CFO told me to make up historical reports because they weren't done in the past, but now required, and wanted to show how so much better metrics are now than in the past."
"What they were asking for was literally not possible to do since the data was not tracked to what they were asking and wanted to tweak the past numbers into a full-on made-up breakdown."
"I told the controller I wasn't comfortable doing this. The next week I got paid out."
"A month later I found out the CFO was canned."
~ Kir-ius
On Your Own Time
"Performance was bad. one of the reasons given was."
"'Reading newspapers in the lunch room'."
"Which was during my scheduled break."
~ tmacdevitt
Oops!
"I wrote a video game script for a small developer. They 'forgot' to tell me when they started voice work—part of my job required me to help with voice acting sessions."
"I finally was invited to a session with a big name actor, especially known in video games. The director asked me why I hadn’t been present for the past two weeks’ worth of recording."
"Apparently, telling the truth, that no one had told me recording had begun, was the wrong move."
"The developers fired me the next day despite my work already being done, which essentially meant I’d have no part in DLC or sequel(s)."
~ drewxdeficit
Should Have Dropped Out
"I worked at Walmart while I was in high school and one of the managers kept scheduling me to open or for me to be there at 2."
"I told them, many times, that I was in high school and those shifts wouldn't work."
"I guess they didn't get that memo; the store manager fired me for missing work and being late."
~ stackjr
What Do You Mean You Were Gone?
"Walmart fired me because they put out the schedule while I was on vacation and put me on the schedule during my approved days off."
"When I brought this up they just told me approved days off are just a suggestion but not guaranteed days off."
~ Tee_hops
Good Customer Service
"I gave highway directions to a customer."
"They fired me for talking to my friends at work."
"I was a barista."
~ Cobra-Serpentress
Bereavement?
"Took a day off for my Grandpa's funeral which was out of town."
"Fired me when I came back the next day."
~ bublesboo
"My wife was fired for not coming to work after she found her father’s 2-day-old corpse in his apartment."
"She had to talk me down from some violent intentions towards her former employer."
~ isinhower
Has an employer ever done you dirty for an absurd reason?
Sound off in the comments.
Things Parents Do That Unknowingly Screw Their Children Over
Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov on Unsplash
Parenting isn't a simple job.
The health, safety and well-being of another human being is on the line. Eventually that human will enter society with all the lessons or traumas of their childhood shaping them.
That's a lot of responsibility.
But even the most well-meaning parents can mess up.
Reddit user RunningInAHurricane asked:
"What do a lot of parents do that unknowingly screws their children over?"
Because I Said So
"Not taking the time to explain themselves on certain topics."
"The whole 'do as I say because I said so' or 'because I had you' is not effective."
~ LiteLit
"Yes! Rules should always have valid rationales behind them. Ones that you can explain fully."
"'Your room must be clean: building habits and routines makes life way easier and keeping a clean house can help reduce the chance of injury from tripping or pests'."
"Bedtime is 8: sleep is very important for our health. If we dont get enough, we het cranky and dont function as well'."
"Yadda yadda. Adjust for age."
"And you can build in safe phrases for times when your kids need to listen and follow directions without question. These are used like this: 'if I ever grab your arm and say "apples aren't oranges" you need to do as i say because it is a matter of your own safety. Once we are safe, I will explain'."
~ Lostintranslation390
Selective Memory
"Forgetting what it was like to be that age, and expecting their kids to react differently to things than them when they were that age."
~ MunkRubilla
"People are quick to forget what being a teenager is like."
"It's hard on the body physically and mentally just from the hormones, all of their friends are going through the same sh*t, and they're also desperately trying to find their place in the world at the stage in between childhood and adulthood."
~ Cautious_Hold428
Critical Thinking
"Not teach them to think for themselves."
"They need to think independently from other people."
"My favorite thing my parents taught me was to not have a hive mind mentality and think things through before believing and using them."
~ GimmiwCoconut
"I'm 24 and recently visited family for a week.
"It's amazing how my mom immediately started trying to make my choices for me regarding what I do, wear, and eat."
