It is often believed that a person’s home is an extension of their personality and values. So, as the visitor, what you see upon entering the house may leave a ton of impressions, good and bad.
These stories, however, unfortunately focus on the latter. Various people online came together to share their worst, most regrettable experiences after visiting someone’s home. What they saw was so bad that they swore never to return.
If you have any similar experiences, feel free to share them in the comments below.
#1
When I was dating my husband, he was 20 still at home with mom and new step dad. I took one foot in the door and almost ran away. Debated never talking to him again, seriously.
Piles of this and that, piles of smelling clothes, moldy dishes, couldn’t ever find a clean cup. 6 cats that peed on everything, 2 younger brothers.
I mean I can’t even explain it.
I told him my concerns and he said no one cares but him – I witnessed him weekly putting on gloves and a mask to clean the entire kitchen for the next day it to be immediately piled high again.
I’m glad I stuck it out with him and took a chance- turns out he’s even tidier than I am and it truly was just the environment his mom created.
Image source: SystematicScribble, Alexander F Ungerer
#2
Hygiene.
It was so disgusting that i just couldnt bring myself to ever go over there again.
And it was a gradual thing. They were 4 dudes renting a two story house with a Jacuzzi.
So it was basically an awesome party pad.
We had some really awesome parties there but as time went on they started cleaning less and less until it started looking like a hoarder home.
The last time we were there we decided to have some hangover pizza but there was no clean cutlery to be found and the sink was full with dishes, sure it’s ok with dishes, but these had been there so long mold had formed.
And the carpet was so dirty you had to watch your step. And i didn’t notice all this because we arrived late in the evening and spent most time outside in the garden drinking and smoking.
But yeah, no.
Image source: affemannen, Lucas Andrade
#3
I was in middle school, my mom was going out of town for a few days so it was arranged for me to spend a few nights at a friend’s house down the street. The friend had a younger brother who was an absolute spoiled little brat. Tantrums any time he didn’t get his way, rude to his family members, etc.
Day two staying there I had already seen him cuss out his mom, throw a fit about my friend and I playing our own games, and have a public meltdown about not getting to ride in the front seat. That evening while my friend and I were hanging out minding our own business he started messing with me specifically, he wanted to play my gameboy which I was actively using. After I politely told him no he snatched it out of my hands and ran off. I yelled at him to stop and give it back, when his mom came over. Instead of discipling her little jerk she had the audacity to tell me it was my fault for not giving it to him and that “in this house we treat each other with respect”.
I packed up my stuff and walked home. When my mom called because she got a call from their family about me being missing I told her what happened. I was allowed to just stay home alone for the next two days after that.
No way am I going to sit through your brat being a little jerk for days only to have you be a god darn hypocrite to my face.
Image source: WorkLemming, Keira Burton
#4
It was a hoard. A clean hoard, but a hoard. She has or had a habit of taking anything that’s free, whether it’s operational or needed or has space. “I’m going to restore that!” That habit had escalated in between my second to last visit there and my last visit. I was staying in the guest room, which had a sliding glass door. In the past I’d been able to walk right out onto the patio. Now, she’d piled so much trash in front of it that if I wanted to go out to the now- hoarded patio, I would have had to somehow launch myself sideways over the pile, assuming I could get the door open. I’d taken the train down to visit, so I didn’t have vehicle access or I would have looked for a hotel. The whole train ride home, I was contemplating calling Adult Protective Services, but didn’t see what good it would do.
I was scared for her. She’d installed a lock on her front door so that you needed a key to get out. She left the key in the lock all the time, so I’m not sure what the point was. I was just imagining trying to get out in a fire. You’d have to be familiar with the location of the access trails. And hope the front door key hadn’t fallen out.
The bathroom was clean and scrubbed. Kitchen was clean but cluttered. But god darn, the piles of stuff everywhere.
