My friend was like, "Want a Kit-Kat?" I said sure. He proceeded to unwrap the candy bar, set it on a plate, and then put it in the microwave until the chocolate had melted off the wafers. I was freaked out and said I don't need mine microwaved. He looked shocked and said, "You eat them raw?!"

He only had a dirty old matress on the floor for him and his older brother ( I once drove him home and his brother was banging a girl in there, super awkward ), his single mother was chain smoking cigarettes, the smell was awful and their meals were those 3$ microwave meals where you get like 3 frozen nuggets and a dozen fries, for every meal. I suddenly understood why he was always at a friend's house and why when he came over he'd eat all my bagels. It bothered my mother at first but after I told her about his home she was like yeah give him all the bagels he wants. Never heard a word about his father. He's doing much better by himself now.

I delivered a big screen TV and brought it into their finished basement. The room was obviously set up for professional pornography with lighting and video cameras all facing a bed with a backdrop.

First time meeting my exs parents. Walked in and nothing was on the walls. No art no pictures nothing whole houe just bare walls and not like nice panels or anything, like regular middle class home painted walls they also had 0 stuff out. Nothing on the counter, had a coffee table nothing on it corner table nothing on it. It was all just empty, im still not entirely convinced they werent all aliens trying to fit in.

He accidentally broke a plate when he was doing dishes & his dad *didn’t* scream at him or hit him or threaten to ground him or anything. The first thing his dad said was to ask my friend if he was hurt. Shouldn’t be shocking, but to me it was.

As a young boy back in the 70s I visited a friend from school's house. It smelled different from any house I had ever been in. which was mostly my parents friends homes and my relative's homes. I visited several times before I figured out why it smelled different. No one in the home smoked cigarettes.

When I was about 15/16 I was staying at a friend's house for the first time, and while he and I were in his room playing computer games, I heard his mother scream his name. He turned to me with a serious look I'd never seen on his face and said "Please stay here" before walking out of the bedroom. I heard him shout his father's name before a couple of loud crashes. That was the day I found out his father would get drunk a physically assault his younger siblings. He was 15/16 f*****g years old and was the only thing between this grown man and his pre-pubescent loved ones. And it was so normal that he knew what was up when his mother called his name. His mother knew she needed him, he knew what he was going out there to do, and he knew he didn't want me to witness it. We had some very honest discussions about a lot of things after that. As he got a little older, he started addressing these issues at more appropriate times than when it was forced upon him. His father sought help and they are now a loving and supportive family. I often think about that night (and a few subsequent ones). When I think about the man I want to be, it is no secret amongst the people that know, that I want to grow up to be like that 15 year old boy. And I'm lucky to still call him one of my best friends over 20 years later.

Fully clothed, positioned and posed mannequins all throughout their entire home. Posed to watch television, sat at dinning table, holding wine glasses ect...very strange.

Went to a friends house when I was in the 7th grade, heard their dad coming in through the door and went to run and hide in my friends bedroom. She followed me puzzled and said come on out and say hi to my dad, he's excited to finally get to meet you. I was astonished to see all the kids gathered around their dad, they had 7 kids, and they were all happy to see each other. He was scooping up the little ones as they each told them one thing from their day, the eldest brother asked him for help with his math homework....to which he said yes, just give me a few minutes. Then came up to me to say hi and learn some tidbits about me, genuinely interested. I have never seen a dad walk into a room and the kids run towards him instead of away. He didn't drink a drop of alcohol, and had at least one little one in his lap while he helped the eldest with his math until he felt sure his son understood what he was doing. I went home and told my brothers that they were a weird family and the dad was a goody goody. I was 12 years old and had no idea that's what a healthy family dynamic looked like. There was no yelling, no screaming, no shaming. And I thought they were weird.

Grew up in a less sh***y part of a sh***y town. I’m talking more poor then lower class, us being the one of few middle class. I went to a friends house in the real slums for a sleep over only to find that their toilet was broken and they just shat in a bucket in the back of their house.

Went to someone’s house who I thought was only mildly well off. Turns out they were giga-rich and just lived, dressed, and acted more modestly. They had a 4 bedroom house that looked like upper-middle class on the outside, but like a billionaire’s wet dream on the inside. You would have never guessed their family was so wealthy.

My school friend lived on a farm in Wales. The first time I went round a sheep ran down the stairs as we were going in through the front door. There was also a newborn baby lamb warming in the Aga because it was struggling to stay alive.

Went over to friends for a birthday. Was warned they were ordering takeout because they don't cook. Got there and they had no dishes or pots or pans. No glasses. No coffee cups. Literally none. The kitchen cabinets were full of random things like a Pictionary game and some batteries and spare light bulbs. Disposable plates. A drawer full of plastic spoons and forks.

