Life Files: To Kiss or Not to Kiss

Have you ever had that awkward moment with a friend, colleague or acquaintance where you just don’t know if you should go in for the hello kiss on the cheek or not? Well it happened to me on Tuesday...twice! Fortunately not with the same person, though I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not?!

I went to meet a couple of work colleagues, who I have met a few times now, both male (not implying anything there by the way) upon greeting them both there was this awkward lean in but shake hands at the same time and then lean in a little further for a rather unwillingly kiss on the cheek, from both parties might I add. I leaned back only to feel myself blushing at the unwieldy situation, hoping that no one around noticed or felt the presence of such awkwardness. Funnily enough, I met with one of them again only two days later. I waved and said hello...from 2 metres away, just to avoid any confusion this time. 

I remember bumping in to an old work friend once and I thought I was an absolute shoe in for the hug and kiss on the cheek. It turns out I completely missed the mark, she went in for the hug only and I ended up kissing her on the ear! OMG why does this always happen to me!

Is there a new code that I am not aware of? Do people not show affection to each other anymore via kisses or am I just taking it to a completely different level?

A friend of mine encountered a similar experience but hers was taken to a new extreme, I don’t even think she knows how it happened but they both leant in, she went for the hug and he went for a kiss on the cheek, it mutated in to a painstakingly wet peck on the lips...cringe! Seriously, how do you recover from that?

Then there are those people in your life that you know what to expect. Most of my friends are kiss on the cheek kinda people. I myself am a kiss on the cheek person, but then I have a few friends who are hug only people where you know it’s completely out of bounds to do anything other than hug. If you had knowledge of this information in advance then you would be safe from embarrassment.

I believe there must be an art to reading the greeting on offer, but what that is baffles me. Should you play it safe and only ever go in for the handshake? I am a lady at the end of the day and is it considered manly to greet someone you know with a handshake? What is the etiquette here?

My opinion is if you meet someone for the first time it’s a handshake but after that it’s game on and kisses for everyone!