"It's not malicious on her part, it's just a force of habit. But my God is it infuriating."
~ DisposableCharger
Failure Is An Option
"They fail at letting their kids fail and figure out how to recover."
"It prevents the kids from becoming resilient."
~ BS623-902
"This starts when they're little."
"You have to let the 2 year old struggle with the toy or puzzle and not just do it for them when they start to cry and get frustrated."
"It's okay for your kids to cry about being frustrated, you don't need to immediately stop it."
~ lexrp
Inside Voice
"Shouting at them instead of having a conversation."
~ therapoootic
"My husband is incapable of just having a conversation with our 15-year-old son."
"He's always shouting because he doesn't like the way our son looks at him or because he feels he's not being shown respect."
"This all boils down to him projecting his frustrations, as he can't shout at people at the office or on the street."
"So he does it at home. It's annoying."
~ DisastrousGarage9052
Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
"Not apologize when they’re wrong."
~ Mlaer7351
"I’ve never heard my mum apologise to me ever."
"She’s said many hurtful things to me in the past that I’ve never let go of because she never came to apologise for any of the things she said."
"If she had simply apologised and admitted that what she said was wrong and hurtful, I think that things between us would be so much better."
~ ellie_wxbster
Control
"Might sound a little contradictory but either not disciplining them or disciplining them way too much."
~ RandomRamblings99
"The disciplining too much hits hard."
"I know so many kids with strict parents that became druggies the second they left for college."
"Nobody taught them to have self agency because their independence never existed until they left their homes."
~ Redacted_G1iTcH
"I never had chores to do around the house. I never had a curfew. I was rarely told no."
"I was spoiled to the point where my parents would be willing to pay for my Ubering everywhere because they were too afraid I would get in an accident if I drove a car. I'm 29 and don't have a license and pay for that almost every day."
"Basically grew up like a princess. My mom came to my doctor's appointments and even sometimes made said appointments for me (cause I couldn't make phone calls) until I finally moved out."
"And by that, I mean moved out of the house, country, continent."
"I've been living on my own for over two years now. I'm still alive. They made fun of me, saying I grew up like a princess and because of it, I wouldn't last a day without my family."
"Yes, I'm still very much codependent and talk with them more than anyone else even now—but I proved to myself that I can take care of myself. I'm a different person, and that's the first thing my sibling said to me when we spent some time together recently."
"I'm a full-blown grown-up now. And I'm glad I jumped into it. It was so hard, but I'm getting better at it. Slowly but surely."
~ Ancient_Reply4583
Gimme Shelter
"Over sheltering them."
"You can't protect your kids 24/7 for their whole lives."
"It leads to naive adults that get taken advantage of."
~ Chosen_of_Nerevar
"I think some parents confuse 'trauma' with 'adversity'."
"Trauma can lead to long lasting emotional, social, mental, and physical issues. Consequently, trauma should be avoided at all costs."
"However, adversity can lead to personal growth, perseverance, and confidence building."
"Parents (and society as a whole) need to be able to distinguish one from the other."
~ triton2toro
Parenting is hard work and no one will get everything right all the time.
All anyone can do is try their best.
Countless emotions arise when going on a first date.
Making this all the more difficult is that a first date is one of the few things that absolutely must be done solo, so bringing friends as backup simply isn't an option.
Leaving one to wish there was a handbook for navigating a first date successfully.
Of course, while there is no official guide, everyone has rules and beliefs about what to do and what to avoid on a first date.
From how to effortlessly bring out your best qualities, to a foolproof escape plan if your date is anything but the one you've dreamed your whole life of meeting.
"What's an unspoken rule on a first date?"
EyeContact, And Not With Your Screen...
"Your phone is not part of the date."- Wonderful-Note9289
"Don't be on your phone the whole time."
"And don't talk about your ex."- HoW-LoNg-DoCtOR-YES
Think Very Carefully Before That Second Round
"Don’t drink too much."- drivethruhell
"Had a date like this."
"Within the first 90 minutes they had taken like three shots, and were on their third drink."
"I understand wanting to calm your nerves, but damn."
