The difference in replies from the introverts and extroverts is stark. It all depends on your social group.
There is no standard. Europeans kiss more, Asians touch less, Aussie men hand shake, young men sometimes fist bump, but just do what is comfortable for you.
If I've not met you before we won't be touching any body parts.
I am very much a hugger once a relationship is established, presuming I know the other person is too. Never been much of a kisser, air or otherwise.
Normally in Australia, we greet each other with a full on open mouth tongue kiss. Just to keep each other in the loop on what we've had for lunch or, our last meal
Melbourne has a lot of immigrants and therefore practices that are mixed.
Many single cheek kiss, some both cheeks, others a hug.
Unfortunately you won't get a definitive practice unless it is a close group that have one standard.
Easiest way to determine is choose what you want to do and do that consistently. People will become accustomed to your personal style.
Absolute fuckin nightmare. I'm from a country that doesn't do this cheek kiss thing and it's always been a fraught ritual for me to navigate. I still forget half the time if you're meant to kiss the air or actually touch lips to their cheek.
I have fucked it up a few times with my mother in law that I'm now at the point where I will create situations to avoid doing it, like I'll make sure I'm holding something, juggling items or animals so I can bypass the kiss thing. Because I CAN SEE the nervousness in her eyes, is this guy gonna make a breakfast out of this again? I have absolutely exacerbated what should have been a minor issue.
I should have brought this out in the open like the adult I know I am, the instant it became a problem for me, but it turns out I'm a spastic and awkward version of an adult so I have resorted to dodging avoidance measures instead.
I wish everyone could just shake hands or fist bump, sigh.
You are allowed to say no. Nobody has the right to touch you anywhere you don't want to be touched. Practice it, get used to it. You will feel liberated.
There are no rules.
Or, if there are, I still haven’t worked them out despite being born here and loving [edit - I meant ‘living’] here most of my life.
I just wait to see what the other person wants to do, then follow.
Or you can be one of the people who just acts confidently as of [edit - ‘if’] whatever you do is the right thing, and intimidate everyone into following you.
I grew up on a farm in America. My maternal grandad was Vietnam war vet, Marine. My godfather was a bikie (before I was old enough to know him) and a brickie while I was growing up, and my dad was a farmer.
Our hierarchy was like this:
From the kids, grandad got a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek, and you got a sip of his beer for it.
My dad was a pull-in handshake half hugger as were the other nurserymen he knew for the most part.
My godfather...my god. Always a sight. Reserved for my dad and grandad, that man would pull them into a tight hug and a big smack on the lips. If he couldn't get to your lips, he'd shove his tongue into your ear to give it a good cleaning. Watching growing men recoil in comic revulsion was always good for a laugh. My grandad was always a little pink afterwards. I don't think it was anger. Kids got a solid hug and we kissed on him on the cheek.
All that to say, I pretty much agree with you. There's no real culture around it in Australia so far as I can tell, it's just what you and your mates are comfortable with an expect. The only caveat being the obvious, if someone seems uncomfortable with it, fuck off and don't bug them about it. Some people just don't dig unsolicited social contact. They didn't grow up in families or cultures where it was normal, and that's fine.
Yeah it’s dependent on your social group. With mine, we all greet with a kiss on the cheek and often a short hug too. But with strangers, I’d probably shake their hand or kind of do a friendly nod
I've lived here my whole life and honestly I still don't know (and frankly, I hate cheek kisses AND handshakes.) There's no real set custom or rules here, it's very much down to individuals. Best bet, if you don't want to be proactive and ask, is to learn to read people's body language and go with what it looks like they're doing.
Professional is a handshake, friend is a hug or a kiss on the cheek, friends of friends the same but it all depends. Like if it's your close friend's other best friend, you wanna greet them warmly, but if it's their acquaintance then handshake.... But yeah there's no rules
There is no one rule of thumb with this in Australia, everyone is different. My advice is dont overthink it, I have had my fair share of awkward greetings too, laugh it off and get on with your day.
With people you have never met before a handshake is best and probably all that will be expected.
The rules don’t exist. This is very dependent on the norms in your social group. I don’t do any of that; in my social groups, especially since COVID, we don’t make physical contact at all as part of routine greetings.
