I just found out something I've been doing my whole life is apparently 'weird' and now I can't stop thinking about it

In western Washington, I always check, *and* shake the curtain, because giant house spiders love bathtubs.

Check for murderer, then pee. Totally normal.

I use my flamethrower and burn the curtain each time I go in the bathroom. Put it out with the shower water. Then replace the curtain when I leave. 

I’ve never done this. If someone has managed to break into my home completely unnoticed by me, snuck into my bathroom completely unseen, and hidden in my shower props to them.

I don't do it, but when I read this I was like, "Oh sure, gotta check for murderers." Like has no one seen a horror movie where a guy with the knife is hiding in the shower? Damn.

I have a shower door now but when I had a curtain I always looked. Not weird at all and you'll have the last laugh when your roommate screams bloody murder someday.

Why was your roommate with you when you went to use the bathroom?

Ok, after reading the La Llorena story for the first time (I was like 11 and I think it was in *Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark*?), I got REALLY freaked out about water and, like, mysterious washer-women of death appearing suddenly. So, for a couple of weeks, I obsessively and very nervously checked behind the shower curtain for La Llorena. Idk why I thought that would help… 😅

I have a clear curtain…

I caught three people hiding behind the shower curtain with a tape recorder at a party when I was a teenager, so I still and will always check behind the shower curtain every time I use the bathroom tyvm.

I shake squeezable jelly, I don’t like the jelly liquid soaking my toast. When my brother or fiancé saw me do it for the first time they both said the same thing, “oh, so that’s how it gets like that”. I try not to now

Um, you close your shower curtain? Are you TRYING to invite serial killers?

This is not at all weird, plenty of people do this. Yes, it's a quirky thing, but people do it. I might do it at someone else's house because kids hide there, animals, a drunk friend was there once [https://www.listnook.com/r/DoesAnybodyElse/comments/loqbk/dae\_check\_behind\_the\_shower\_curtain\_before\_using/](https://www.listnook.com/r/DoesAnybodyElse/comments/loqbk/dae_check_behind_the_shower_curtain_before_using/) [https://ask.metafilter.com/234911/Theres-no-crazy-killer-behind-the-shower-curtain-so-why-do-I-look](https://ask.metafilter.com/234911/Theres-no-crazy-killer-behind-the-shower-curtain-so-why-do-I-look)

I keep the tv volume on even numbers only. odd numbers feels wrong

My siblings loved to hide in the shower for a prank when we were kids so i get it 100% always check!

I look in the toilet bowl for snakes before sitting. I know two separate people who had snakes in their toilet bowl.

Those of us who saw *Psycho* in a movie theater when it was released in 1960 have been checking behind the shower curtain for 66 years!

The day I don’t look is the day I get murdered mid poop. No thank you, at least let me die with some dignity and a chance to fight.

I am of the "Psycho" era, you can bet your sweet arse I'm checking behind the shower curtain.

Lol. I do weirder shit than that and I don’t judge myself 

I had a friend years ago and he always checked behind the shower curtain before he even shut the door to the bathroom. One day I asked him why he did it and he said" you never know when a serial killer or a clown will be behind the shower curtain waiting for you when you're at your most vulnerable"

Honestly… I don’t think that’s weird at all 😂 I’ve definitely done that before, especially after watching anything even remotely scary. My brain is like “there’s a 0.001% chance someone is behind there… but let’s not risk it.” For me, I always check the stove multiple times before leaving the house. Like I KNOW it’s off, but I’ll still go back and look again just in case. Feels completely normal until someone points it out lol

We have Brown Spiders here. I do the same if a cloth shower curtain.

I do that before I get into the shower. Spiders scare widdle ol' me.

ITT: Lots of "I do this/this it totally normal" comments, and some "that's weird af" comments. Very few actually answering OP's question of what you do that you thought was normal but found out isn't lmao. My weird thing is food related: I enjoy eating peanut butter and cucumber sandwiches. The flavours don't mix into a new flavour, they stay their distinct flavours, I just like them together. That, and Doritos cool ranch chips with Caramilk chocolate bars. Yes at the same time. (Tho haven't had in years, so might not be the same if recipes have changed).

You're not at the Bates motel, are you? I shake out my shoes before wearing them. It makes sense that you'd check for critters behind the shower curtain. All of my prior houses have had glass shower doors, so I can see what's in there.

Why would I need a safety check in my own bathroom?

Growing up in a house, sure, I could see it. I probably did that growing up when I had the heebeejeebees, but now that I've been living on the 6th floor of a very secure condo for the past several years, that would never cross my mind.

Almost40. I still do this

Your roommate was wrong to call you out for it. I'd say it's not a universal thing - nothing really is - but it's not crazy.  Everyone has things they do that others will think are weird, if others bother to notice and comment on it. One way to keep life running smoothly is to not notice stuff like that. 