"The whole 'you need to play catch up LOL' isn't as cute as you think it is."
"We did not go on any other dates."- mothershipq
Drink GIFGiphyThere Is no Scent More Intoxicating Than Your Own...
"Have a shower beforehand."- Porriz
"And take it easy with the perfume/cologne."
Your date shouldn't smell you before they see you."- imnotlouise
No One Likes A Moocher...
"Don't order any extras plates to eat at home with your mom when the other is paying."- lil_wavey999
Always Be On The Same Page...
"Both should know it is a date."- mosquitohater2023
"I met a woman at an out of town festival through a friend of mine that she was hooking up with."
"She ended up taking too many shrooms and I spent an hour with her helping her to feel calmer."
"She is a traveling nurse and was going to be in my city in a few weeks so we exchange numbers and when she gets in town she asked if I want to get some sushi."
"Happy to make a new friend, we meet up, talk a lot about my friend that she’s hooking up with telling funny stories about him."
"Eventually it comes up that I’m leaving the next day for a 3 week trip to Europe with my girlfriend and she screams, 'I thought this was a f*cking date!'"
"Reeeeaaallly awkward."- redmoskeeto
Dating Wtf GIF by MaxGiphyBe Open And Transparent...
"Not a rule but never make the other person carry the conversation."
"You're both here to make an effort and give each other the respect."
"If you both want different things then let it be said after."
"No need to hurt someone's self-respect for your ego."- Arkjump
"Be there with honest intentions and nothing else."- S-Vagus
Or At Least Be Willing To Share
"Don’t order 3 full meals."- WinkMartindale
"AND expecting him to pay for all of it."
"I mean sure if you want to take some home for your mom, you pay for that yourself."- Widowhawk·
GiphyBe Prepared For A Lack Of Shared Interests...
"Leave the coin collection at home, wow her with that on the second date."- IronLion11·
Choose Your Activities Carefully
"Don't go to the movies or a fancy dinner on your first date if you don't already know this person."
"The movies is a place where you sit in silence for 2 hours staring straight ahead."
"That does not give you any opportunity to get to know the other person."
"A sit down dinner can be perfectly fine, but if you know within the first 10 minutes that you have no desire to spend any more time in this person's presence, you're stuck through the rest of the meal."
"First dates should always be intentionally short with an option to extend."
"Coffee, froyo, drinks, things that can turn into an hour of talking or 'would you like to grab a bite to eat?'"- baltinerdist
Get Your Emotions Under Control
"Don't excuse yourself to go to the bathroom and then accidentally think about your ex while in there, have to fight back tears, and then come back to the table after way too long, with puffy red eyes."
"Whoops." - Reddit
Sad That 70S Show GIF by LaffGiphyJust Be Open And Honest... To an Extent...
"Don't: Unload on your date about your trauma."
"Gotta keep that sh*t under wraps until at least date 5."
"Do: Be yourself, unless your whole personality teeters on your traumatic history--in that case, self-deprecating humor will suffice until you can successfully abandon all hope and sit in your car for an hour to cry afterward."-Deep-Essay-4829
A Conversation Is A Two-Way Street
"Usually when asked a question I’d answer it and then hit her with a 'what about you?'"
"To ensure that I wasn’t dominating the convo."
"Let the other person speak."- bumboclawt
... NOPE...
"Bring an egg, uncooked, in your pocket."
"Casually let it fall out at the end of the date."
"This establishes you as a breadwinner, who else has the money to just carry eggs around in their pockets?"
"When your date, inevitably, wants to know more about the egg just shrug it off."
"You're not here to brag, your egg does that for you."- wearywarrior
Broken Heart Love GIF by Share It AgainGiphyIf there is one rule absolutely everyone should follow when going on a first date, it's not being beholden to rules, spoken or unspoken.
After all, the best romances are often the ones which happen organically.
Love cannot be forced.
People Break Down The Most Ridiculous Rules They've Ever Seen Enforced In Someone's House
We've all heard the phrase, "their house, their rules," and in general, we tend to respect that concept and follow the rules when we're visiting someone.
