Some say that rules are meant to be broken, and so broken they will be, be it traffic regulations or the dos and don'ts of playing Uno.
These are just a couple of examples of rules that some people break regularly. And while the reasons for doing that might differ with each person, some do it simply because they fundamentally disagree with them.
Members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community recently shared what rules they refuse to follow, because of said reason, after redditor ‘RGDJR’ started a thread about it. Covering everything from orders and regulations to expectations and social norms, netizens assembled quite an extensive list of rules that, in their opinion, should be broken, so scroll down to find them, and see if you agree with any of them.
Below you will also find Bored Panda’s interview with the person who started the thread, user RGDJR, who was kind enough to answer a few of our questions.
#1
“Breakfast foods.” Ive had coworkers walk in on me eating steak and mashed potatoes with asparagus at 7 AM for breakfast. When questioned I always respond “I don’t subscribe to societal norms of proper meal time foods”
Edit: I woke up to a ton of people agreeing with me so it’s clear ive been chosen as the leader of the rebellion. We march on Kellog’s headquarters at dawn
Image credits: TheDUDE1411
#2
Automatic respect because someone is elderly.
They get common courtesy, but everyone has to earn respect/authority before they can start bossing people around.
Image credits: SafariNZ
#3
My state says I'm not allowed to provide alcohol to my own children until they are 21.
I will not let them be carted off to a bar on their 21st birthday unless they are already very familiar with alcohol and how different ABV% affects their bodies. I do not care what the law says, their first drink will come from me in the safety of their own home.
Image credits: Finn235
In a recent interview with Bored Panda, u/RGDJR shared that the thing that encouraged him to ask this particular question was a rule that he himself breaks on the regular. “I had just returned from some travel with a colleague and found that she and I differ on the need to put your phone into airplane mode before takeoff,” he said.
“She obeys this rule religiously. I, on the other hand, have never put my phone into airplane mode. My position is: if it's actually important, the airline wouldn't just ask people to do it, you'd need to show the flight attendant proof… or your phone would automatically switch to airplane mode when it sensed that you were moving at a certain speed. In any case, I don't buy that it's actually necessary. And it was this debate with my colleague that inspired the question. I was curious what other rules people break willingly.”
#4
Tipping everywhere. Not exactly a rule but I ain't gonna tip where I haven't received an actual service where someone has to go out of their way to do something for me. I don't care if I get mean looks for it.
Image credits: FaultFinal5248
#5
Account sharing. I bought the game, service, movie, etc, I get to decide who uses it
Image credits: zane411
The OP admitted that the volume of answers from the redditors caught him off guard; what surprised him even more was how many of them he agreed with.
“In fact, the top response is one that I'm aligned on wholeheartedly,” he said. “The idea that people shouldn't discuss their salary with each other is bulls**t. Talking salary helps to ensure pay equity. I have a team of people who work for me and I would never dissuade them from talking about what they make.”
#6
YouTube TOS says I can't block ads. The day they can stop me is the day I stop watching Youtube.
Edit: 8000 upvotes and yet there's a lot of copium in this thread over me still blocking ads.
Image credits: drdildamesh
#7
I *actually* use my turn signal/blinker.
I eat cookie dough and I eat Nutella with a spoon
Image credits: cyaveronica
#8
Jaywalking. If the street is obviously clear, I'm not going to wait for nothing.
Image credits: hapster113
“Pirating content is also an answer that struck a chord with me,” the redditor continued. “I make every effort to buy media. But if the world won't sell it to me, I'll take to the seas. I also thought there was some great advice on getting scientific papers from the authors as opposed to paying for them.”
#9
Rules about pirating content that I am geographically restricted from streaming legally.
Image credits: nolawnchairs
#10
If i find cash on the ground i'm not going to give it to the authorities
Image credits: kyubeyt
#11
Making the bed. Why would I make my bed all neat if I'm just going to mess it up again at the soonest opportunity? As long as nothing is sliding off the bed then it's fine.