Why don't you just leave the shower curtain open?

I also check the showers before I go in. Then again, I live in the tropics where instead of a vent, we tend to have windows that we open or close to keep the heat in or out. If I'm not careful, I'll probably end up taking a shower with a lazard, frog, or bug. Usually it's a lazard or bug. One time I had a toad hop on me while I was in the shower--Nearly killed myself running out because I couldn't figure out what it was. Even when I'm not planning on taking a shower I still check from time to time because I don't want them (being the frog, lizrd, or bug) becoming a problem later on when they inevitably wonder deeper inside the house.

There could be a serial killer and 3 clowns behind my shower curtain and I'd never know unless they yelled "surprise!"

What’s your roommate doing in the bathroom with you??

Even if I see that the front door is locked and I know either I or someone else in the house has locked it I will still walk up to it and push because sometimes if it's not pushed closed the second part that goes from the door to the jam doesn't engage and pushing get it to click into place. That piece just makes it harder for someone to slip a card in to open your doors... Not sure if this is something others do.

Some people stand up to wipe their butt, some people do it sitting down. Both find the other a bit weird.

I do the shower check, but I do it as subtly and quietly as possible, so that people on the other room don’t hear me do it, so they don’t think that I’m actively afraid of getting murdered on the toilet by a shower-hider.

I always knock on public bathroom stalls before trying the handle, even when they're obviously empty. My coworker at Target caught me doing it last week and looked at me like I'd grown a second head. Apparently most people just yank on locked doors like barbarians.

Checking behind the shower curtain is perfectly reasonable to me haha

Not checking behind the curtain is like having a death wish. This person doesn’t have the instincts instilled by watching horror movies or having siblings who think they are funny. In my own home that I know is locked up, I check the shower. And often the drain. And in unfamiliar places, I’ll glance in any cabinets big enough to hide a Chucky sized psycho.

If my clothes were on the floor, I shake them because we have spiders and the occasional silverfish. Likewise, I shake out my shoes if they were on the patio because we have lot of black widows on our property. When I used to live alone, I would walk through the entire house when I came home at night to make sure no one was hiding somewhere. In my defense, I am a woman and lived in an urban area with a slightly higher than average crime stats.

Why don't y'all just leave the curtain all the way open? (I do this and always have) like if you leave it open enough to work no average size human could fit behind you have nothing to worry about. I guess one weird thing that I do is if you know those big drinkable yogurt bottles from Lala when I get to the end of it what I do is I seal it and let it stand on its top for like a long period of time so they can all go down to the opening and then I quickly try to open it and let it pour into my mouth. Might be more of a fatass thing though lol. Also my Christmas tree is up all year round every year because I have one of those Christmas trees that the pattern can change on it and my ornaments I prioritize my favorite things and my family's personal favorite things and ornaments that resemble those things so that it's more of a US tree then specifically Christmas tree and then the tree with the lives itself just celebrates whatever holiday we're in usually it's set to Rainbow.

Get rid of that roommate. He's in on it.

I used to do that... then discovered CLEAR shower curtains. Now I don't need to

UK checking in; always check behind the shower curtain 🫡

Whenever people from my wife’s “side” of the friend group come over I explain how to lock the bathroom door (you have to push in the knob and twist it). She and they always look at me so weird and ask why they need to lock the bathroom door. BECAUSE YOU’RE SITTING THERE WITH YOUR PANTS DOWN, POOPING.

I did that as a kid lol

I don’t do that at home but I always do it when I’m in someone else’s home lol

Florida here, I always check

Plenty of people do this. Not weird at all.

I have never done that. There was a time, as a kid, that I so scared of the gremlins that I wanted to check under my bed before going to sleep... but I was afraid to, so not even that.

I keep my dishwasher and washing machine doors ajar pretty much 24/7. There's always a few drops of water left behind that need to air dry, and then by the time it's dry, I'm reloading it again. So it just stays open a bit.

Thanks to the movie Snakes on a Plane, I have to check the toilet for snakes and other critters. When I was young, a bunch of frogs came up to the bathtub from the septic tank, so the movie only added to the fear that anything could crawl up my drains.

I always check ceilings and corners of rooms cuz spiders

I check too! When we were young my mom would prank us and wait behind the shower curtain around the time we came home from school because she knew we’d head to the bathroom first thing. Every time it would scare the shit out of me. So now it’s a habit ingrained in me.

I only buy transparent curtains for this reason. I hate showering in a small area where I can't see the room, and I hate not being able to see into the shower stall in my bathroom.

