"What was a house rule you had as a kid that you thought was completely normal until you grew up and realized not all households followed?"
Who Am I Speaking To?
"I had to answer the phone 'hello this is first-name last-name speaking' whenever I answered the phone."
"This is obv in the 80’s before caller ID on landlines."
"My mom tried to make my childhood friends do it too when they called me to play."
"As in:"
“'Hi can I talk to geeltulpen?'”
“'Who is this?'”
"'It’s friend'.”
“'Well, friend, when you call this house and I answer the phone, you should say hello to me and then tell me that it’s you, your first name and last name, before you ask to talk to geeltulpen'.”
"Boy, was I popular."- geeltulpen
No Secrets In This House!
"My door could only be closed if I was changing clothes."
'If my parents suspected that I was hiding anything, they could, and did, go through anything to make sure."
"Dresser and desk drawers, bags, closet, car, whatever they felt was necessary."
"Even my mail was fair game."
'As a result, I got really good at hiding things."- DonNatalie
Closing Bye Bye GIF by Global EsportsGiphyTreating Family Like A Business
"We had 'family council' every Sunday night after dinner."
"We would sit and say good things that happened that week, share our grievances if we had any, we always did, make a dinner menu, and assign chores."
"Frankly, it was stellar parenting."
"Though, if I mention it to my mother now, she will brag about it for a solid 20 minutes before we can move on."- Illarie
What A Unique Way/Of Communicating With/The Whole Family
"Haiku night dinners."
"Some nights we spoke in haiku."
"And only haiku."- bronwen-noodle
Hilarious... And Inhumane?
"If you ever ran out of toilet paper whilst on the toilet, you had to sing the 'Stranded' song or else no one else in the house would bring you a roll."- kteabrown
The End Reaction GIF by Robert E BlackmonGiphyDon't Have A Cow, Man!
"I had SUPER laid back parents but there were a few certain things that they were randomly crazy strict about."
"No gum."
"No play doh."
"No cereal with sugar as one of the top 3 ingredients."
"No Simpsons."
"I had basically no rules growing up, but those four things would make them lose their g*ddamn minds."
"I still get anxious when I’m chewing gum and I’m 35."- SiFiWiRi
Some People Hate Pineapple On Pizza That Much!
"I come from a large family."
"Any time we'd order pizza, we ordered a few different kinds because, obviously, there were different preferences."
"Any left overs were left in their respective boxes and placed in the oven."
"I did that when I lived with a couple of roommates and of course their reaction was: 'I just burned this box. Why was this in the f**king oven?'"-Justgivme1
One And Done!
"If I got hurt doing a certain activity I wasn’t allowed to do that activity again."
"My mother ended that rule though when I broke my wrist snowboarding when I was 16 and didn’t tell her until a month later when I couldn’t move my wrist at all and it required surgery with a bone graft to repair."-_njhiker
Fox Tv GIF by Paradise HotelGiphyKeep Your Filthy Hands Out Of There!!!
"Not mine but my mother in law and her sister will fuss at you if you wash your hands in the kitchen sink."
"I think that's weird."
"If there's a sink and some hand soap I say wash away."
"My wife isn't like that."- singuslarity
Most rules come from a place of love... or concern.
And in some cases, having proper phone etiquette and weekly open conversations with our families might have had positive effects on our lives.
Although, when visiting the home of your partner's parents and you find yourself in need of toilet paper, better think twice before singing for more.
"What's the dumbest rule your school ever enforced?"
Dress Code!
"Not being allowed to wear hoodies/jackets or sweaters that lacked the official school logo."
"I was a high school teacher for several years, both buildings I worked in were FREEZING, and having admin pull students out of my classroom during a 50 minute period & giving them detention instead of letting them LEARN is cruel and completely unnessesary, in my opinion."- Master_Catch_9089
Logic Prevails!
"My school had 3 staircases along a very long corridor."
"We were banned from using the middle staircase because it got overcrowded."
"The ban was lifted once they realized it only made the other two staircases just as crowded."- bignastty·
Show Everyone How Happy You Are!
"At my kids' elementary school students had to smile while walking in the hall."- HitchhikingCats
Awkward Smile GIFGiphyCoordinated Defiance
"If you throw snowballs, you get a one day suspension."
