Things that surprised you about other people/households growing up

remember when i’d have mates over and my mum or gran would cook something spanish like paella or tortilla and they’d act like you just put the most totally exotic food in front of them.

Remember my friend’s dad (who I always thought was a dick, and now I’m an adult I know for certain that he is) telling me to keep my elbows off the table and just being like…why?

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serious dads who weren’t jovial banter merchants like mine.

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remember my friends thinking my mum was cool cos she let us smoke weed in the house in my late teens/early twenties.

My mate Dave rolled her a massive joint because she wanted to know what it was like but nobody told her not to just smoke it like a cigarette so I came into the living room a few hours later and she was like “I really don’t feel well!” having smoked all of a pure weed joint in one go.

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Friend’s dickhead dads are the worst. Probably a whole thread in that tbh.

Dad’s who’d come in from work and just absolutely kill the vibe. Joke’s on you, Ben, my dad doesn’t live with us so it’s party central.

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Tbh I could never really get over how I was allowed to hang out at my mates houses so much. I wasn’t allowed any friends over to mine so I reckon most of my friendships were based on whose parents were happy to have me over on an almost permanent basis.

people being really stingy and asking for petrol money for things like a 10 minute car journey.

yeah mate okay here’s your 1 pound 7 pence.

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remember one of my mates tried to factor in the car insurance for a journey once.

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Plus the 7 pence worth of tyre wear.

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I was blown away that most of my friends were allowed to eat meals in front of the TV or their rooms even. In our house every meal was served at the dinner table.

Also remember staying with a friend and going to his cousin’s house for a bit. They used buckets and coffee cans to go to the bathroom. I felt very weird and sad about that, still do really.

Nothing particularly. I always just assumed that we were the weird and unreasonable family and everyone else did normal things.

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Not much, as I think all my school mates were from a similar social background as me. There was one who was more middle class, so the food when going round there was more “exotic”, by which I mean it wasn’t sausages and chips, cottage pie, etc.

The dad ‘having his tea’ and the living room therefore being out of bounds to everyone including his wife

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Our family does that. It’s brilliant.

Families who had computers
Families who used a milk jug
Families who used a butter dish
Families who kept their shoes on indoors

Going round to somebody’s house and finding the family watching ITV outside of the post-school childrens’ programming

haha! I’d already typed out “smoking weed with or in front of people’s parents” but was scrolling on the chance it had already been mentioned

la chancla

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My house phone answerphone is still somehow a recording of me from easily 23/24 years ago
it’s very unnerving hearing child me telling me to leave a message

this isnt even remotely relevant, sorry

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