Hello (hug), Hello (kiss), Hello: Greetings at the GSB
Annie Yangeksakul, MBA2
Issue date: 5/24/04 Section: Opinions
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I have a secret to tell you. Well, it's more of a confession: I always get nervous when I say hello to a fellow GSBer. Why? It's an unspoken GSB norm that we have to perform some form of physical acknowledgement upon a sincere hello. So if I'm saying hello to a random person, it's either a hug or a pat on the back. Or if I see a European friend, it's one peck on the cheek. A Latino friend means two pecks. No... wait, it's the other way around. And then there are Latinos that have lived in Europe, and Europeans who have Latin fever. Oh and sometimes there are three kisses. What about air-kissers and noisy kissers? And of course there are classmates that view any form of physical contact as a severe space invasion offense.
Then there's the split second after the greetings where I ponder if I've done the right thing. There have been instances where I've attempted a kiss when the other person has just hugged; times where I've been kissed when I expected just a pat on the back. And let's not forget those quite unfortunate moments where I've turned in the same direction to kiss just as I was to be pecked on the cheek. Twice. First right, then left. Oops! Of course that conversation was overshadowed by the two-second awkward pause following my uncultured faux-pas...
I've reached out for a hug and seen people recoil in horror. I've purposely walked further and faster to avoid serial huggers. And then there's the goodbye. Do I hug? Shake someone's hand? Salute? Kiss? Aiya!
And if I'm walking and I see someone walking towards me, when should I start waving - when I realize it's someone I know and we make eye contact? Or do I wait until we're both within hearing distance? Because if I wave and you wave and we cannot hear each other, we're waving and we're obligated to retain eye contact until we come into earshot, then I'm worried about how to say hello because we've already done the wave for at least ten seconds. And then I worry when to say hello, because if the person is not in earshot then I have to repeat it like five times, and if I don't say anything sometimes we just walk past each other without as much as a simple "hello". There should be a rule governing this. Maybe I'll propose a new GSB norm, for I think this is almost as important as grade non-disclosure. Something that goes like this: "All greetings should be conducted in the custom of the person who first says hello. Waving should commence only when students are within ten feet of each other, irrespective of first eye contact."
Then there's the split second after the greetings where I ponder if I've done the right thing. There have been instances where I've attempted a kiss when the other person has just hugged; times where I've been kissed when I expected just a pat on the back. And let's not forget those quite unfortunate moments where I've turned in the same direction to kiss just as I was to be pecked on the cheek. Twice. First right, then left. Oops! Of course that conversation was overshadowed by the two-second awkward pause following my uncultured faux-pas...
I've reached out for a hug and seen people recoil in horror. I've purposely walked further and faster to avoid serial huggers. And then there's the goodbye. Do I hug? Shake someone's hand? Salute? Kiss? Aiya!
And if I'm walking and I see someone walking towards me, when should I start waving - when I realize it's someone I know and we make eye contact? Or do I wait until we're both within hearing distance? Because if I wave and you wave and we cannot hear each other, we're waving and we're obligated to retain eye contact until we come into earshot, then I'm worried about how to say hello because we've already done the wave for at least ten seconds. And then I worry when to say hello, because if the person is not in earshot then I have to repeat it like five times, and if I don't say anything sometimes we just walk past each other without as much as a simple "hello". There should be a rule governing this. Maybe I'll propose a new GSB norm, for I think this is almost as important as grade non-disclosure. Something that goes like this: "All greetings should be conducted in the custom of the person who first says hello. Waving should commence only when students are within ten feet of each other, irrespective of first eye contact."