What are the unwritten/unspoken rules in life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are 2 kinds of people in the world: those who return their shopping carts to the corral and those don’t.

I don't. When I was 14, I worked as a cashier at a large chain grocery store (like Wegmans or Publix). There was a guy whose entire job was to walk around the parking lot collecting shopping carts and bringing them to the front of the store. If everyone returned their shopping carts, he'd have been out of a job.

[Anonymous]

Say "thank you" when someone do something nice to you.
Say "sorry" if you do something bad.

[Anonymous]

Life isn’t fair.

[Anonymous]

I would not call be kind an unwritten or unspoken rule, especially these days when people have it on signs in front of their house. "Be kind" has become greatly abused and misunderstood a concept. Still, I understand the origin as being decent to people (kindness isn't always good nor desirable).

An unwritten rule is that we don't talk about bathroom behaviors. Everyone knows what happens in bathrooms but we mentally filter it out. Fascinating, when you think about it.

[Anonymous]

In the 90s there was a bestseller called Life’s Little Instruction Book which had many “rules.” A lot of it was cutesy, some probably outmoded now, but it had many gems. One I’ve always remembered is “Never eat meatloaf made by anyone other than your mother”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s so cultural and regional! I’ll try:

Ladies first.
Seats on trains, buses and lifeboats go to the elderly, pregnant women, and older women first.
Stand on the right of the escalator unless you’re in Japan (actually that’s written everywhere but the US).
Hold the door for people with babies or full hands.
Try not to do #2 in someone else’s small house or in an office with a small/single bathroom.
Don’t talk about parties in front of people who aren’t invited.
Don’t eat or drink in church (this needs to be written; people have started bringing Starbucks to mass at my Catholic Church which is just weird).
Serve others at the table first before you serve yourself if you’re hosting.
“Family hold back”: when you’re hosting, you don’t take anything nice or fancy until everyone else has a chance at it. Time-consuming cookies on the cookie platter=guests only. Crab cakes, caviar, the one pink frosted sprinkle donut=guests first.

Isn’t food and drink forbidden 1 hr before communion?

[Anonymous]

Stay out of the left lane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are 2 kinds of people in the world: those who return their shopping carts to the corral and those don’t.

I don't. When I was 14, I worked as a cashier at a large chain grocery store (like Wegmans or Publix). There was a guy whose entire job was to walk around the parking lot collecting shopping carts and bringing them to the front of the store. If everyone returned their shopping carts, he'd have been out of a job.

i agree, it's very regional, in the detroit area nobody, and i mean nobody, returns their carts. i think it is because a) MI is very flat and so carts are unlikely to roll away; and 2) grocery jobs are all unionized, i've had cart guys scold me for putting my cart back because it is bad for job security

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is such a weird mix of actual unspoken life rules and people trying to articulate their personal prime directives.

Yah, this thread TURNED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don’t have a religion in our family. Only one rule “Don’t be an a$$hole” covers everything.

I am am having my family adopt this as our family motto. It's perfect, and really does cover everything.

[Anonymous]

My dad once got his car stuck on a gravel bar while birding. I walked down the farm lane until I spotted a couple of guys in a pickup. I asked them if they could pull him out & they said, "Sure!"

My dad asked me the protocol for this situation. I said, "You offer to pay them. They'll refuse payment, and ask you to just pay it forward." That's exactly what happened.

I was happy to know this particular unspoken rule.

[Anonymous]

Well, this saying is well known but it really is a lesson in the way people think, behave and react: "Blood is thicker than water"

There really are good people out there doing so much good for others but when given no other option people will take care of their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don’t have a religion in our family. Only one rule “Don’t be an a$$hole” covers everything.

I am am having my family adopt this as our family motto. It's perfect, and really does cover everything.

Except I don't think everyone agrees on what a$$hole behavior is. Some think getting up early and claiming beach chairs before you eat breakfast is a jerk move, others think that the early bird gets the worm.

[Anonymous]

Don’t punch down

Don’t put in writing anything you don’t want in the front page of the nyt

if it seems too good to be true, it is

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is such a weird mix of actual unspoken life rules and people trying to articulate their personal prime directives.

Yah, this thread TURNED.

OP here.. Kiddo came home and told me “be kind” not unspoken (duh!) and told me the ones learned at school:
-don’t pick your nose in public
-don’t ask parents about their sex lives
-don’t talk about bowel movements
-don’t ask someone’s salary
-don’t ask what something cost
-don’t comment on a pregnancy until you’re told (said the teacher said this is “even if someone is crowning, you don’t ask if they haven’t told you” 😂