Do you think hugging/cheek kissing on meeting will become a thing of the past?

[Kizty]

I have met with two lots of people recently who I haven’t seen for a while. Pre Covid the done thing would have been an (awkward) hug/cheek kiss on meeting. I am awful at these and actively dread in advance as I feel really awkward and normally end up going for the wrong cheek etc. And it was a relief to be honest to just say hi and have a catch up and skip the hug. Although I appreciate some miss the hugs and I don’t think hugs with very close family will dissppear ever- I would always want to hug my mum. But with aquaintances, I wonder if it may? (Hoping!)

Hopefully

Nope. People that like doing will do it still.

I am from northern Scotland but have a lot of English relatives where cheek kissing seems so much more popular. And it was always such a difficult thing for me to adjust to.

Hope so along with hand shaking.

No letsallscreamatthecicstine! That is not what I want to hear. Maybe I should start a campaign !!

No - I think it become usual to explicitly ask if we are hugging each other rather than going straight in but hugging will survive!

No, I think it will basically come back, albeit slowly. At the moment the people I know are doing that 'are we...?' dance with arms half-outstretched but I can see that going by the wayside bit by bit as people get used to doing it again.

But I also think that the people who are, and have always been, uncomfortable about hugging on meeting will feel able to be a bit more vocal about saying so, or avoiding the hug-zone.

Hopefully.

Bloody hope so!

I gather that in previous pandemics similar social distancing measures were brought in including dropping the hand shake, but they have always returned.

I'll do with with certain friends who I did before but I HATE it when people do it in external work meetings si I'm hoping it doesn't come back in those circumstances

I like the mork and Mindy gesture myself

I met friends on wednesday, we did the hugging/cheek kissing thing. It was so nice and so normal

I'd like to do away with the kissing and just go for the hug. I am a hugger but not a kisser really!

The friends I've not seen for ages we've hugged and hugged.

Human contact is important.

Go ash I hope so, being grabbed at by people is hideous. I’m also small and most adults are larger than I am and it’s very unpleasant.

I use COVID as an excuse even though I live in a COVID free country.

I even had colleagues/ managers who would do it after I’d not seen them for a few weeks etc….. also slightly traumatised by being forced to kiss grotty relatives as a child when greeting or saying goodbye….

I always intensely disliked even close friends doing that Huggy, kissy thing. It’s the only thing I intensely disliked about France, that and the plumbing….

I dont care if we all end up triple jabbed with Hannibal Lecter masks, I am always going to use COVID as an excuse ….

I could get on board with hugging being the standard interaction. Or hand shaking. Just one standard interaction for everyone so we all know what to do. It’s the trying to guess - hug/ hand shake/ single kiss/ double kiss that I find so excruciating 😖

I hope it never comes back!

Family, fine. Close friends, ok. Anyone else, especially people at work, no!

Agree whoslaughingnow at work is the absolute worst

I hope so

Most times I’ve seen someone recently we’ve already gone back to hug/kiss

I hope so.
Pre covid I used to often pretend I had a throat infection.

I don't like kissy thing with acquaintances etc.

It's relatively new no one did that in the 80d in England really.

Don't stop me hugging my friends!!!

I never kissed anyone, and hug very few people. When I met colleagues at the pub last week, there was much ist bumping, which was odd, as we wouldn't usually shake hands anyway.

I hope so. I really, really hate the kissy thing. Not keen on hugs either, unless I know the person very well indeed. Handshakes are ok and I don't mind the elbow tap greeting.