Image source: tubbamalub, Brett Jordan
#5
When I was like 11 I had been at a friend’s who I spent most days with. The next time I went round I got told off by his Mum and told that I’d broken one of the wooden posts in the stair banisters. I 100% hadn’t and I’m pretty sure it was his younger sister, but everyone in the house including my friend blamed me for it.
Image source: SimonsPure, cottonbro studio
#6
I barely remember this, but my family tells the story enough I know all the details. When I was in elementary school, there was a girl about my age who lived across the street.
Convenient, and her parents were pretty rich, so she had all the coolest toys. She was kind of spoiled and self centered tho, and if we hung out we ALWAYS had to do whatever she wanted or she’d get pissy.
Usually, our interests aligned so it wasn’t a huge deal, but one day I just was sick of whatever she wanted to do and she told me that it was her house, and if I didn’t want to play what she wanted, I could leave. I just said “ok,” left, and never went back.
Told my parents what happened when they asked why I was back so soon, I didn’t really understand why they were cracking up and were so proud of me, but I was happy with the praise.
Looking back I’m impressed with myself, too, and I’m pretty sure that was the first time anyone had ever stood up to her. If only I had understood what I’d done and looked at her face, I bet it was hilarious. Hope she grew from that experience.
Image source: ThatKaren, mohamed abdelghaffar
#7
In my early 20s, my friend and I would stay the night with each other every other Saturday and just alternate whose apartment we stayed at. A couple of days after I stayed at her place one weekend I found out I had head lice, so of course the first thing I did was tell her so she’d know to get checked for it and take the steps needed around her place to make sure any eggs or stray lice didn’t survive.
She freely admitted that she knew she had lice before I came over and just didn’t say anything because she didn’t want me to cancel, and that it wasn’t a big deal anyway because you can get rid of lice “easily”. I never went back to her apartment after that and she was never invited to mine again.
Image source: buryyourbones9, Polina Zimmerman
#8
His parents were Portuguese immigrants. His mother was **extremely** house proud. There were a lot of controlling rules like us kids were not allowed to stay on the 1st or 2nd floor. Basement rec room only. Even if it was snowing or raining, we had to take our foot wear off while on the porch and so on.
The main reason though was getting yelled at in Portuguese by her and then her chewing out her son for a long time because I ate a grape.
The father was growing grapes in the backyard to make wine. My friend told me he had to buy most of his grapes because an inner city back yard just couldn’t produce enough. But I was never ever to bring that up or question the father. Father was extremely proud of his grapes and the wine he produced from them.
In season, one of the parents would pick the most perfect looking bunch of grapes from the vine and put it on display in a bowl on the kitchen table. Apparently this display purposes only bunch was darn near sacred to them. And by grabbing one I had broken a rule that you were to never help yourself to a snack. You stood politely in the kitchen doorway and asked.
So, one grape, two “sins”. When my friend was able to come back outside later he told me I was now banned from their house forever.
Image source: Barbarian_818, Luiz M. Santos
#9
I’ve been fortunate to not have dealt with the extreme pet or hygiene issues mentioned!
Here’s mine – **extreme cheapness leading to extremely cold house.**
One of my best friends who I knew in high school but became inseparable in college, in each other’s weddings and so on … bought a house in Connecticut and my wife and I went to spend the weekend. I’d helped them move in but that was the prior summer. It was very cold weekend in general, but this is where we learned that their windows were leaky and the heating system was inefficient … and that because of how cheap my friend was he would only turn on the heat above ‘pipe freeze levels’ in the room he was using. So we were all in layers and with blankets … and then the next morning woke up to it being 51F in our room! Couldn’t tell if the shower was hot or cold, and had the heat in the car on the way home. Oh – we left after dinner on Saturday claiming something came up rather than enduring another night!
Image source: txa1265, Miguel Rodríguez
#10
None of the bathrooms ever had toilet paper. The roll was alway empty next to the toilet AND they never had extras under the sink…like, what?!
