Finish the sentence: what weird little habits do your family have that make outsiders go ?
Here are mine:
What is it with my family and leaving mugs of reheated tea in the microwave? We all do it (well, both my parents and I, anyway). We’ll put a mug of tea in the microwave, heat it for awhile, and then when the beeper goes off, we’ll just…leave it there. I usually only leave it for a few minutes while I get something else ready; my mom does the same. My dad, though, will leave it there for hours. Sometimes, by the time he’s remembered to fish it out of the microwave, it’ll be cold again! :smack:
Another one, courtesy of my brother-in-law:
What is it with my family and not knowing where we all are? When we’re all over at my folks’ place, one of us (typically my brother) will disappear for a few hours, for any number of reasons (visiting friends, meetings, work, etc.). After a certain interval, someone will look up and say “hey, where’s [family member]?” The rest of us will shrug, and we’ll go about our business. We’re all adults, so it’s not like we have curfew or anything (and sometimes a look at said family member’s written schedule will clear things up when dinnertime is close and they’re still not home) but this drives my brother-in-law NUTS. In his family, you have to state where you’re going, who you’re going to be with, and what time you’re going to return, or they’ll start to worry.
I get why he’s so weirded out by this, and it IS a bad habit, I think (because you never know when one of us will go missing for real), but…it’s just something we do. And none of us knows why. Now that I’m conscious of it though, I always make it a point to yell “I’m going to work, bye!” just before I leave.
My mother will not leave messages in voice mail or on an answering machine. She’ll call half a dozen times over the course of an hour or so. Then if she calls later and gets me she’ll complain about how my phone was off and I never check missed calls or Caller ID. :smack: She understands those concepts. She understands answering machines; they’ve been around for 30 yrs and we’ve had once since I was a kid. I’ve overhead her leaving messages on other people’s machines/voice mail. She just doesn’t see the point leaving actual messages when she can just call again later and try and get me (the only other person I know she does this to is my father).
But she still expects me to constantly check for people who’ve called, but not left a message and get back to them. And she why do I have a cellphone if I’m just going to turn it off. I’ve also managed to inheirit the passive-aggresivness (with a touch of stuborness) that she denies having. Which means on occasion I’ve gone several days avoiding her calls waiting for her to leave a message.
Guess how old Mom is?
She just turned 50 this year (having been born in 1955).
When I just saw the thread title, the first thing that popped into my head was “the Vietnam War”, because there is no topic on earth that can get my dad going like the Vietnam War. But that’s not a quirky habit. I can’t think of any quirky habits my family has, I guess.
When I was in my late teens, especially in school holidays, my brothers and I would operate on a different timetable to parents (sleep in late, out in the afternoon, back at 3am… rinse and repeat). This meant we’d often comunicate with parents through notes on the fridge etc.
Our Dad travels a lot of business, often at quite short notice, and will pop to Europe for a few days mid-week and set up meetings in various different countries.* I remember one time we had a couple of friends over and I’d asked Mum if Dad was around. Turned out he was in Sweden, or possibly Germany, or maybe Holland… he’d left the day before and was due back in a couple of days.
We just shrugged and said OK, but our friends just could not comprehend how we couldn’t know that a parent was out of the country.
*We’re in the UK, so you can be in Frankfurt or Copenhagen or Bruges in 2-3hrs
One I’ve wondered about: What’s with my family and staying up till all hours of the night? My mom, my sister, and I all do this. My dad goes to bed at around 9:30 and is up at 5AM ready to tackle the day (and he never ever drinks coffee. He does drink diet coke all the time, like the rest of us.)
My dad, incidentally, is 63. But he’s been getting up at 5AM for as long as I can remember. A habit which I, oddly enough, have picked up. Despite my typically being up till 1 or 2 in the morning. Which probably explains the coffee mug that is a permanent part of my left hand.
Nobody in my family uses anybody’s names. We refer to each other as “my sister the lesbian who lives in California,” “my brother in New Zealand who used to be a major drug dealer and is now an IBM lawyer,” and (for me) “the New Jersey theatre freak who just broke her left wrist.”
I don’t know how it got started, but a co-worker hearing my sister and I catch up on family members once asked “Does anyone in your family have a name?”
None of us has musical talent. But we’ll all narrate what we’re doing to ourselves with small songs. Yes, out loud. I think we got the habit from Frances the Badger.
Example: this morning, me:
Now I’m gonna put on pants
Gonna do the pants-butt-dance
I won’t walk I will just prance
When I’m wearing MY! BLACK! PAAAAAANTS!!! jazz hands
This is mostly my mother and I, but my brother will do it too. My husband has even picked up the habit! The only one who doesn’t sing small songs is my stepdad - who is also the only one in the family with any musical talent. Go fig.
What’s with my wife and soaking dishes halfway? It doesn’t do you much good to fill a dirty saucepan half-full and leave it to soak- you’re still going to have to scrub the dried residue from the top half. This would seem to be obvious, but no.
My Mother will never answer her phone. I must get it from her? She always lets the answering machine pick up first so I have to listen to the whole message. I have asked her why and she says to avoid sales calls and for her safety. This may be true.
She is 70 and a bit self centered. I call her once a week and this week she tells me she can’t talk but thanks for the sweater you sent. I have my boyfriend Wayne about to Skype me…
I think she is a riot. I hope I’m that wired at 70!
My family and loud, shouting agreement? My brother and I are the only liberals in my immediate family, so gatherings tend to devolve into everyone else bitching about the state of the country and how horrible Democrats and liberals are while getting louder and louder. It sounds like an argument, but my brother eventually pointed out “You’re all agreeing with each other.”
Ha, my mom and I do this. My brother does it too, but that’s because he’s out with friends. My dad also gets up about that early, to go work out at a gym. He does drink coffee, though.
For a moment I thought you were my brother, but my dad is 66. My mom, brother, and I are extreme night owls; my dad is in bed by 9:30 every night and up by 4:30 or 5.
What’s with my family and screening calls? (I’m not complaining – I do it too.) My dad, brother, and I hate the phone and won’t pick up unless we know (and like) the caller.
What’s with my family and the inability to communicate or express affection openly? …Or maybe that’s for another thread.
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