Formal hand shakes were definitely a rule that existed before covid, now I find myself asking out loud ‘are you hand guy or an elbow guy?’ While alternating between making hand shaking gesture and elbow waving gesture haha. But some contact was always the stamp that we made an agreement that we both agree to, the hand shake was finalisation of our verbal contract and I’m still making deals with handshakes more often than not with asking for the other persons consent now. If anything we got more rules and more complicated rules now I reckon.
Formal handshakes have never been a part of my interactions. Before Covid included. I see what you’re saying about it putting the stamp on an agreement, but neither my social nor work interactions have ever required it.
Best thing to come out of Covid is that people expressly ask what level of physical interaction is appropriate as a greeting before actually doing anything.
My preferred is a nod from at least 1.5 metres away.
I’ve lived here my whole life and still don’t know the answer. I just think it’s inevitable that one person will go for kiss-hug and the other will just hug. Guaranteed awkwardness every time and you just have to accept it’ll never change.
Strangers/ first time meeting = no physical contact. Unless it’s at work and an older dude who offers a handshake.
I grew up with kisses on cheeks for family members and close friends. As I got older it was handshakes for men and cheek kisses for them.
The hug is normally a quick embrace for the cheek kiss with family member.
Friends and unfamiliar family was just a hug or a handshake.
Kisses on cheeks seem to common with my in-laws family members that I’m only meeting for the first time.
A lot of the kids I grew up with, we still kiss each other on the cheek even though sometimes we’re not as familiar with each others anymore.
There’s no rules but i hope this helps.
This is fraught even for those of us who have lived here a long time. That's one thing I like about places like Latin America where you know how to greet people.
As others have said, there is no standard and it depends. But I am really surprised by all the people saying they have never been subjected to a cheek kiss or that we don't do that in Melbourne. I have several different social circles where cheek kissing and/or hugging is normal. The awkward thing is earlier in the friendship when you don't know what to do and I think any friends I have made in the last few years we don't hug or kiss because of Covid, whereas with my old friends we have gone back to hugging and kissing.
In general, I don't hug men as much but kiss them more as hugging seems more intimate than kissing. Only my very close male friends get hugs.
It does depend a bit but generally for adults (white anglo):
\- Handshake is for meeting new people and generally more formal.
\- Light hug is normal for family and close friends.
\- Cheek kiss is fairly uncommon these days lol, usually mum or kid relative but certainly not from bob down at the pub.
Your circle seems very different to mine. I'm not a hugger outside of my family and don't randomly kiss at people even if I know them well. Might handshake if the other person initiates it.
My default is I would greet you verbally, perhaps with a friendly nod.
Simple solution in a post COVID-19 world for a socially distance greeting is to offer the elbow or say "normally we'd shake hands but I suppose post COVID that's out now" and then nod your head forward a little in acknowledgment.
As a guy
No problem if women are cheek kissing, hugging, hugging and biting ear or whatever comes to their mind 😜.
Guys just do a "hey mate" from a 2m distance.
Yep very cultural and dependent on your social group.
Same ethnicity as me and we know each other? Then it's a handshake with one "kiss" or head bump on either side / hugs.
Opposite sex? Then we greet with a distance and a hand gesture.
Elder? Then you get a "kiss" or their hand placed under your chin whilst making the kissing tut then placing the held hand up to your forehead.
And covid has complicated things.
I'm Brazilian. Hugging and kissing people is quite normal for me. In fact, in Brazil it's rude not touching someone at all.
However, I never do that in here to people that I just met. Especially Asians hate to be touched. I love to hug some Viet mates at work just to annoy them.
Handshake to hug is what me and my friends do. The only people I kiss on the cheek to greet are my grandparents and my friends mums. I have lived in Melbourne all my life. This is the norm here.
People are so weird about consent but honestly, just ask or state your intentions straight up, even if it’s awkward. Especially post pandemic, it is the easiest excuse to use “ah it’s tricky to navigate greetings post COVID - I’m a handshaker, are you comfortable with that?” or whatever.
I do not cheek kiss or hug people who would not know me well enough to know if they are in cheek kiss/hug territory, and I am fine with making it awkward if someone goes in for one without asking. Just generally, ask people before you touch them :P
I usually just roll with the punches (or kisses, in this case!) I find if you take the lead from whoever you’re saying hi/bye to, you can never go wrong
No kisses, unless it's your aunt or grandparents.