Image source: BandicootMotor3896, Jas Min
#11
Her children. They know absolutely no discipline or boundaries. They jumped on me and slapped at me and pulled my hair and tried to go through my purse the entire time I was there and my friend did nothing about it and even gave me a weird look when I told the youngest that it’s not okay to hit. I haven’t gone back to her house since.
Image source: glitteringemptiness, Marta Wave
#12
His horrible step dad wasn’t able to keep it in check when I was over. Yelled at me and hit him a bunch. Told mom and we had my friend over as much as possible. I assume my parents and the school got CPS involved because we didn’t see his dad pick him up from school anymore.
Image source: aLongHofer, Daka
#13
I met this guy during my freshman year of high school. We sat next to each other in biology, bonded over hating group projects, and eventually became friends.
One weekend he invited me over to his house to work on a presentation.
Now, before I continue, I should mention that I had gotten a little high beforehand. Not completely gone, just enough that I was already questioning some of my life choices.
I showed up, rang the doorbell, and his dad answered. Completely naked. Not shocked naked. Not “I just got out of the shower” naked. Comfortably naked. Like this was a completely normal Tuesday afternoon.
My brain immediately assumed the grass was way stronger than I thought. I literally looked away, looked back, and thought, “Nope. Still naked.”
His dad smiled and said, “You must be Jake’s friend. Come on in.” I stood there for a solid three seconds trying to decide whether I was hallucinating.
Then my friend appeared behind him and said: “Oh yeah, we’re nudists. Forgot to mention that.” FORGOT TO MENTION THAT. That’s not something you forget. That’s like forgetting to mention you own a giraffe.
At this point I was already there, so I awkwardly walked in. The thing is, nobody else seemed to think anything was weird.
His mom was making sandwiches. Naked. His older brother was watching TV. Naked.
The dog had a bow tie on. The dog was somehow the most formally dressed member of the household.
Meanwhile I was trying to figure out whether this was real life or if I’d somehow wandered into the strangest dream of all time.
At one point I actually texted my friend from the bathroom: “Is everyone naked?”
He replied: “Yeah.” That was the entire response. No explanation. No warning. Just “yeah.”
The funniest part was that they were incredibly nice. Nobody made a big deal about it. Nobody acted strange. The only person malfunctioning was me.
Then lunch happened. His dad stood up and said, “Can somebody pass the mustard?” And for some reason that completely broke me. I had to stare at the wall because I was trying so hard not to laugh.
When I finally got home, my mom asked how it went. I said: “Honestly, I don’t know.” She asked: “What do you mean?” I just replied: “I need about 24 hours to process what happened.”
I never went back. Nice family, though.
Image source: Accomplished-East548, Pavel Danilyuk
#14
She didn’t let me get a snack midnight, and wouldn’t give me a towel for my face when we were washing our faces. Was weird af.
Image source: jumpoffthedeepend, kaboompics.
#15
Back in high school, my besties house was all but ramshackle. But that wasn’t the issue, it was that there were *years* worth of boogers wiped on the bathroom “curtain” which had been made from a hand towel 🤮
Image source: No_Builder7010, Pavel Danilyuk
#16
Because he was a jerk. He lived down the street from us, all the neighbor kids played with him, so naturally I did too.
He would cheat at basketball.
He would invite us over to watch him play Nintendo, but he wouldn’t let us play.
They had one of those office chair mats in their house and would flip it over and trick me into walking on the pointy side.
One time we had a sleepover and watched a scary movie. Then everyone went to sleep in his room but I had to sleep alone in the creepy living room…I ended up just walking home in the middle of the night.
In retrospect, it was just kids being kids but f that guy in particular.
Image source: onamonapizza, zaid isaac
#17
We were staying with some friends in Colorado for an old job of mine after we had moved to Florida. We were there to empty a storage unit and kinda hang out and say final more relaxed goodbyes.
They had just moved to a new place, the last place they lived stayed pretty clean and there were never any issues.
