No matter how silly they say something sounds, or the date. I will automatically assume someone is being serious unless they say it’s a joke after saying it because if it isn’t a joke and I take it as a joke that could be harmful. I’ve been bedbound due to CFS for the last 7 years so I don’t have a good idea of what is normal and what is not anymore.
The reason the rule is rigid is so I can avoid getting hurt. I don’t want to delve too deeply into my psychiatric history but let’s just say I have a ton of anxiety and instability in my world views relating to being shamed by my family in the past for doing the “wrong” thing, and them reacting in a way that is wildly disproportionate to what I did wrong (I once had a family member give me death threats for forgetting to turn a lamp off, for example). Doctors have said I may have BPD.