But even if we're being respectful, sometimes it's still surprising how some people decide to run their homes.
Redditor SalMinellaOnYouTube asked:
"What's the most ridiculous rule you've heard someone have for their house/family/children?"
Possible Munchausen by Proxy
"I had a friend in fifth grade and her mother was legitimately insane. She wouldn’t let her daughter come to my house because we had carpeting."
"I think she had some Munchausen by Proxy because she was convinced her child was allergic to everything, including dust mites/any innocuous dirt in carpeting."
"The girl also developed an eating disorder. She was a dancer when we were kids, and her mother apparently monitored what she ate extremely closely. I felt so badly for her."
- j4321g4321
'Troll' Translates to... 'Troll'
"When I was a kid, we used to play a game called 'Tunnels and Trolls' (it was basically a cheap 'Dungeons and Dragons' ripoff), and one of our friends with ultra-religious parents wouldn't let him play because 'troll' is Swedish for 'devil.'"
"To this day, I have no idea whether that's even true."
- Schwann-Port
Early to Bed
"I went to visit a college roommate's family, and everyone had to go to bed at 8 PM because that was the youngest daughter's bedtime. The kid was eight or nine years old."
"I laughed because I thought they were joking, but the kid threw a tantrum that I wasn't going to bed. They weren't kidding. I did, obviously, but what the f**k?"
"The next day, the parents told me it would be best if I just headed on back to college a day early. Yeah, no kidding, bye!"
"My roommate thought I was the a**hole."
"I laughed at her, too."
- AhFFSImTooOldForThis
The No-Sitting Room
"When I was a kid, my friend's mom was a little nuts. She had a sitting room with a couch and a love seat that nobody was ever allowed to sit on. You had to walk through that room to get to the rest of the house, and it led to the kitchen and then the living room."
"If you sat on the furniture in the sitting room, she'd throw a fit. I always felt like it was such a waste, to have such a nice room and never use it. It would have been a perfect study room or reading room."
"She also had other crazy rules, like punishing my friend when his little sister did anything wrong. As if he was responsible for her actions and looking out for her."
- Samisoy001
"A friend of mine in high school had a room like that in her house. It was basically a second living room, but nobody was allowed to walk into it or sit on the furniture."
"I always thought it was weird. Why have a room with nice furniture in it that you never use? Her mom was nice, but she was a major clean freak."
- MeowMeNot
"We had that room. It was the 'living room,' and the other room we actually sat in was the 'family room.'"
"The living room always had lines in the carpet from the vacuum, and no footprints because we weren't allowed in there. Maybe on Christmas. Maybe."
"It was a clean but tense house."
"In my house, we use every room."
- GloomyCamel6050
The Houseguest Price
"That guests have to pay for their stay."
"They invited me for dinner and then calculated how many minutes I was over, charged for my portion of food, drink, electricity, and water usage. Yes, they also counted toilet flushing and timed me on hand washing."
"This happened over a decade ago. I was pretty new to the mainland US at the time (I came from Guam), and I didn't know how out of left field being charged was until I told more people about it over the years."
"I think my friend's stepdad was just a super cheap guy. But I could never do this to anyone."
- khalavaster
Sore Loser, Much?
"A friend's parents had a pool table. His mom decided to play with us one day and gave us the house rules."
"She said, 'When it's someone's turn to shoot, I tell them. If someone gets ahead of me, they lose their turn. Everyone plays very hard, and in the end, I win.'"
- CrediblyHandsome
Gross... or Strange?
"Family friend wasn't allowed to say the word 'gross' because it was his mom's maiden name; I'm guessing she'd been teased as a kid and hated it."
" My brother said it in front of him at our house once and the kid freaked out and told my mom he'd said a really bad word. That mom was just making her kid weirder with that one."
- EnvironmentalSkin488
That's Awkward
"Had a friend who was very much into computer gaming in the late '90s/early 2000s. Voodoo video cards were very much in vogue, but his parents forbade him from using the term, 'voodoo,' even in reference to the card."
"They suggested they he instead call it the 'V-card.' The hilarity of the situation was lost on them."
