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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Help!!! Please help me feel better about this awkward hug!!!!!!

109 replies

No1Some1 · 01/03/2026 15:25

I was just introduced to a friends husband, and he went in for a hug, but with that sort of kiss/not kiss on each cheek. (If that makes any sense). This is absolutely not how I hug, so the whole thing threw me off and I ended up somehow in the kerfuffle, placing my hand on the back of his head mid hug. I am absolutely mortified!!!! I don’t know how it even happened, but it was just super weird and uncomfortable and I wanted the ground to swallow me up. Help me feel better about this. I’m currently planning to never set foot out my front door again!!!!!

OP posts:
YourHeartyFatball · 01/03/2026 15:28

At least you didn’t kiss him. You didn’t, did you?

Original poster
No1Some1 · 01/03/2026 15:30

Nope, no kissing involved!!! 😂

OP posts:
janietreemore · 01/03/2026 15:30

It's fine, he should realise he confused you. It probably happens to him all the time!

CrowMate · 01/03/2026 15:31

Like you would a baby’s head?

…so you really drew him in?

Original poster
No1Some1 · 01/03/2026 15:31

his wife was right there, and my husband! As you can tell, I’m not hugger, unless it’s a good female friend or family member. 🙈🙈

OP posts:
nomas · 01/03/2026 15:32

OMG do not even worry that is mild compared to the horrors I’ve seen!

I’ve seen the most awkward lip lock between two very conservative, same sex heterosexual family members that made everyone want the floor to open up and swallow them up.

Original poster
No1Some1 · 01/03/2026 15:33

My had just ended up placed on the back of his head. I’m right aren’t i?… I need to shut myself off from the outside world for the foreseeable future!!!

OP posts:
Pineneedlesincarpet · 01/03/2026 15:33

We've all been there. Many worse scenarios spring to mind that I have perpetrated. The best thing is to Never Think of Them Again. No one else will be anyway.

nomas · 01/03/2026 15:34

Time is a great healer and provider of mind bleach.

SwanRivers · 01/03/2026 15:35

I really wasn't expecting such a bland story after reading the thread title.

I thought you were going to say you kissed him on the lips or accidentally touched his arse.

I wouldn't worry about this at all.

CorpulentHubNub · 01/03/2026 15:35

You're fine

In a couple of months when you know each other better, just drop it into conversation.

"I remember when I first met you, Dave. We went in for a hug and I'm not a hugger so I ended up weirdly cradling the back of your head. I worried you'd think I was a right knob"

Shrinkhole · 01/03/2026 15:40

I felt similarly after the time that I went for a platonic hug/ cheek kiss greeting with a male Muslim friend as that was how we usually greeted one another in the work context that we know one another. Both our spouses and our kids were there and I thought nothing of it but he recoiled in apparent horror and sort of jumped backwards so fast that I nearly fell over!

The trouble was that this was his daughter’s birthday party and it was in front of his parents and all his older relatives so I should probably have known that any touching of a woman not your wife was a big no no.

Super embarrassing at the time. Life lesson learned.

toomuchfaff · 01/03/2026 15:48

No1Some1 · 01/03/2026 15:30

Nope, no kissing involved!!! 😂

Dont feel too bad, my husband as was reaching up to my aunt to hug who was bending over and reaching down, touched boob and was mortified.

RosieSpring · 01/03/2026 15:53

Is he Italian by any chance?

ThisSunnyBee · 01/03/2026 15:54

Don't worry about it 💐

Original poster
No1Some1 · 01/03/2026 16:41

Okay, pleased to hear it could be worse.

OP posts:
LouiseMadetheBestBroccoliPasta · 01/03/2026 16:50

I live in France and once kissed my boss wetly on the neck when he came in to give la bise (cheek kisses). And have kissed people on their ear or hair in more social settings...

It's normal when you're not used to such embraces/kisses. Don't worry about it :)

(But I'm glad since Covid that all that kissing has died off a bit)

NotAnotherScarf · 01/03/2026 16:53

Being a man of a certain age where hugging other men wasn't "macho" when you were young and now, thankfully, it is. I recently attended a funeral where the deceased son came up and hugged me unexpectedly. I ended up virtually poking him in the stomach because I expected a handshake.

But it is nice when I met with a younger guy I know very well just after his granddad had died who he was close with and it was nice to hug without awkwardness.

Wingedharpy · 01/03/2026 17:03

I once kissed my plumber goodbye at the front door as he finished work for the day! - the first work day of a job that was to take several weeks.

To this day, I don't know what possessed me.

I think it had been a long day and I wasn't fully focused on reality.

And before y'all ask, no he wasn't a demi-God - he was a portly, middle aged, grey and balding gent in a scruffy boiler suit - with a slightly shocked expression on his face.

I'm even older.

I didn't see him off the premises thereafter.

Pineneedlesincarpet · 01/03/2026 17:09

Shrinkhole · 01/03/2026 15:40

I felt similarly after the time that I went for a platonic hug/ cheek kiss greeting with a male Muslim friend as that was how we usually greeted one another in the work context that we know one another. Both our spouses and our kids were there and I thought nothing of it but he recoiled in apparent horror and sort of jumped backwards so fast that I nearly fell over!

The trouble was that this was his daughter’s birthday party and it was in front of his parents and all his older relatives so I should probably have known that any touching of a woman not your wife was a big no no.

Super embarrassing at the time. Life lesson learned.

I did this is Africa once. Tried to give one of the safari guides a hug and he recoiled in horror.

I also very nearly absentmindedly kissed my FIL on the lips goodbye one day when I was very tired. I thank my lucky stars every day that I stopped myself in the nick of time. I think I got away with it....

TheChirpyReader · 01/03/2026 17:16

No-one would have noticed or give a shit.

And even if they did, they'd have said 'that looked awkward' and not 'she was doing something weird because she wanted to touch his head, give him a smacker of a kiss'

maudelovesharold · 01/03/2026 17:31

Wingedharpy · 01/03/2026 17:03

I once kissed my plumber goodbye at the front door as he finished work for the day! - the first work day of a job that was to take several weeks.

To this day, I don't know what possessed me.

I think it had been a long day and I wasn't fully focused on reality.

And before y'all ask, no he wasn't a demi-God - he was a portly, middle aged, grey and balding gent in a scruffy boiler suit - with a slightly shocked expression on his face.

I'm even older.

I didn't see him off the premises thereafter.

😳
😁😁 Oh the horror! This made me lol with empathy. I felt embarrassed enough when I once accidentally ended a text to a builder, confirming the type of flooring we wanted, with two kisses. I then panicked and sent another text apologising. which made it even worse, somehow!

CheeseWisely · 01/03/2026 18:07

Sympathies OP! I am a hugger and air kisser and still managed to misjudge and end up sort of weirdly half pecking a Spanish business partner on the mouth at a conference. 3 years ago I think and it still gives me the absolute horrors.

ScrambledEggs12 · 01/03/2026 18:13

I once accidentally kissed my mother-in-law on the lips.

Evaka · 01/03/2026 18:19

Wingedharpy · 01/03/2026 17:03

I once kissed my plumber goodbye at the front door as he finished work for the day! - the first work day of a job that was to take several weeks.

To this day, I don't know what possessed me.

I think it had been a long day and I wasn't fully focused on reality.

And before y'all ask, no he wasn't a demi-God - he was a portly, middle aged, grey and balding gent in a scruffy boiler suit - with a slightly shocked expression on his face.

I'm even older.

I didn't see him off the premises thereafter.

I'm reading this on a flight and have my face to the wall trying to control the lolling. That's absolutely hilarious.

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