Greetings and air-kisses

My Ma told me a story the other day. She’s had a replacement head-honcho {boss} at her work for the past three months while her real boss took a break. The whole workplace has really enjoyed having him around, as he’s been a real breath of fresh air. The team sat around the meeting table last week and they went over the past few months, talked over some ideas for moving forward and the team thanked him for his time.

Later that day Ma took a moment to personally thank him for everything and at the end of the conversation she reached out her hand to give him a handshake to say goodbye and thank you. To her surprise he reached in to give her a hug and a pat on the back to say thanks in return. The awkward thing is, Ma accidentally kissed him on the cheek. As you do with good friends and family, except he was her boss.

This had me in hysterics. I could imagine my Ma accidentally doing it. It’s no big deal, and her boss didn’t even notice but it’s so something I’d do. And in fact have done.

Where I grew up there was no kissing or even air kisses when greeting each other. Hugs didn’t even really happen either. It was more a smile, a glance and perhaps a handshake. When I moved to Sydney, I was welcomed to the world of air kisses. Everyone was doing it and before long I was doing it too.

A few months back my little sister came up to Sydney and we had a family ‘thing’. When she arrived I started to reach in for a hug and a kiss but stopped short and asked, “Do we do this? Do we hug and kiss? I can’t remember?”

We all cried tears of laughter and couldn’t remember how we greeted each other. I still don’t know, to be honest.

My most embarrassingly awkward greeting moment was recently at an event when I met someone that I’d been talking to online for quite some time {in a professional manner} and I wasn’t expecting to see her. I went in for the cheek kiss and she slowly edged away. It was like it all happened in slow motion and I could feel myself turning beetroot red. I didn’t know whether to pull back and pretend it never happened or commit to the kiss. Instead I awkwardly rubbed my cheek against hers and wanted to crawl into my non-existent shell. Thankfully I had Eden by my side and I just died in her arms afterwards whilst we roared with laughter in the corner.

What’s the norm? How do you greet people? Are you a hugger, a handshaker, a kisser or just a plain hello-er?

P.S. Promise me, if next we see each other {or meet} that you’ll go with the flow and put up with my awkward greetings. I think it runs in my family.

post signature

{image via pinterest}

25 thoughts on “Greetings and air-kisses”

  1. I'm from a dinky little town in New Zealand – when I recently went to Aussie and Europe they ALL gave me the double cheek kiss. I found it awkward to start with… and to finish with… haha – it's a cultural and social thing – it only bothers me cause I'm not used to it – otherwise it's a great way to break the ice! Just no lips – lets not start that one up!

  2. I'm Italian – we all kiss 🙂 No really I usually have to hold back my greetings – as children we were taught to greet all family friends with a kiss. When I'm in a handshake situation I find myself doing some weird arm grab/rub thingy without even knowing it so I tend to just stand back and do a little hand wave from a distance so I don't embarrass myself.

  3. Hugs all the way! I don't think I often give cheek kisses, but don't ever flinch if new people give them to me. I know people do handshakes a lot, but I really don't like them – I much prefer to squish!
    Mel xo

  4. I'm all over the shop. Good friend and family hug and kiss. Good friend or family I haven't seen for ages double big squeezy hug and lots of kisses.

    I usually hand shake people I haven't met before unless I know them well (through blogging etc) then they get a hug and a kiss.

  5. Haha! I did this last week – hadn't seen my mother's group ladies in a couple of weeks and I leaned in to kiss one of the girls. She looked at me with one raised eyebrow and the rest of the girls were sitting around looking at me strangely. Definitely wanted the earth to open up and swallow me.

    I grew up in India, and we only kissed relatives hello. So this kissing everyone hello business took some getting used to. Although now, 15 years later – clearly – I do it all the time! 😉

  6. Thans for brightening up my day with this post… my family arent very hug and kissy and i olny cheek kiss with close friends sometimes and even then i feel a little awkward but they all know i like my own personal space.

    Have a beautiful day xx

  7. This is a topic that I find so awkward! Do I hug? Kiss? Handshake? Awkward wave? Just a 'hi'? WHAT DO I DO?! I never know, so I always take a stab at whatever feels most appropriate in the situation. Sometimes it works and I give myself a little pat on the back for getting it right. Other times theres the awkward moment of serious personal space invasion. I wish someone would publish a manual so I always know how to greet people. xxx

  8. I'm always the one standing back freaking out when people I meet want to touch me. I'm not a huggy, kissy person, and always feel so mean if I freeze when people go for the hug.