- staggerb
Kicked Out
"When we were 13, a friend of mine was kicked out of the house by his parents for a week because he stacked things wrong in the freezer, and some bread got squished."
"He spent the week staying at different friends' houses each night until his parents let him come back home."
"The mom was super religious and tended to be pretty strict, but tried, unsuccessfully, to hide it when any of our group were at their house. The stepdad wasn't allowed to have much input when it came to any punishments because he wasn't the bio dad."
"My friend and his sister were always punished pretty much immediately by the mom, and the stepdad would just kinda disappear. Regardless of the error made, the punishments would build until she would snap and say something like, 'Get out of my house, I don't want to see your face!'"
"She was definitely verbally and emotionally abusive, but I never saw signs of physical abuse."
"There were multiple occurrences of me or other friends going to spend the night and being sent back home shortly after because she was in a bad mood and my friend didn't have his room clean enough for her liking, like a plate and fork on the dresser from breakfast or a couple of clothing items on the floor."
- Disastrous-Manager95
A Clean Yard
"I was five and at a friend’s house. We were playing in the leaves outside. There was a box of leaves I wanted to move closer to his box of leaves. My box had no bottom, so the leaves spilled out into a small pile."
"He went and told his mother, and she came out and spanked me, quite hard."
"I ran home crying to my Mom, partly because it hurt and partly because of the injustice."
"She comforted me but didn’t do much else (or so I thought). I learned, decades later, my Mom called up the spanker and told her to never lay a hand on any of her children ever again."
- Utterlybored
Proactive Healthcare
"My stepmom had a totally bonkers rule about feet. She was irrationally afraid of plantar warts and, according to her, anyone she didn't know intimately had plantar warts. As a family, we had a second home/beach house that was basically a small bungalow and only had one restroom with one stall shower."
"Nobody, no friends, relatives, could use that shower after the beach because they'll get their plantar wart all over the floor and then she'll take a shower and she'll get plantar warts."
"We also had a swimming pool and she would make new people, including children, WEAR SOCKS IN THE SWIMMING POOL. And as far as I know, nobody living in our house including her ever had plantar warts so... unreasonable? Sure. Effective? Sure."
- Sister_Christina
Water Limit
"When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time at my best friend’s house. Her mom wouldn’t let us drink more than one glass of water in the afternoon because she thought it would dilute the nutrients in our bodies. Instead, she gave us 7-up if we were thirsty."
"I ended up secretly drinking water out of the bathroom faucet every time I used the bathroom when I was thirsty at her house."
- SeaStarless
No Snacks
"My kid had a friend over recently (high school) and we offered him a snack. He said maybe, is that allowed? Then he mentioned getting an A on a test so we said, then you deserve an extra special after-school snack."
"We offered several options like cereal, goldfish crackers, etc. He cried because no one had ever offered an after-school snack, much less said good job on an A. So sad."
- FloridaParalegal
No Alcohol Allowed
"My wife once had a friend over for a sleepover when she was little. Suddenly, their mum showed up to take them home."
"Apparently, the friend had seen beer in the fridge and called her mum crying because of it. They were not allowed to look at, talk about, think about, and especially drink, beer."
"It scared her so much that she called her mum to come to get her."
- Thecell1990
Welcome Home
"Whenever I had friends over as a kid, my mom would say something like, 'We’ll probably forget to offer you anything, but please help yourself to anything in the fridge or pantry if you get hungry' (she would still offer, though, if she was making something for herself later or it was lunch time)."
"I didn’t think much of it at the time. Honestly, I thought it seemed a little overboard sometimes, but now I know she did that because you never really know what someone’s situation is at home."
"Maybe they struggle to afford enough food, or maybe there’s abuse or neglect going on. Kids in those situations may have also been taught not to ask or accept things from other people or might have shame or guilt around them."
"She wanted to make sure that if anyone was hungry in our house that they got fed and knew they didn’t have to feel bad about it."
- CumulativeHazard
If this thread taught us anything, it's that there's no telling what's really going on behind closed doors and what someone else is going through. Remember to show others kindness, especially when you invite them into your home.