For those that don’t know it’s pretty rare to see a roach of any kind in Colorado. In my 5 years living there I think I only saw one. Well as time goes on at this place we’ve agreed to stay for a week, we start seeing, “movement”, in random places. As my eyes begin to focus more I’m realizing there are roaches pretty commonly throughout their house.
I used to live in the south so I was semi tolerant of them but they still give me the ick. As the visit went by, we started seeing the extent of this issue. Not only were they in common areas, they were in the bedroom we stayed in, often in the bed, they were on tables and chairs, kitchen drawers, even INSIDE the fridge. We didn’t really have other plans where to stay and I tried to have a talk with them that received a lukewarm response.
We ended up only eating out and I had to hold back tears and shouting just to lay in bed. Always having to swat one off the pillow or something. Not only did it make me never really go over there again, we’ve hardly talked at all since, and it’s left a scar on my Denver memories.
Image source: livinin82, MART PRODUCTION
#18
Horrifying cat box stench. HORRIFYING. They only have 2 cats and there are at least 2 litter boxes… so I just don’t understand the magnitude of what must be happening somewhere/everywhere. It’s genuinely confusing because they are delightful, professional people. Fully functioning adults. It’s a sizeable suburban house.
They have to know, right? Being nose-blind can’t go that far. Even stripping out the carpet to boards and leaving it would have to be an improvement. It’s so so confusing. Love them, hate their house.
Image source: MonsteraDeliciosa, Nadiye Odabaşı
#19
When I was about 13 my childhood best friend and I ended up at different schools in different counties. There was some natural drifting but one weekend I was staying at her house and I mentioned a some friends at school and called one girl my best friend. That evening her mom pulls me aside and lectures me that I can only have one best friend and it should be her daughter. Really weird family anyway, never went back.
Image source: Few_Cicada_55, www.kaboompics.com
#20
I was best friends with a girl for my entire elementary school period. She moved away to a neighboring state so we grew somewhat apart but still talked on the phone for a year on and off. My parents finally let me go visit her when we were in middle school and we had clearly started to become different people. She was kind of a tomboy in elementary school but had started to get into makeup and boys and boy bands and things, and I was still very much a tomboy. So we didn’t quite click like we used to.
But while I was visiting, her little brother fell down outside while we were all playing and there was some sort of broken, exposed PVC pipe in the yard. His leg slid on it with all his body weight. He sliced his leg open from his thigh all the way down to his ankle. Fat and bone exposed. It was easily the most gory thing I’ve ever seen IRL and he was screaming and crying, the mom sobbing and panicking to keep pressure on it while the EMTs arrived, and my friend absolutely horrified and crying. Blood everywhere.
He ended up needing so many stitches he looked like a poorly made doll. Hundreds and hundreds of stitches and surgery.
It wasn’t my fault. I wasn’t even on that side of the yard. But I think the trauma from the experience got associated with me, along with how obvious it was that we became very different people, and we never spoke again. I hope she’s doing well.
Image source: anon, kaboompics
#21
Two friends actually. In both cases, we were invited for dinner at dinner time. For one friends we brought appetizers. For the other friend we brought dessert. In both cases, that’s all we ate. There was no dinner. Just awkward looks between us for the next four hours while the appetizer/dessert we brought disappeared.
These events were years apart and from different friend circles, but what the hell!
Image source: Gem2081, Pavel Danilyuk
#22
Was at my friends house and we got some cereal.
I finish it and go to drink the milk from the bowl and I’m told I’m not allowed to do that.
Some time later me, my friend and both our moms went to McDonald’s and the whole time she told him when and what to eat.
“Okay, now take a bit of your fries, now drink your soda, more soda, okay now you can bite your burger”
Me and my mom were just like… yeah these people are weirdos, and stopped interacting with them as much.
Image source: HouseOfZenith, Bulat Khamitov
#23
Years ago after getting divorced, a friend offered his spare bedroom to me. I went over to check his place out. The room he was offering me was littered with dog poo. He just casually said he would clean that up before I moved in.