    I have finally got used to a couple of new friends who always greet me with a cheek/air kiss. I actually like feeling special enough for someone to want to greet me this way. I did have to stand back and tell the in laws I didn't like all the hugging and kissing though, probably why they haven't liked me from the start!

  9. Oh this is hilarious!! I have done the same thing, i've accidentally kissed people like our school principal, teachers, bosses, other people's husbands, but i was raised very kissy, ditto for my husband. Watch your children though – my son turns his head when he kisses his little girlfriends, after watching my husband kiss me, love Posie

  10. I confessed in a recent post that I went for the full lip smooch on the cheek of known-people. I didn't know whether you were supposed to make contact or not. Most everyone agreed: contact!

    We do the lip on cheek kiss around my fam. Occasionally I will do the Italian thing and go for a second kiss which always involved awkwardness. I will go a hug if they are open as well.

    x

  11. definitely one area where it would just be easier to be italian!

    I'm totally awkward about it all too, I'm actually not that comfortable with close contact but over the years I've adapted and a hug feels much less foreign than a handshake in social circumstances.

    I've definitely had those red faced can't believe I just did that moments too!

    Tatum xx

  12. i'm a hugger and a kisser for sure.. but i have some friends who i know aren't, so i just give them hugs and no kisses… some of my friends never use to hug but since having babies have become warmer and turned into huggers!

    funny huh?

    my inlaws are not huggers or kissers, and my family is, so it feels very cold when i am around them!

    good topic 🙂

  13. Oh I hate that awkward moment! Growing up my family and friends never really greeted each other, only a “hi!”, no real physical touch. When meeting new people at the most I would shake hands.

    Then I met my husband's family who all do the kiss on the cheek when greeting and saying goodbye. I found it uncomfortable at first but now do it routinely.

    My parents often give a hug and a kiss to say goodbye but I would feel very uncomfortable hugging or kissing my sister or brother. We were just never like that.

    I remember feeling embarrassed once in high school. I had one friend who would hug as goodbye and she leaned in to hug me one day as she was leaving. I completely mis-read it and kissed her on the cheek. She didn't seem to notice but I was mortified. It just seemed so strange for me to do that as a 16 year old!

  14. A hug, a kiss depends on who, but certainly with friends & family…. I've had that awkward moment too! The only thing I don't like is when people try & kiss you on the lips. Don't like it!

  15. I like the kiss on the cheek, hugs are good too. I always greet family in this way and some friends. I hate that awkward feeling with new friends i never know if i should go in for the kiss or not.. x

  16. So cute! I do kisses too, but notice that there is lots of air going on.

    But that's not genuine. That's not right.

    I bet that boss will think your mum is the warmest person they've ever met (or the strangest).

    xx

  17. So funny! I'm from a non-contact family so when I met my husband's Maltese family 15 yrs ago, I had to learn to cheek kiss all sorts of people! Still not comfortable with it but don't want to be rude. Sometimes I can avoid the conga kiss by just not being in the farewell circle at that time. Strangely enough my family only just started doing kiss/hug greets about 5 yrs ago when Dad died, we must have all felt a bit mortal.

  18. Oh I remember that night it was SO CUTE. For me – embarrassing for you, lovely!

    Swear to God, next time I see you I'm going to hold both shoulders and go in for the big kiss. You've been warned. xxoo

  19. Im a kisser too! It seems quicker than a hug so theres less chance for awkward. I do have a female friend that insists on kissing people on the mouth though, totally freaks me out and the more i try to avoid it, the worse she is. Sorry for your awkward moment, but thanks fir sharing 🙂

  20. I'm a big hugger, and for some reason I am always surprised when I meet another hugger for the first time and they hug me straight away. I appreciate most people aren't huggers so I usually wait til they get to know me a little before I pounce with a hug. The whole air kiss thing I do with friends now, but when I was growing up it wasn't done at all. I am a child of the 80s and it just wasn't done then, all of a sudden in the 00s everyone started doing it! Where did it come from? Beats me, but adding a third option to the mix makes meeting new people rather awkward at times. Handshake? Hug? Kiss? Choosing the right one isn't always easy.

Comments are closed.