When I was a little kid we had new neighbors move in, they were Korean. They didn't speak any English at first and the twin daughters were in my brother's class. By the end of the school year their English was decent enough to communicate and actually play with the rest of us. They invited me over to hang out and their Mom was making some snacks. She handed me a bowl of rice with some type of sweet potato, and one of the twins told me that back in Korea, that's all they had to eat in a day, and now they could have that for a snack. I was too little then to realize it, but they were *North* Korean. Their growth was severely stunted, and they had moved in with essentially strangers after they made it to the US. I learned all this years later when I talked to my Mom about it, apparently the people who took them in were part of a Korean church and semi regularly took in North Korean refugees.

Had a grad school professor, seemed like a pretty chill dude. Maybe a bit of a cleaned up older hippy. Went to his place for dinner with him/his wife/other students and faculty. Had two fully kitted out sex swings installed in the living room. Cool, cool, cool.

We were in middle school, so we're maybe like 12 years old? Me and another friend are visiting one other friend's house. Their dad invites us in and immediately asks us "Hey, do you all wanna come over and watch some porn?". Me and my friend look at each other and go "WTF?" and politely decline. I still think about how friggin strange that was because the kid didn't seem bothered at all.

I met this girl at work and really clicked. We had kids around the same age so she invited us over for a play date. First off - her house was hoarder level disgusting and absolutely filthy. I didn’t want to even stay inside so suggested we go out in the backyard which was overgrown and a mosquito haven. Second - she didn’t just talk to her kids, she was always screaming. It was hard to differentiate if she was angry or just giving instructions. The kids just tuned her out but mine were terrified. Never, ever again.

They were very open about their bdsm lifestyle. Which is a thing in itself. But different when you go over for dinner and there’s a sex slave in a cage and sex toys every where.

I remember as a young kid (4/5yo) going to a friend’s house and being astounded at how big their house was. Her dad was a high court judge (and they also had a swimming pool! In England!!) I came home and immediately told my mum that her ‘conservatory was big enough to ride a bike in!’ ‘Big enough to ride a bike in’ has now become a family expression.

Few years back, was invited to my ex’s house to meet her family for the first time. Walked in and got hugs from her mum, sister, and nephew. Got a handshake and a pat on the shoulder from her dad. All of this completely threw me off, suddenly realised how little affection I got back at my own house and had me questioning whether I was doing enough to show I cared about someone. However you guys show affection, whether it’s through compliments, physically, letters or cheesy gestures, let people know they’re loved. (P.S. Please don’t be creepy though!)

I didn’t know that central heating and AC was a thing till I was around 10. Sleepover a friends house and was perplexed at the noise of it and the vents on the ceiling. And being there felt weird, everywhere you went was the same temperature. At home we had a wood stove in main living area and in summer fans.

The first time I stepped into the house, it was like stepping into a black room. I could see patches of colour on the walls but the house walls were basically charred coloured. Didn't think too much of it at the time but at one point I was bored and alone and took a closer look at the charred walls and discovered that it wasn't burnt, It was MOLD. Dude was living in a Mold infested house. When I went home, I took the longest shower I ever took and washed my clothes there and then. Felt like I've just walked into a radioactive area.

Was invited to a friends house in high school and that's when I learned that his parents weren't just well off like mine were, they were f*****g loaded. His house was not a house, it was a compound. They had the main house, a pool house (where he lived), a casita (where his older sister lived), and a club house. They had an 8 car garage AND a yacht garage, with their goddamn yacht in it at the time. Oh, and as if that wasn't enough they had water way that ran in front of their house which meant they had a bridge over which was an honest to f**k draw bridge.

I was spending the night and her dad came in and told us a bedtime story. It was the first time I'd realized that not everyone had a psychopath for a father and sometimes fathers did things for their kids just because they loved them.

I spent a weekend with a friend who was the youngest of 8 boys. I come from a very soft spoken household, and all 10 of these people would communicate by yelling. Now they were a loving household and there was no abuse going on, but until that point in my life, really the only time someone yelled in my presence was when someone was in danger, or someone was very very angry, and here these guys were screaming at each other to get a slice of pizza. I understand, when there's 10 of you, 9 of you boys, you have to yell to get heard, but my internal danger meter was set to 11 all weekend.

When my wife and I were first dating and getting serious, I would start going to her family functions. The first time I went to her cousins house was...weird. They had their entire VHS porn collection sitting out in open view next to the TV. My wife said to ignore it and that it's been sitting there since she was a kid. Which made it even weirder because her cousin had kids that were around our age.

I remember when I was a kid, like 3rd grade, new kid at school and I hit it off and become friends. I went to his house and he had ALL the sugary and processed snacks. Capri sun, pop tarts, freezer pizza, chef Boyardee, dunkaroos, you name it - All those name brand things more or less marketed to kids. I grew up in a very rural area, and my Mom was adamant about us having fresh fruit and veggies, she was a frequent shopper of local produce markets. We never DIDN’T have treats (most common was ice cream and potato chips), but seeing someone else’s house be filled with, what I see now as, basically commercials kind of shocked me.