Unsurprisingly, I did not move in.
Image source: BaconReceptacle, Andrea Piacquadio
#24
It wasn’t exactly a friend, but an acquaintance that we knew well, and got along with.
There was some community project that my mother, a couple of her friends and this lady were working on. I was about 10, and my mother brought me along, to this ladies house when it was her turn to host, because she couldn’t leave me home alone.
This lady had come to our house a few times, and she always smelled stale, not BO, but a smell that I associated with not bathing.
Now it was time for the group to meet at her house and work there.
We went in and a couple of the group were sitting at the table, talking. The hostess asked if they wanted coffee, and they said yes.
She went to the sink, which was stacked high with dirty dishes, and rummaged around for 4 coffee cups and glass for me.
She rinsed the dirty cups under the running tap, using her fingers, and a dirty cloth to get the old coffee off. She didn’t use dish soap.
She then filled them and put them on the table, and went to the fridge, to get some milk , for the coffee and me.
She started to pour milk in my glass, and it was lumpy, and she said I guess you will have to have water.
She rinsed out the glass, filled it with water, and sent me in to watch TV, so they could work.
I used my water, to water her split leaf philodendron. I could still see stains on the glass.
When we left, my mother hadn’t touched her coffee. My mother told me that we were never going back, and when we got home, she phoned her friends, and rearranged the schedule, so that no more meetings were at this ladies house.
30 years later, reading her obituary, I learned that she suffered with depression, off and on, her whole life.
Image source: Bob Wilson, Gary Barnes
#25
Her dad poured a hot pot of coffee on her mom in front of me. I told my mom about it and I never went back.
Image source: VoiceArtPassion, cottonbro studio
#26
Filth, fleas, afraid cockroaches would come home with me.
Image source: mabel55, MART PRODUCTION
#27
When I was around 11 years old I was staying with one of my “rich” friends. Huge house, stay at home mom who drove a Mercedes station wagon, etc. Her parents get into a fight and the dad starts beating the mom. I never wanted to go back there again.
Image source: Clarice_Starling77, Nicola Barts
#28
Their house was so messy with stuff everywhere i couldnt even find a place to sit without moving piles of junk around.
Image source: Competitive-Pea-3397, Şahin Sezer Dinçer
#29
She’s a hoarder, with 3 cats in a tiny apartment.
Image source: The_blue_eyed7, Samet Kurtkus
#30
Her and her sister wouldn’t flush the toilet until it was practically filled to the top.
Image source: zombie_squinks, Miriam Alonso
#31
It was a mess. Like Cheetos ground into the carpet, no room on the countertops, can’t walk through a bedroom without wading through toys. It was very gross.
Image source: rapratt101, Jason Leung
#32
Overall the house was clean
But the kitchen was full of dishes with moldy food still on them, and flies everywhere in there.
Image source: glebo123, Kelly Moon
#33
When I walked in, you could hear a “crunch” with every step because of roaches. She kept her dishes in a large storage container to keep the bugs off of them and there were bugs all over the stove, in the burners. To top it off, just before I raced out of there I attempted to use the restroom. I should have known better… there was a 2 foot high pile of used pads and tampons carelessly thrown beside the toilet and tub.
I felt so bad for her. She lived with her mother and sister and you could tell she was embarrassed, which is why I didn’t immediately turn around and leave at the first “crunch” of my foot.
Image source: salem_faust, Đồng Phục Hải Triều
#34
The parents got into a huge fight with their teenage son who then started beating their dad…
The mother was trying to give this impression of “haha everything is fine” meanwhile their teenage son was straight jumping their dad and my friend was just giving and acting like literally nothing was going on. I was freaking the f**k out as a 10 year old and my friend had 0 reaction and was happily playing games.
Image source: Lucidream-, Mikhail Nilov
#35
My friend‘s husband. What was supposed to be a fun group evening was him dominating conversations. Always interesting to see the dynamic between a husband and a wife.
