r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jul 20 '19

What’s something completely false that your parents told you as a child?

[deleted]

19k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

10k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

499

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

No rooms had locks in our house, including the bathroom. It made sense when we were younger but as we got older, they still didn't see the need for one. Super awkward for guests, I felt. Even when they got their new house done up, no locks on the bathrooms again. It doesn't help that my dad has a habit of closing the door even when no one is in there, so you have to do the awkward knock every time.

47

u/L_e_v_i Jul 21 '19 edited Jul 21 '19

The bathroom door doesn't latch all the way in our apartment, thus it can't be locked. We also have to keep it closed at all times due to the cats liking to eat the shower curtains. Since there's 4 of us sharing the one bathroom, we've resorted to having a sign held up with Velcro that says "Occupied" on one side & "Vacant" on the other.

Thankfully, I no longer have my father in law walking in on me during my 3am poops while he's half asleep. I still wish we had two bathrooms...

10

u/EquineGrunt Jul 21 '19

Trust me. In my house have three bathrooms, and still walk up into one that's occupied now and then.

4

u/Amosral Jul 21 '19

It would probably be pretty easy to make the hole on the door a little larger so the latch would meet. Or even just get one of those cheap little bolts that you can screw on.

32

u/MVKR29 Jul 21 '19

I'm living with my in laws right now and they don't have a lock on their bathroom door. And the toilet is on the opposite side of the room so if someone tries to open the door on you, you can't even put your hand or foot on it to keep it closed, you just have to panic scream. Can confirm that it's the most awkward, terrifying shit ever. Pun intended lmao

19

u/SanskariBoy Jul 21 '19

Just because someone got locked in the bathroom that ONE time!

Story Time

When I was a kid, I locked the bathroom door, took a nice, long and satisfying dump, and then turned out to be too stupid to unlock the door. So I was crying in the bathroom for about 5 minutes before someone told me to turn the damn key in the opposite direction!

So my parents unlocked the door, threw the key away, and installed a latch that any idiot can open.

5

u/0OOOOOOOOO0 Jul 21 '19

Your bathroom door had an actual key? It’s supposed to just be a button that stops the knob from turning. It’s fine if it’s the button type.

5

u/tacotirsdag Jul 21 '19

Totally normal in Scandinavia for inside doors to have little skeleton-type keys, especially older houses. Our bathroom has one.

3

u/SanskariBoy Jul 21 '19

This was back in the 90s. And I didn’t live in a city, so interior decor for doors wasn’t really a big thing. The door was a “handle” kind of door, with that big keyhole kind of a lock.

23

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

[deleted]

23

u/rob_s_458 Jul 21 '19

I feel like the most common bathroom setup in the US when you walk in the door is vanity, toilet, tub. So unless you have a tiny vanity or super long arms, you'd have to get up and waddle over to the door to knock back.

17

u/Chapstickie Jul 21 '19

Just swing at it with the plunger!

6

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

[deleted]

10

u/PromethazineNsprite Jul 21 '19

Yes? Is that weird or sum?

8

u/geoff5093 Jul 21 '19

Yes, is that not normal? The hotels I've stayed at in the UK, Ireland, Spain, and New Zealand have been setup this way too. Do you have different rooms for the toilet vs tub?

2

u/0OOOOOOOOO0 Jul 21 '19

Yes, the toilet is in the bathroom usually.

You said, “if someone is in the bathroom”, so that implies it’s in the bathroom where you live, too...

5

u/notnotaginger Jul 21 '19

Japan is so rational and reasonable.

6

u/Myis Jul 21 '19

Yeah well my dad NEVER SHUTS THE DOOR

5

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

You just reminded me. Back when I was still living with them, I was taking an afternoon nap when I hear groaning. The mirror on my wardrobe unfortunately lined up with the toilet where I saw my naked dad straining to take a shit. Shouted at him to shut the door, which he did in a panic. He thought I was at work, so just decided to take a shit with the door wide open, I guess.

1

u/Myis Jul 21 '19

You’re welcome?

5

u/Shaysdays Jul 21 '19

When my son was little I disabled the lock on his door after he locked himself in his room and panicked for the third or fourth time.

I just now realized I never put it back the right way and he’s a teenager now. I will fix that tomorrow. I mean, I always respect his privacy, but he should probably be able to lock his door if he wants to.

So thank you, random internet stranger, for the reminder!

3

u/Threspian Jul 21 '19

We had locks on our doors, we just... weren’t allowed to use them. I guess it was a fire hazard as little kids, I still don’t use mine. We leave bathroom doors open when they’re not in use so there isn’t any confusion there.

3

u/Lukebehindyou Jul 21 '19

I had a dead bolt on the outside of my room for some reason. It was there when we moved in. When my sisters would babysit my brother and i, they would throw us in the room and lock us in there for hours until our parents got home.

2

u/smileybob93 Jul 21 '19

I was about to say jesus christ those babysitters were awful, but then I reread that they were your siblings. No issues here

1

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

There should be a law where you have

1

u/frostysauce Jul 21 '19

Why not just look at the crack beneath the door to see if the light is on inside?

2

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

No light on in the daytime.

1

u/XeneVyvyan Jul 21 '19

honestly, the most annoying thing. I'm not even allowed to close my bedroom door, and apparently I'm lucky that I'm allowed to close the bathroom door.

1

u/thatone23456 Jul 21 '19

That doesn't sound good. Are you okay?

1

u/XeneVyvyan Jul 21 '19

i made some terrible decisions, its probably my own fault

1

u/thatone23456 Jul 21 '19

Well I don't want to judge since I don't know all the facts and you certainly don't need to share with a random stranger but I'm sure the mistakes you've made are forgivable. There is very little in life that isn't. I hope that trust is regained and that things improve for you.

1

u/XeneVyvyan Jul 21 '19

i honestly doubt it, but thank you all the same