Image credits: mountainnose1994
Despite agreeing with fellow netizens that some rules are meant to be broken—in some cases, regularly—the OP told Bored Panda that he absolutely believes that rules are necessary for people.
“Rules often exist for a very good reason. They help ensure a (generally) peaceful society. They deter criminal behavior that might endanger us. They guarantee that my football team is going to move 15 yards up the field if the opposing team is rough on our quarterback. That said, I don't believe that all rules are entirely necessary. And as this post proved, a sizable population of redditors would agree.”
#12
Not expressing emotions to appear “strong/tough”. I had a hard year last year and I couldn’t hold it in and opened up with 3 coworkers I trusted. We have since then developed a very strong friendship and even since we all left out last company, we became really close friends.
If more people normalized mental illness the world would be a much better place.
Image credits: mysteronsss
#13
"Do not discuss salary with colleagues or people outside this company." - F**k that.
Edit: Phew!
To be clear, I am not part of the US and not really part of the EU. The act of discussing pay is not legally protected here. It may be in the future though...
Image credits: fiindca
#14
Separating laundry by colors, I just throw everything in together
Image credits: Piggles-and-Beagles
#15
My employees dont pay for food on my shifts. we dont pay them a living wage, i’m not about to make them pay for a meal for themselves after theyve given me 8-9 hours of their day.
Image credits: aviatorium
#16
I refuse to use Starbucks sizes and say small, medium, or large.
Image credits: jimmyjohntwo
#17
I'm so tired of the "subscription" world we live in now. I basically just pirate everything. I used to still buy the discs. But many movies don't get released in UHD, so what's the point of even looking.
I don't want to stream compressed 4k. And I certainly don't want to worry about whether or not the company pulls the movie from their service or just stops it altogether.
Image credits: ArcRust
#18
Do socks really need to match, or is this just a bill of goods sold to us by Big Laundry?
Image credits: GreenAdder
#19
There is an outlet mall near us that has designated spaces painted with pink ribbons that are for breast cancer survivors. The spaces are always empty. I am a 2x ovarian cancer survivor. I use the spaces as needed.
Image credits: Strong-Succotash-830
#20
The rule against ending a sentence with a preposition. That is one rule, up with which I will not put.
Image credits: KumquatHaderach
#21
Dress codes. Dress codes tend to be more restrictive for females than males (don’t tempt him with your exposed clavicles, ladies). Many of them are also racist. And they have absolutely nothing to do with someone’s standards or ability to perform duties, whether it be a job, a school, or even a restaurant.
#22
I wear socks and sandals. The people complaining are annoyingly ridiculous. I’m not gonna show my hairy feet if I don’t want to and I can’t stand the feeling/sound of sweaty feet on sandals.
Image credits: Dr-Zoidberserk
#23
There is no difference between being at work at 8am and 8:10am. Especially when it’s not shift work and there’s no one waiting for you to arrive so they can leave. In every job I’ve had they always gripe about being right on time at 8am and then you have hovering managers looking at the door to see who’s late at 8:02am. I am always at work but I will not be there at 8am on the dot for the next 25+ years of my life. It makes no difference
Image credits: pwa09
#24
Ages on car seats. I think a kid’s age has zero relation and all car seat requirements should be based on weight alone.
Image credits: not_your_neighbors
#25
Lying on your resume. I’m not talking about completely lying that you worked at Google for 2 years when you didn’t. That’s a little much.
But in reality i have gaps between many jobs, due to either unemployment or just needing a damn break between jobs. but on my resume i have consecutively been employed with no gaps my entire career. I feel like recruiters see gaps as a red flag, and sometimes your resume doesn’t make it far enough to even explain the gaps, even if they’re completely harmless gaps.