"The first long weekend after a snowfall everyone would throw snowballs to get an additional day added to the long weekend."- MrFake_Name
Sound In Theory, Lethal In Practice...
"You had to wear your ID around your neck on a rope thing."
"Then the chokings started."- the-zoidberg
Forbidden Sweets
"Candy canes were outlawed because you could sharpen them to a point and use them as a shiv."
"I went to school in rural Washington."
"We definitely weren’t somewhere that shankings were to be expected."- MisterComrade
Santa Claus Christmas GIF by Emo DíazGiphyFlaws With Bureaucracy...
"I got Saturday school for missing a day of classes when I was 16."
"Seems reasonable, except I missed to go complete my US citizenship and officially become a citizen alongside my mom, it took us 12 years to go through the legal process, btw."
"Whole other issue."
"I had a note from my mother as well as a signed official Federal form they give you to explain to school/employers why you were absent."
"Apparently the only acceptable absence excuse was illness."
"I got punished for becoming a citizen."- Lumpy_Constellation
Silence Is Golden
"Elementary school principal banned talking at lunch."
"If you were caught talking or even signing to someone, you had to go sit by yourself on a folding chair with no table."
"There was once my mom came to eat lunch with my older sister and I."
"The principal was like 'Oh you should go eat out in the hallway with your daughters' and she was like 'nah, I'm gonna sit here with my daughter and her friends and talk to them and enjoy their presence'."
"Usually if a parent came for lunch the student could invite one friend to join, unless you had siblings."
"Then it was too many people so you couldn't invite a friend."
"Anyway, one of my older sister's friends whispered to my mom that she was going to move so she wouldn't get in trouble for talking."
"THIS WAS A NINE YEAR OLD."- passatcar
no talking total physical response GIF by ALO7.comGiphySo Much For Standing Up For Yourself...
"That if you say/do anything back to your bully it becomes a mutual conflict and isn't bullying."
"So if they start calling you slurs and making you feel bad every day and you call them stupid once or twice the school probably won't help."
"Also dress code required school branded hoodies.'
"They were 50 dollars."
"If you wore a non school hoodie you got in school suspension."- wowthatfood
Many would say "the rules are not meant to be broken".
However, one should stop and reflect when certain rules were implemented, and what exactly they were intended to prevent.
As these rules might actually be impossible for many to follow.
Then too, one can't help but wonder if people might be better off breaking these outdated rules?
Redditor rabengeieradlerstein wanted everyone to fess up about what scandalous things have always seemed too enticing.
"What forbidden thing do you want to do?"
If I know it's "forbidden"... count me in! Let's talk fun.
Touched
San Diego Lol GIF by San Diego Zoo Wildlife AllianceGiphy"Pet all the animals at the zoo."
uninvitedfriend
"The capybara and I are gonna kick it and have a good time."
Broken_castor
No Knock
"Go to a school or any communal building at midnight and wander around. Open every door and explore everything."
Ellenono
"I always love wandering around and simply being in the university building after a late event when nobody else (except the security guy) is there."
Amina_1999
"I legit worked at a school just so I could know what was behind those forbidden doors."
LeatherDiamond2766
'employees only'
"Go into all the doors marked 'employees only' and 'authorized personnel only.' I'm sure most of them are boring on the other side, but I want to know."
kingspooky93
"Most of them are boring. But in the back of the goodwill stores is where they have the stuff they won't put out - heaps of silver tea sets, mummies, gold bars, vintage jeans, all the vintage vinyl records, 1960's vintage rock t-shirts, the holy grail, the ark of the covenant, pieces of the true cross, and rare coins."
inkseep1
People are Crazy
"Climb up the Pyramid in Egypt."
Likestopound
"We used to (obviously) be allowed, but we can't now cause someone had sex on it. And I think filmed it. At least that's what the guides told me when I went last year!"
telegetoutmyway
"That's not true. Well it may be true that someone had sex on it. But the real reason is because it is extremely dangerous to climb the pyramids. Going up is fairly easy, however, going down is another story."
