The awkward moment when you are at someone’s house and your eyes glance over something you are pretty sure you weren’t suppose to see. We’ve all been there.
The following Ask Redditors share the most “what the heck” things they’ve seen at someone’s house, that the residents thought was normal.
Find the original thread source at the end of the article.
I was probably 13 and went with my dad to our neighbors’ house because they were having a BBQ.
We walked in and the house was covered with those creepy porcelain dolls that you think are always watching you. There were hundreds of those things! On top of tables, counters, stacked against the wall, even on top of the fridge.
It turns out our neighbors’ wife was obsessed with them. Her husband acted like everything was okay too. And when I asked her why she had so many she replied with They are my children.’
I never went back.
add1023
There’s a framed photo of William Howard Taft prominently displayed in my parents’ dining room. My father lovingly refers to him as “Uncle Howard.”
We’re not related to Taft. We have no ties to him or his presidency at all. I don’t even know how we got the portrait.
Knerdian
When the family of a friend of mine had popcorn for snacks, they had one bowl of popcorn and another one of salt so you should lick the popcorn and dip it in the salt.
It was a shared salt bowl.
Boleberg
My friends mother had 42 cats. However, to my amazement, the house never reeked of cat urine, hardly a cat hair was to be found and they were all very, very friendly.
I found it a little discomforting at first, but every time I went there, it was like a fun game of ‘Find The Hidden Object In The Picture.’ Youd walk in and immediately see 10 cats here and there.
Then you notice one behind the T.V…another near the chair…one on the stairway. Unusual to say the least, but Id imagine a nightmare for anyone with allergies. And you were guaranteed a snuggle buddy while watching a movie.
Weekend_Squire
I was cleaning the neighbor’s house yesterday for the first time. I have to help do his laundry. When I opened the dryer to put in a load of wet clothes, the lint trap was full of lint AND peanuts! There are peanuts EVERYWHERE all over the laundry room floor.
deanie1970
My sister lives in my mother’s house.
They each have dogs that are not house trained. They have tile floors, and the dogs just do their business wherever, and then they clean it up. The place stinks of dog piss, but they do not seem to see anything wrong with it.
It is 100% gross and I hate visiting.
FrightenedOfSpoons
I spent the night at my cousins’ house last weekend, and they’re are hardcore Mexican, like tortillas with every meal Mexican.
Anyways, I was making a fried egg Saturday morning and I needed a spatula to flip it. I asked them where their spatulas were and they were like “for an egg? Just use your hands.” And then my older cousin flipped my egg with her fingers.
I was like “what the heck” and she was like “oh I don’t really feel pain in my fingertips anymore, flipping tortillas got rid of it.” And I was shook because even my mom who’s been flipping tortillas for like 40 years still uses a spatula, but to them it was nothing.
pizzakillah
My very first sleepover when I was four.
The mom took us home from school and the dad came over later in the evening. We had dinner and then we kids went to play in the bedroom while the grown-ups watched T.V. Eventually we were put to bed. In the morning I was absolutely horrified to see the parents come out of the same bedroom. I asked my friend about it who shrugged and said that always happened. I asked where the dad lived and was told he lived there at THEIR HOUSE! I instantly lost respect for that loser, thinking to myself “what kind of deadbeat dad mooches off his kids and baby mother instead of finding his own place like a decent human being?”
I told my mom about it when I went home where she explained that it was normal for some parents to live together. I felt so sorry for my friend. I really thought they were poor.
Nameshavebeenaltered
I visited my old professor one day to catch up over a cup of coffee. She had a room which featured an elaborate display of vintage sex toys. It was mostly early 20th century to mid-century generic toys but she had a few antique “pocket pussies.”
Dumbledore27
I was fixing the plumbing of an old building and had to go downstairs into the building maintenance guys apartment to access the main water shut off. There were 8 tiny chihuahuas pissing and crapping all over the place and barking out of control every time I made any noise.
This dude lived in a dungeon with no windows and just a bed with literally droppings all over it and a nasty little kitchen in the bedroom. I have been homeless before and although it was not fun, I would take that in a heartbeat over this little weird rat dog dungeon.
MusicTravelWild
There was a full carpet in the bathroom. It was a nice house too.
I can’t imagine what kind of mold that environment fostered.
TalontheKiller
I saw cups of milk that had been sitting on the counter so long that they were solid.
RoryDeanWinning
My friends mom was making Rock Soup. She threw actual rocks from the backyard into the pot on the stove for dinner.
I immediately deemed her a witch and ran home.
Fetch_Lauderdale
Their cat, curled up on the bottom stair.
Not so weird, you might think, except their cat had been killed by a car two years previously. They’d had it stuffed.
bunnybunnybaby
So much garbage.
Also, empty Pepsi and beer cans displayed because they were limited edition and will someday be valuable.
These people were in their fifties.
najing_ftw
When I was 13 I had a friend who lived in the same apartment complex as me who I’ll call “Sandy.” Sandy always dressed in clean stylish clothes and always smelled really nice. She lived with her dad and older brother and they were always out golfing together.
Even though we lived in the same apartment building I never saw inside of Sandy’s apartment because we always hung out outside. But one day she asked if I wanted to come over and I said sure. We went to the front door and as soon as she opened it a wave of hot air stinking of cat piss hit me in the face like a Mack truck. It was super dark in the living room but I could see piles of clothes and trash everywhere. There were cats sleeping here and there and an overflowing kitty litter box next to the couch. I thought, ‘okay then.’
We went to her bedroom and it stunk to high heaven of dirty clothes and old rotted food. There were dirty dishes everywhere and her white bed sheets had period stains all over them. I mean all over.
I could not believe my eyes because she seemed so…clean. How could this be? I sat on the floor and we talked a bit when she needed something from her brother’s room. We went down the hall and her brother’s room was a pigsty too. The only thing that seemed of worth in their home were their golf clubs. Everything else was broken or needed to be thrown in a landfill. After some time Sandy asked if I wanted a snack and I said sure…
So off we went to the kitchen and it’s packed full of food and snacks, nice! She hands me a box of Cheez-it’s and I immediately dig in because I’m really hungry at this point. As I stood there talking to her and eating Cheez-it’s I happen to look into the box when I see multiple cockroaches crawling on the crackers I was eating. I instantly closed the box and told her I wasn’t hungry anymore. In fact, there were roaches everywhere on the counters, walls, and floors but I didn’t notice them at first because it was so dark. I told her I needed to go home after that and that was the last time I ever stepped foot inside her apartment.
sunnyvaleinhell
Playing at my best friend’s house when I was maybe 9 or 10, I noticed something that looked like a fish tank with a cloth draped over it. I asked him what it was, so he removed the cloth to show me.
Apparently his pet hamster had died the week (or more)ago and instead of burying his little buddy, he had decided to just drape a cloth over it’s home instead. The thing was black, stunk, and no longer bore any resemblance to a hamster.
Now that I’ve also lost a small pet, too, I’m even more horrified by the nonchalant way he and his parents just let it rot in their house.
Azramikon
Two lovely photo portraits of my friend breast feeding her children.
Except they were two and three years old at the time.
Because that’s how old they were when she adopted them.
estrogyn
Some self-made machine that was taped to the ceiling which had some kind of hose hanging down. It automatically sucked up bottle caps so you didn’t have to walk to the trash can while sitting on the couch.
KapiteinStrijkijzer