When I was about 9 or 10 I went to stay the night with a friend from school. I feel like my dad knew his mom in some round about way but he lived with his mom and stepdad in a reasonably well kept double wide trailer. This was in the late 90s but even for then it seemed like they had no boundaries for the kid and by proxy I had almost none as well for my time there. I primarily went over to play video games (PS1 I think) and we mostly played Resident Evil 2 for hours on end. Relatively scary content, blood/gore for me at that time. Junk food was readily accessible and while I had that at my house as well there were rules around what I could have an when I could have it at my own house. They also rented one of the rooms in the trailer to a kid about 20 who I only saw come home after his hockey game and not really again. After gorging on junk food and violent video games we crashed in the living room and woke up the next day with his step dad offering to let us shoot his revolver from the deck of the trailer. I had never shot a gun before and it was a bit loud and scary for me. For what it's worth, the kid (my friend) has been in and out of jail for the last 10 years.

In-laws didn't throw things away. Not necessarily hoarders, but not far off. Just kept so much *s**t* in piles around the house. Honestly don't know how people live like that. It makes me physiologically uncomfortable.

In middle school, my friend picked up a pole axe and slammed it through his bedroom ceiling a few times. His dad does not care because my friend can patch his own drywall. His dad was drunk all the time and just let his kids do whatever they wanted as long as they were not too loud.

My best friend in high school was living with hoarder parents who would leave the Christmas tree up all year round and only replaced it the week before Christmas. They even left last year's presents on the fireplace almost all year. It was better than my home so I just kind of adapted.

Probably get burried but here it goes. I use to work inspecting shoreline stabilization construction projects on lakes. I had this one project at a multi million dollar new construction home. (The owner built a new mansion after tearing down the existing million dollar mansion.). Anyways, the project is nearing completion and I had to go sign off on the stabilization project. As I'm there, the General Contractor asks if I had seen the interior of the house. I said no and he said well you gotta see this cause it's nuts. The home was three stories with a indoor/outdoor pool on the bottom floor. The middle floor had the living areas, two bed rooms, and a huge bathroom. There was a also a glass viewing area to the indoor pool below. The third floor wasvery open and had nothing on it but a walkway. The walk way led to the the two middle floor bedrooms and bathrooms. Over the bedrooms and bathrooms were large viewing platforms onto the beds below and bathtubs in the bathroom. The home was a purposely built sex house. The owners wife showed up to sign the documents and invited us to the move in party saying that they were flying in strippers from Vegas.

It was normal. That's what shocked me. I grew up in a 2 bedroom apartment with 4 brothers, who I shared a room with. Only my dad worked a paying job. We had a depressed pitbull, and only ate Plain Cheerios, sometimes Honey Nut, for breakfast. We also had to ask before we got milk or a snack, and usually had to eat it or drink at the table. We didn't have a back yard, instead if we wanted to play outside, we'd go to an asphalt parking lot downstairs. It definitely wasn't the worst living conditions, we had a roof over our head and food, but it wasn't all that pleasant either. When I went to my friends house for the first time, it was an actual house that they owned, with 3 bedrooms. He had a trained golden retriever, and two cats. He had his own room which was the biggest shock to me, especially since he could put up movie posters and whatever he wanted in them. We ate snacks and drank milk in his room without asking. His gaming console was also in there, unlike mine which was in my living room. He had an older sister, and two parents, all of them working jobs. He had a giant backyard. Best of all we had crepes for breakfast. I would've visited everyday if I could. When I went back home I realized how cramped it was where I lived, and how sad my dog was. We eventually sent my dog to live with her sister, where she'd have a front and backyard to run. She's a lot happier now. A few years later, we moved to a bigger condo, and got a smaller dog (still a pit). So we're doing better.

Opposing experiences. I went to a friends house and found out his parents were hoarders. Like REALLY bad. The house was decorated normally aside from the MASSIVE piles of junk touching the ceiling. There was a little path to each room between the piles but other than that it was just junk EVERYWHERE. Another time I got invited to a buddy’s house for an airsoft party. I had been to an airsoft party at someone’s house before and assumed we would just be playing in the street again. Pulled up to a three-story mansion with a full field for us to play in. He had an elevator in his house and a guest house about the size of ours. The field was for his sister who rode horses but she let us use it for the party. The dude was always humble and cool with me and never let on that his family was wealthy.