Image source: Estatequeen59, August de Richelieu
#36
No joke just dirty but then i walked in kitchen and cockroaches on counter. Nope. I was even worried about them bringing eggs accidentally into my place for awhile.
Image source: anonchicago7
#37
Well I know the reason my childhood friends never came over to my house more than once. Most never said but my closest friends did years later. My dad creeped them out and they felt unsafe.
Ngl fair. Looking back he was creepy and they were unsafe being in his house.
Image source: Y0L4ND4
#38
Her dad walked across the room, brushed a strand of hair out of my eyes and looked intensely into my face, smiling. My friend was right there.
I was 11. I never told anyone but I also never slept over.
Image source: Icy_Mango6803
#39
They let the cat on the table while eating and had no problem letting it lick their silverware or take pieces of food off their plates. Disgusting.
Image source: Thales-of-Deletus
#40
Friend with unmedicated OCD. I had to wash my hands multiple times under her supervision until she deemed my hands clean, sit on a specific spot on her couch on top of a garbage bag, and could only walk a certain path through her apartment that she determined (it was never a straight line). I’m a clean/hygienic person, but she said I was mentally dirty.
Image source: boop_attack
#41
House smells like an ashtray and brewery! Fox News playing on 3 televisions!
Image source: Ryan-1975
#42
It was summer and I ran into an old friend I hadn’t seen in over 15 years. She invited me over for a catch-up visit the next week. I dressed casually in a long, white prairie style sundress and sandals. When I arrived, I was greeted enthusiastically at the front door by a large pack of obnoxious, yapping, jumping dogs. Now, I’ve always had dogs and cats myself, but I’ve never allowed my dogs to maul visitors at the front door. Luckily I’m an animal lover and very tolerant of such behavior. We sat down for lunch and a long chat and within mere minutes, I noticed my white dress was covered with fleas. Literally hundreds, if not thousands of them. In the span of about five minutes, I received numerous flea bites on my arms and legs. So, I wondered how I could tactfully handle this situation. When I could feel the fleas crawling all up under my clothes, I said to her, “you know you have a serious flea infestation, right?” She went into this long rant about how she’d tried everything to get rid of them but they kept “coming back.” So I told her that she had to repeatedly and simultaneously treat both the house and her numerous dogs and cats to first kill adult fleas and then kill the unhatched eggs. It would require a professional exterminator. By that time, I had made my way to the front door and told her I would love to get together later in the week at a nice Mexican restaurant nearby (I remembered her favorite food from when we were younger). She agreed that she would call me to set the day and time. It didn’t surprise me that I never heard from her again. And it took two months for the hundreds of flea bites I received to heal up completely.
Image source: Mickie McCord
#43
I had a work friend, Nancy. She was upbeat and caring. I was just 21 when I started working at the company while pursuing my graduate studies. Nancy was in her early thirties and married to a man close to forty.
At that time, my parents lived several states away and none of my other friends were married yet. So when Nancy invited me over for dinner with her husband, I was very grateful and looking forward to a family dinner.
When I arrived, Nancy greeted me warmly and I helped her finish up dinner before her husband Brian was due home. As his truck rumbled into the driveway, Nancy said, “He can be a little intimidating and off around new people , but he’s a sweet guy.”
I work in human services and I’m an extrovert, so I was confident I could do a lot to smooth our first meeting.
I was wrong.
Brian angrily opened the door and shouted, “Whose car is parked out front?”. Nancy reminded him I was visiting for dinner. He looked at me and walked upstairs. Nancy said, “He’s tired and hot from working all day doing construction and installation of HVAC systems.
Nancy and I sat on the porch and chatted as Brian cleaned up. She made a gorgeous roasted chicken with potatoes, vegetables and gravy with a decadent chocolate cake for dessert.
An hour later Brian comes down stairs scowling. He looks at me and says, “I thought you would’ve left by now., Darlene (not my name, but I didn’t correct him)” I tried to excuse myself, but Nancy insisted I stay. Dinner was now almost two hours after when it was scheduled.