"There are no steps and the blocks are anywhere from 3 to 4 feet higher than the next. Descending means jumping that three foot drop 150 times. It's impossible to know if the stone you are jumping to is stable or has loose rocks on it. If you mess up, you will tumble all the way down. Many people have died from this."
klmccall42
Secrets
mission impossible GIFGiphy"Break in to the Vatican Vault."
Quebaina
"Now we’re talking! Let’s see all the goodies they got hidden up in there!"
Gigachaz
ET?
"Tour area 51."
gato_brd
"You won't see anything mind blowing; it will all be sorta cool because military but kinda boring otherwise. But because you know that missing piece of the puzzle, that little detail of great value to someone who knows what it means with more context, suddenly you're extremely dangerous."
NTGuardian
Enough
"Steal enough so that I never have to worry about money again."
Fiery_Bunghole
"That's not forbidden it's called running for political office."
Reddot
"This is it. No small time criminal behavior. Just one job that if pulled off, I’m set for life."
Keyboardists
Go Down
"There's this bridge near me that has like a walkway thing that runs underneath it for when it needs repairs and there are big signs everywhere saying authorized personnel only, but I know people go down there all the time. I just wanna go down and take some pictures cause I think the views would be really good, but I'm kind of a goody two shoes."
stephers85
Smack
Ready To Fight Drag Queen GIF by PatrickStarrrGiphy"I've always wanted to hit someone around the face with a fresh salmon."
KbitKfox
"Done this, and had it happen to me. My older bro and I grew up on our dad's salmon fishing boat in Alaska."
fezwang
I'm onboard for all of this. Some rules are just to enticing to break.
Do you have similar law-bending desires? Let us know in the comments below.
Redditor monsterhunter128 wanted to discuss what the things we see as sort of the Robinhood method.
"What is something ethical but illegal?"
I feel like a lot of these rules are only going to apply to the lowly of us. The rich will be able to do all of these. Let's see...
Unreal
all that nicksplat GIFGiphy"Paying off kids school lunch debt."
shunkamunka
"I remember there being a school district with some kids who weren't allowed to graduate cuz of their school lunch debt so a local millionaire offered the district the money to pay off their debt. They refused it."
Segendo_Panda11
Oh America
"Apparently American pharmacists subsidizing insulin for their regulars. I remember reading about one who bought a month’s supply for a customer and she ended up fired and charged with like black market drug dealing."
rasha1784
"Technically, your job isn't to mess with the prices of the life-saving drugs, even if they're manufactured and inflated to 2000% of the cost of production. You're just supposed to give the people whatever prescription they need at whatever price the company says its worth. It's awful."
'Cl0udSurfer
Ridiculous
"Feeding the homeless. You can get fined in my city."
Ok_Relationship_705
"How do they define 'homeless?' Also, it's not like operating a charity soup kitchen is illegal, you just need to follow the same food safety rules and permitting requirements as any restaurant. The main complaint was people violating certain food safety laws and handing out discarded stuff. The idea being you can't use homeless destitute people to discard of food waste for free."
W_O_M_B_A_T
Jump In
"Dumpster diving behind grocery stores."
cellocaster
I totally get it but also keep in mind most grocery stores sell bleach and as far as I know if there is a leaking bottle they have to throw it out and if they do that they probably open it and drain it in the dumpster. There are other reasons as well such as sharp objects and so on."
G1ngerBoy
Good Night
Sleepy The Tourist GIF by HBO MaxGiphy"Apparently sleeping it off in your car is still considered operating while intoxicated."
HybridS9ldier
"Change my mind: The car should actually have to be in motion, or at least the ignition on, before it's considered DWI/OWI."
Comprehensive-Ad3963
The world really has ludicrous rules.
Toss It
Hungry Night Court GIF by LaffGiphy"Taking food that was going to be thrown away, especially as an employee."
the-keen-one
"The employee reasoning is because there was always 'accidental' food at the end of the night. That being said typicaly good restaurants will give their employees a meal for their shift."
goodoleboybryan
No Adding
"Putting money in other people's parking meters which are about to expire."
YodasTinyGreenPenis
"Similarly. In many states (including mine, Oregon), it's illegal to park in prohibited spots even if they're unmarked. Think that through for a second."