In regard to background checks for new jobs I’ve personally still passed all of mine with no issues. To my knowledge the agency conducting the background checks can only verify information you give them yourself (not the employer). So I simply don’t provide exact dates, just the year I worked at whatever place. Of course this could backfire, but so far so good over here
Edit: I fundamentally disagree with it because employers lie about the job description all the time. What you actually end up doing rarely matches what they pitch you.
Image credits: Important_Map_7266
#26
I refuse to spell out YMCA with my arms when that song comes on.
Image credits: MrBigTomato
#27
No putting your elbows on the table. It's a silly rule that was based on the idea of "if you have room to put your elbows on the table, it implies your host didn't provide enough food." We make bigger tables now. And most of the time I'm the one who is buying the food in question.
Image credits: limbodog
#28
The rule that you cannot place a +2 on a +2 in UNO I am always going to break that rule no matter what anyone says
Image credits: pheonix_aryan
#29
Not a rule but i refuse to fill out opinion surveys for service or something i bought. If you want me to provide you with optimization information for your business, i need something in return.
#30
I'm conscious of the speed limit, but typically follow the speed of traffic first. So if traffic is going faster than the speed limit, I'm going to go faster to keep pace with everyone else.
Image credits: iceunelle
#31
Speeding on the interstate. Get out of the left lane!
Image credits: splattermonkeys
#32
I tip the minimum amount at restaurants.
Places nowadays want a minimum 25% tip and I will do 15% every time. You don’t get to tell me how generous I have to be. And in case everyone forgot, tips are OPTIONAL.
#33
Don’t date where you work.
You spend nearly a third of your waking hours at work. You learn about the people you work with over weeks, months, years, and have a much better idea of compatibility than with a random club or dating app meetup.
Image credits: panachi19
#34
I ignore margins in notebooks and write over them. Why waste space? I use the whole page.
Image credits: anon
#35
5 second rule. If it falls on the floor I just throw it out. That’s gross.
Image credits: monkeyface4
#36
Adding garlic and onion to the pan at the same time to soften. Do you want burnt garlic? Because that's how you get burnt garlic.
Image credits: PBnPickleSandwich
#37
In 1950s New Zealand they used to have six o’clock closing for all the bars by law. My dad was barely of drinking age but he used to line up with everyone else and hand over his cash while the publican sold flagons of beer over the back fence.
He told me this story to teach me this axiom:
“You don’t obey the *stupid* laws.”
Image credits: DadLoCo
#38
Taking slightly longer breaks at work. Two 10min breaks and a 20min lunch on a 10hr shift. Nah
#39
Maybe not totally on point but if I have a device that breaks just out of warranty I will often buy a new one and just return the old one. I know two wrongs don’t make a right and it’s fraud but as far as I’m concerned selling me something that breaks within 1 year for the price of something that should last at least 5 years is legalized fraud so I’m just cheating them like they cheat me.
I do try and give the company a chance to honor their device regardless of the stated warranty but if not returned it goes.
#40
City animal limits. YES if you can't take care of them they need to be removed, but in my city the limit is 4 cats/dogs total. Down the road in the next city it's 10 cats/dogs.
I have 8. It's b******t. It's my space and I'm taking good care of them, they dont roam. The only interaction with neighbors is if they see them in my window.
It really doesn't affect me much as most people around here ignore the rule too
#41
I throw away the mail of the people who lived in my apartment before me rather than taking it to the post office every. Single. Day. If they wanted their mail, they would have filled out a change of address form.
Image credits: ariariariarii
#42
Sharing meds. My oldest and I had several of the same prescriptions and would use them interchangeably as needed between refills. It’s the same prescription. But I imagine some medical professionals would lose their minds.
#43
Telling white lies to your SO is good.
No. I'm not carrying the baggage of lies. I'm always kind, and I'm always honest. Don't want to know thing? You better not ask me.
#44
That you need to wait for other people to start eating, eat your food before it gets cold, I’ll just talk while I’m waiting
Image credits: moonfantastic
#45
Using knife and fork to cut your food. If the food it's soft enough, why I can't use my spoon?
Image credits: maurocastrov