We sat down at the table and Nancy served Brian. He didn’t say thank you – complained how hungry he was. We then served ourselves quickly. He took one bite of the chicken and spat it out. He got up and screamed, “This is f-ing cold.”, then threw his full plate on the floor.
I was stunned. He then got up and throw the remainder of the meal on the floor. He grabbed our dishes and tossed them against the sliding door leaving broken plates and smeared food.
Then he simply got up and went into the den and turned on the TV. I was petrified, but Nancy laughed it off, but there were tears in her eyes.
Before we could attend to the mess or figure out how I was going to get out of there safely. Brian screams for Nancy to bring him one of those chocolates that look like a orange. She playfully tossed it to him and he caught it. Once she turned around, he chucked it at her head. Then asked me if I wanted to see him target shoot in his back yard.
Nancy suggested I leave quietly out the back. I called the police and the next day at work Nancy told me she sent them away saying her husband was just joking around.
I tried to find resources to help her leave, but she wouldn’t and our friendship only remained at work. I left the job when I received a teaching assistantship the next semester.
This was before cellphones and email. We lost touch. I hope she’s safe. It’s been 24 years. I still wish I could have done more.
Image source: Dee Dunlay
#44
My friend of 30 years asked me to stay with her daughter when she went out of town. I had not visited her in her home since she divorced.
I was to stay in her daughter’s room and her daughter stayed in the mother’s room.
When I got to the house I was dismayed to find that it smelled like a barn. They had a dog, several kittens, a rabbit, birds, and who knows what else. The stench was so bad that my eyes watered.
Fortunately it was cool enough outside that I could crack the window in the bedroom where I was staying. The girl complained that we ate out every day, but I could not eat there.
I never went back to visit her house. She did not live that way when she was married.
Image source: Carol
#45
It was my childhood home. I never invited friends over because the house was always a mess. I had an obsession for cleanliness when I was little, I guess the mess helped me get over it. My parents were hoarders. They would not throw away newspapers and magazines. I’d throw them away but would be told to retrieve them. It didn’t help that my father thought that people were spying on him, so he blocked every window with plywood, so the house felt like a dungeon. He knocked down walls between rooms and added walls where there was none before. He removed the ceilings and left them exposed with joist. Wall paint was chipped, and he wouldn’t fix it, but was obsessed in having us strip years of paint off door trims. The house looked like it was in a constant state of construction. I guess shoemaker kids have no shoes, and my general contractor father’s, who had designed beautiful restaurants and lobby, kids have no ceilings.
When I was in college, a friend insisted on visiting. She gingerly sat on the sofa and wouldn’t drink the water my sister handed her. She left 30 mins later.
Writing this brings back nightmares. Actually, most of my nightmares were me living in my parents’ house and feeling the need to escape…and it’s been 30 years since I left home.
Image source: Beverly Roberts
#46
Oh the horror!!! My friend’s sister got married, and we had a party at their house and stayed late having fun after. It was late and I’d had some alcohol so we decided that I would spend the night there, so we went to sleep in my friends room around midnight. 09:00am I was awoken by several insects crawling all over my body (imagine the horror for a guy who has never seen bed bugs before), there were so many and, big, and ugly, it was horrific. So I jumped out of the mattress I was sleeping in, and hopped on a wooden stool near by. I sat there hugging my legs and trying not to touch the floor (imagine a muscular guy trembling on a stool) till it was dawn, since I didn’t want to wake my friend who was snoring away despite those ugly creatures, after 3 hours of horror and uncomfortable sitting position I quickly dressed up and told him I that I had to leave.
On my way home I went into a pharmacy and bought antibiotic detergent and treatments for bug bites, and bought a shirt, pants and a pair of slippers from a store. I went to a public steam, sauna and shower place, took a shower, put all my cloth in a plastic bag and discarded it.