"You could park somewhere that is totally legal looking. Nothing saying you shouldn't park there. Nothing saying it's a protected spot (like a carpool spot or one reserved for on-call doctors or something) and it'd still be illegal, even if you had no way of knowing."
haroldtitus425
Thieves
"Pirating media no longer available for sale."
PrednisoloneX252
"Combine that with the fact that the cracked versions of some games work better/are less likely to mess up your computer because the developer used drm like SuckuROM, sometimes for the consumer, it’s better to get the pirated version anyways."
LuckyDuck4
Books
"Pirating college textbooks. Half the time you don’t need them, and when you do, they’re often marked up 500% against what they’re worth. Downloading free digital copies may be illegal, but you bet your a** college kids share those links."
ChallengeLate1947
"Adding onto this, pirating any piece of media that has been abandoned or otherwise no longer obtainable through legal means. A lot of software is probably going to be lost forever because the companies behind them simply don’t care enough after a certain point."
Rickrolled767
Sour Options
Music Video Money GIF by DRAMGiphy"Children selling lemonade without a license."
SuvenPan
"I've seen videos of grown adults calling the cops on kids selling lemonade, it's pathetic. Those adults should get charged for wasting time and resources."
flanderdalton
Homing
"Housing a child that ran away from their abusive/stressful situation at home. I still don't understand this to be honest."
zzshockerzz
"Because unfortunately if the child runs away and the parents are looking for them, it could be considered kidnapping I believe."
CheesyTacos68
"Many many many many many predators target children and teens from abusive or neglectful homes. Legalizing this would be incredibly dangerous."
GaimanitePkat
Pirates
"Downloading pirated movies that either aren't available for sale or for which you have already purchased a DVD or other copy."
UnspecificGravity
"And video games as well."
krazykris93
"I say as long as you own a legitimate copy, and you are not planning on distribution, you should be allowed to."
NoneYours
Morocco
"In Morocco, you cannot hurt or kill someone to stop them from hurting you, even with the presence of thousands of witnesses or if that person was trespassing, you will simply have to hold back and gently let him hurt or kill you while you can't do anything because he has the right to sue you when he gets caught."
Apostorial
find a space...
"Putting money in strangers parking meters."
katastatik
"Why is this illegal??"
ManyBoysenberry6655
"Because meters are supposed to keep people from parking in one place all day so that other people can park there. If you could just keep filling the meter, it’d be cheaper daily parking than most garages and would be full 24/7 and no one would ever be able to park anywhere."
Noob_DM
Thieves
Hungry Season 6 GIF by FriendsGiphy"If you work in a restaurant and the owners want you to throw away unused food, taking it for yourself or giving it away could technically be considered theft."
BewareNixonsGhost
Let's Heal
"Healing plant medicines/paychedelics. Yet alcohol and cigarettes kill millions yearly, yet are still legal. Completely Immoral laws. What I do with my exploring my consciousness is my business if it does not hurt others."
Libertos
"I can't stand drug laws. Sure let's have a drug that makes 99% of people be calmer than buddha himself be illegal and put you in jail. While allowing a drug that makes someone not have any sense for 'Oh wow I should not do this' be legal."
Lucas_2234
Horrible
"In some cases, killing your kidnapper/rapist."
19bluestars
"Imagine being kidnapped for week, hell months and killing your kidnapper to get away and getting locked up for murder. Freaking horrible."
Im_Camman
Home Issues
"In Spain, it is illegal to hurt in any way a home trespasser. If you find someone at your house in the middle of the night and you hurt him, he is able to sue you and, depending on the case, you might end having to pay a fee or even get to prison."
"If someone squatters your house when you are away (they change the lock and stay inside) and you cut off the light service, you will get sued for threatening. You aren't also allowed to use the force to get them out, you would get to prison. Your only chance is to sue them and wait for maybe years to a Judge to give you your home back."
SPSeal
Survival
"Wow. 99% of these are people with no money trying to survive in a way that doesn't actively hinder others. Taking food/recycles from the trash, eating food at work that a customer didn't want or that otherwise couldn't be served, pirating college textbooks, is it just illegal to help the poor?"
StevieMcGhoul
This list is ridiculous. I say feed the homeless and let the kids sell lemonade!!
Do you have similar experiences to share? Let us know in the comments below.