I don’t think that is weird I lock the bathroom door when I home alone though so what do I know

I used to check under the bed. When I was a kid my Dad would try to scare me by telling me there was someone hiding under my bed right after I went to bed. We’d yell goodnight and he’d add that little nugget. 🤣 I was a thrill seeker and it never really scared me. To this day I’ll walk anywhere in the dark. Freaked my husband out when he’d run into me in total darkness as he’d flip on the light. 🤣

I lock my door especially if I'm in the living room. My little brother thinks it's weird that I lock the door because "You're right there" I think it's weird that he doesn't because "You're right there" In his mind you're in the room when the door starts to open with no knocking so you can respond. In my mind you're sitting down which slows your reaction time. You're safer with the door locked. I feel vindicated when the cop walked into her neighbor's place by accident and shot him.

Your roommate strikes me as the kind of person that doesn’t check the seat before sitting

Been checking since I was 7 and saw the movie "Psycho".

I think if it brings you comfort it's fine. Your roommate should let you be. If you look around Listnook you will find far stranger things. I mean, you're not talking about a poop knife.

Someone broke into my mom's house once when I was visiting from university. They locked themselves in the bathroom and we had to phone the police. Since then I'd never ever leave the house with any doors shut inside. My husband insists on closing the bedroom doors and all the other doors before we go out. It still mildly panics me.

I started doing this after seeing Friday the 13th when I was a kid. I mostly prefer to keep the shower curtain pushed all the way open when not in use. My partner also likes to hide behind doors, curtains, and under the bed to jump scare me, and is pretty good at being quiet and still most of the time. One time I pushed open a door and it caught his foot underneath, ever so slightly scraping the skin. This would not have happened if he wasn’t so insistently a prankster, lol.

I have to check the food Im eating before I eat it. Chips, snacks, dinner, whatever. Pretty sure it came from growing up poor and eating one too many ants on food by accident.

Reverse Psyco

...what are you looking for?

Normal. Carry on.

Did you watch the shower scene in Psycho way too young?

Anyone who saw the Hitchcock film “Psycho” growing up checks the shower…and all adjacent areas.

I did that when I was a teenager and I wouldn't think it was that odd if I saw someone do it now. Seems like a habit one gets into and then just keeps doing. If you're genuinely scared there's a murderer in your house at any given time, that might be a different problem. I always check in the oven before turning it on, because that's where my mom stored leftover pizza.

When my adult son visits the shower curtain is always pulled open after he’s been in there. I close it ‘cause I love the Snoopy curtain! He goes in, open again!

Your roommate is weird for not doing that. If they weren't hiding something, why would the shower curtain be closed?

Sometimes I stand in peeing. Sometimes I sit. Depends on my mood, I guess.

I grew up in the country, lots a fields. Have found a field mouse in the tub time or 2. I ALWAYS check behind the curtain to this day...even when im just going into the bathroom. Also, might be a weirdo freaky somethin in there and im ready!!

I just keep the curtain open saves time.

I did this as a kid, sometimes I do now but it was my ocd for me. I literally had to do it until it felt right too. So annoying

Why not just leave the curtain open?

Haha..I do this too! It’s not even that I actually expect someone to be there, it’s just a reflex at this point. If I don't check, my brain won't let me relax until I do. Glad to know I'm not the only one who does 'safety checks' in their own home!

Did you grow up with mischievous brothers?

I don’t let the workman fix my creaky floors. I want to hear if anyone is walking in my house. I honk the horn and wait a minute before I get out of the car at home. So if the bears are around they’ll leave. Black bears usually try to avoid people.

I see you've watched psycho.

I do the same as you. Just to be safe.

I did this for years after I saw scream when I was 13.

I keep the shower curtain open when I’m not in it, I’ve seen too many horror movies.

I don't do it because I don't think it matters. You're dead either way. If you don't look, they'll kill you. If you do look, then they'll just kill you when you look

You should just leave the curtains open after showering

I have been doing this for decades. Psycho and other horror films did it to me

i used to do that a lot too.. I still do sometimes lol. As long as it’s not interfering with your life you’re fine

I did the same for maaaaaany many years, since I was a kid until my late 20s. I don’t do every time I use the bathroom anymore, but definitely go for a quick check before getting ready to take a shower.

yeah cuz i always assume there’s a massive rodent in the shower before i do my number 2 🥹🥹

i like do a little dance before i pee. Apparently not everyone does it.

To me, that doesn't say "crippling OCD problem" as much as it says "I developed a habit based on a scary movie I saw once." Weird, maybe, but in nice way. I have so many weird things that I do when I cook, and in the kitchen in general, that I wouldn't even know where to start.

I do that too!!

Roommate sounds like someone who would refuse to wear PPE.

I never thought the shower curtain needed to be closed, except when somebody is taking a shower, so I always leave it open, but then my wife always closes it. By the way, whenever I have checked into a hotel room, I have always found the curtain open. So I guess the hotel management agrees with me.

Why would this be normal? Like, what you're describing is the most irrational fear thing ever.