The Weirdest Things That Happen at Other People’s Houses

36. Circling Around Rules

I had a friend in high school whose parents had an all-white living room that they kept immaculately clean. They even kept plastic covers over the couch and chairs as if it were 1960. Anyway, their stairs were literally two steps from the entry hall but those two steps were through the living room which nobody was allowed to walk in except my friend’s parents and their adult guests. So to get upstairs to her room we had to circle through her entire house to come around to the stairs from the other side. Her stepdad was a violent man so they were all too afraid to dare challenge the rule.

It wasn’t terribly inconvenient but it was weird, especially when her mom was watching TV and we had to walk past her and which meant we had to stop for an awkward chat. Really that was the worst of it.

37. A Purrfect Palace

Cleaning a huge condo for a wealthy book publisher, the owner felt that cats were sacred, so they had suspended walkways through the entire 6k sq ft condo for the two cats to walk on, so they could move through every room without having to touch the floor, additionally every 12 feet or so in each room, they had a cat balcony the cats could sit on made out of real crystal, we weren’t allowed to touch them as they were valued at $10,000 apiece.

38. Tent Becomes a Home

Home healthcare worker. Met with a patient who refused to let me enter his house. Our first visits were conducted on the street, between his car and mine. As he grew to trust me, we graduated to sitting on his front porch. The outside of his house had seen better days and could use some fixing up, but it really wasn’t all that bad. It was inside. At some point, the roof had progressed from “needs work” to “caved in” and he essentially had no roof, as it was all hanging down in his living room. He didn’t have the money to fix it or a good tarp. But he did have the money for a tent. And so he lived in a tent inside his house. He still had electricity and a partial roof over the kitchen.

floridianreader

39. Finger-Lickin’ Good

Once when I was a kid I was invited to stay over for dinner at a friend’s house. My friend’s mother poured a large quantity of ketchup into a cereal bowl, which the entire family all casually dipped their fingers into and licked throughout the meal.

reddituser

40. Living Among Trash

Rather than a garbage can, my friend’s family had room to throw away their garbage. A room that served no other purpose than a garbage can. I asked him what they were going to do when it was full, and he just said it wasn’t their problem because they were moving in a few months. Even if you’re moving wouldn’t you rather not have rotting piles of garbage in your house.