I have a light skin, my whole body was covered in red dots, my back, my chest, my legs, but my arms got it the worst. Two days later that same friend asked me about all the red dots all over my arms and I told him everything. Since then I have been terrified of sleeping anywhere else but my home.
Image source: Mike Almen
#47
A little over 35 years ago, a co-worker invited me and my wife over for dinner. She struck me from the get-go as a bit on the ‘flakey’ side, but she was new to the area, hadn’t made any friends that we were aware of, and it seemed rude to say no.
So we got to her apartment and she asks us if we’d like to try a drink that we’d likely never heard of.
We agreed and she pulled out a bottle of “Screech.” She was right. We’d never heard of it, and just to make sure I hadn’t hallucinated this entire incident, I just checked online and sure enough, it still exists!
So she pours three shots and neither my wife nor me could really get past the extreme burn… we commented that the name was appropriate. You really did want to screech when you took a sip of this stuff.
So my co-worker laughs it off and says something to the effect of “Yeah… it’s not for everyone” and picks up our two shot glasses and pours them back into the bottle.
So yeah. Pouring a drink back in the bottle from a used glass was a total ‘red-flag’ and no… we never went back! Although I wonder if she’s still pouring shots out of that same bottle!
Image source: Jonathan Sabin
#48
When I was in 3rd grade, I made friends with the new girl at my school. I didn’t have many friends, as I was fresh into the world of public school. She was deemed “crazy” by the other kids. I didn’t care. I liked crazy.
A few months later, she invited me over to her house. Her parents were divorced, and she lived with her mom. At this point, I had never experienced a singe parent home. Okay, something new.
Later that evening, her mother was on the phone with someone that she apparently didn’t want to speak to anymore. Rather than hanging up the phone, she put her finger over the mic and called over to me. “Hey! You like acting, right?” I nodded.
Without any warning, she told the man on the phone, “I have to go, my daughter just cut herself on some scissors!” First of all, I was nothing NEAR a close friend to either her or her child. She told me to scream and act like I had cut myself. I asked her why I needed to lie, and she insisted I do it.
I refused. So she made her daughter do it. Why? I don’t know. I’d like to say I never went back, but unfortunately, I did. AH, mistake.
I told my mom about this, and she was very upset. I was too. That family was .. crazy to say the least. I grew up in a dysfunctional family, but it was nothing close to that.
Image source: Katie Saskowski
#49
I had a brilliant, funny girlfriend in high school and she invited me to her parents home for dinner. I come from a home where I literally never once saw my parents argue or be disrespectful to each other and our dinners were quiet. My dad might talk about his day at work but that was it.
I was a quiet, shy kid from a Catholic family and my girlfriend was Jewish. Before this I went to Catholic school and didn’t know any Jewish people (unless you count Jesus, lol).
I get to her house at dinner time and all hell breaks loose. The parents are yelling at each other right in front of me. My stomach is churning and I’m extremely uncomfortable watching them fight. My girlfriend seemed fine like nothing is wrong.
After dinner I ask my girlfriend if her parents are getting divorced. She burst out laughing at me. She says no and she asked me why I asked that. I said they appear to hate each other. She laughed again and said that’s just how they talk to each other and they actually love each other very much.
It was only after watching Frank and Estelle Constanza bicker on the Seinfeld tv show that I fully understood that different cultures and families communicate in different ways. However, I never went back there for dinner again.
(I can still hear Estelle yelling at Frank “You’re not giving away my waterpick!!”, while Frank shouts back “Serenity Now!”)
Image source: David Force
#50
In my case, his housekeeping was OK, but I resolved not to eat any more of his cooking. It turned out that he didn’t believe in using dish detergent when he “washed” dishes. He would rinse off dried food, then use a damp rag to clean off most, but not all, of the grease. He believed that soap, not grease, clogged pipes, and that plumbers were conspiring with soap manufacturers to produce drain clogs.
Image source: John F. Eldredge
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