I grew up in a very well off family and usually hung out with other neighborhood kids that were also from quite well off families so I was pretty naive on how middle-lower class families live. I befriended another kid from "the other side of the tracks" at summer camp thing. I went to sleep over at his house one night, I remember being surprised that his mother had a job/had to go to work in the morning and that he shared a bedroom with his brother and sister. I remember him asking his mom if we could get Ice cream, her answer was "Sorry hun we can't afford it" His mom saying those words shocked the hell out of my spoiled a*s 10 year old brain, I remember feeling panicked.

Probably mild compared to some of the responses here but I'm from the Northern United States. I'm living in the South now. What was a shock to me was how people will walk into each other's homes and automatically open up the refrigerator. We don't do that up there. We don't do that unless your family that is, I mean blood family. I thought it was really odd because when I first saw it, it struck me as rude. Ironically, people down here thought I was strange for not doing it.

My parents were friends with this couple from church , we'll call them Bill and Martha . They were homeschoolers like us so my mom decided that on some days Martha would tutor my older sister and me alongside her kids. Well Bill had some ... weird rules about tv and books. Martha and the kids were not allowed to watch any tv channels besides PBS ( the public broadcasting network ). They weren't allowed to read any books besides the bible and a few bible themed children's stories. And the three of them had to be in bed by 7pm. Also they couldn't have any bread that wasn't white bread. Bill however could eat, read and watch whatever the f**k he wanted. Now our mom's rules were f****d up too, but Bill's tv rule really threw me for a loop. That family also wore shoes in their house. Having mostly grown up around Cambodians and Koreans, I really wasn't expecting that and sis and I nearly hurled.

Salt and pepper shakers. Like everywhere. Like rooms full of stacked boxes inn every room. All walls lined with shelves full of displays. Her mom had a severe obsession with them.

For a project in middle school we had to make a video about something, can’t remember been years now, and my friend at the time, said we can do in downtown in our town. It was a group project too, so my mom dropped off me and another friend downtown to meet the rest of the group. We filmed a bit but then we needed something so we had to friend’s house, I’m gonna call her J, since her house was the closest but she didn’t want us to go to her house and ask if my mom could pick us up to go to my house instead. My house was the biggest and I did have lots of things but my parents couldn’t pick us up as they were busy and the walk to my house was too far away. Not to mention it was hot as f**k, plus we weren’t even done filming so we had to go back to downtown. So we had to go to J’s house but J was always persistent I never go to her house, she always came to my house. I was curious so when we arrived there, J only wanted me to come inside to get what we needed. When I entered the house I was hit by old laundry detergent smell and cats, then I saw the piles and piles of things around the house. Things were literary stacked on top of each other. There’s so much stuff in the house and there was barely any room to walk around and it was dark as hell. I met her mom who was on the computer with stuff around her, and saw how dirty and obese she was. There was like 7 cats laying around and J quickly got what we needed and left. She made me to swore to not tell the others what I saw and I felt bad since it explains some of her issues (the other reason is her mom was controlling, highly strict, yet neglectful never letting her do anything or go out) and why her clothes smelled weird and had tons of cat hair on them. J always looked disheveled when she came to school every day and why she never told about her home life. It was the first time I ever saw a hoarders house.

When I was a kid in the mid-1970s my parents rented a house in Stockbridge for the summer. So I became friendly with some kids up the road, who invited me to dinner. So I went over and there were maybe 5 kids, the two parents and me. So the parents put out the food, then everyone dropped their heads, held hands and started saying thanks or whatever you call a pre-meal prayer. That sort of caught me off surprise. As a kid from a completely non-religious family from NYC it was something I had never seen before, other than on the Waltons or Little Hoyse on the Prarie. There was also the time I was dating a girl in HS (1980s). I went by her house, and her mom answered the door in a teddy. She looked good but I was caught off-guard. Turns out they were swingers and were headed to some party. Honestly the latter seemed less odd to me than the former.

NOT at a friend's house, but I once took a couple guys I didn't know all that well to get lunch because this one guy's car wasn't running so he couldn't drive, and on the way back he wanted to stop by a friend's house to pick up something. We all ended up going inside and it turns out this friend (an immigrant from Poland, I think) had an altar to Hitler in his living room. Like, an actual altar, with a photo of Hitler and Nazi flags and Nazi effects and fresh flowers and whatever. It was the craziest thing I had seen till then.

I remember I went to visit a Somali family who had basically furnished their home like a typical Somali house? They had a house with 2 bedrooms but all rooms incl the living area where matresses on the floor, all around the walls with like ethnic plaids, nice carpets everywhere, no tables or beds to be seen. It didn't look cheap (so money didn't seem to be an issue). I asked my friend where they slept?? She explained they just choose a spot, take a blanket out of the build in cabinets and sleep there. So nobody had a bedroom, they just slept wherever they liked. And to eat they would take a plaid (again from the build in cabinets they had in every room) and just spread it on the floor and eat there. Their clothes? Also all in the build in cabinets.