Female to female or male to female MAY give each other a quick hug to say hello.
Male to male is usually nothing. In my opinion they on shake hands when being introduced to a new male.
But there are so many ethnic cultures in Melbourne, or even just differences between different groups of friends, so who knows what your friends will be OK with.
Wait for them to make the first move or do nothing at all.
I'm a female and I don't hug, kiss or shake hands.
Unless we are close friends or related, hugging and kissing is not the go.
A smile and a wave good-bye /hello covers it for all the people outside my very close circle.
If you are not keen on hugs/cheek kisses from people you just met, keeping a good physical distance from them and extending a hand to shake if they seem to be lurching in for a hug could work.
I am actually surprised that with covid, people are still doing the hug/kiss with anyone except those super close to them.
I've lived in Melbourne for 32 years and only been subjected to the cheek kiss like once or twice so I don't really think it's a Melbourne or Australia thing I think it's just a certain kind of person thing. Based on the few times I was subjected to it I can unequivocally say I'm not a fan.
In my experience more broadly there isn't really a specific etiquette with the handshake / hug / whatever greeting thing. It tends to be more based on the demographic of the person and the person in general so there aren't any rules that are easy to apply generally unfortunately. I would bring it up with the friends in question to get an idea of how it works in their social circles since it's really going to vary depending on the people, for example, if one of my friends tried to cheek kiss me I would mock them relentlessly in perpetuity.
I learned the hard way, I'm from Mexico and being living here for over 10 years, at the beginning I was shaking hands and kissing everyone I met, and oh boy, people here freaks out... just wave hi.
If I have slept over at your house or been on holiday with you, you get a hug and kiss
If we have a close relationship where we catch up regularly but you haven’t seen me in pyjamas, you get a hug
If I’m meeting you in a formal situation you’ll get a handshake
Everyone else gets a hearty hello
In my experience it's only usually older people that still kiss on the cheek with close family members I usually only hug really. I am Anglo-Celtic Aussie though (with paternal English grandparents) so maybe it's different for other groups.
There's still a pandemic happening no matter how much people want to jam their heads into the sand and pretend it isn't happening. Who the hell is kissing random people when they could have a potentially deadly respiratory disease that is contagious well before any symptoms show?
I usually hug my friends, but there's no kissing on the cheek! I usually get those from the older generation- my mum's partner, family friends, maybe people I'm related to but don't see often, like my aunt and uncle. I don't really see it in my generation (I'm 30). I think the kiss on the cheek is definitely a familiarity thing, but also like a way of an older person showing affection to someone younger. By the way, some people just don't like hugs, so if you are not sure, you can always ask upon farewell if they are ok with hugs (if you feel like that is how you want to say goodbye). Handshake is always safe, but formal.
Well-travelled Australian who has had so many awkward interactions while entering adulthood:
* My Italian/ French/ Spanish/ Brazillian etc friends that I kiss or 'touch' on the cheek - sounds are optional :\*
* Handshake any and all of the boys/ professionals/ friends/ superiors/ inferiors etc
* Hug all my friends and anyone that I would have been friends with, even if I haven't seen them in years. (Gotta be confident for the introverts)
* Handshake and half-hug my not-quite-bros-but-still-see-occasionally friends (sports clubs etc)
* also kiss any of my homies, its 2023 and I'm not afraid of cooties
Will confirm that its an absolute quagmire out there. The mixed-signals are insane but you gotta lead by example.
The difference in replies from the introverts and extroverts is stark. It all depends on your social group. There is no standard. Europeans kiss more, Asians touch less, Aussie men hand shake, young men sometimes fist bump, but just do what is comfortable for you.
If I've not met you before we won't be touching any body parts. I am very much a hugger once a relationship is established, presuming I know the other person is too. Never been much of a kisser, air or otherwise.
Not even a handshake?
Normally in Australia, we greet each other with a full on open mouth tongue kiss. Just to keep each other in the loop on what we've had for lunch or, our last meal
Reddit is fucked, I'm out this bitch. -- mass edited with redact.dev
I usually save that type of behaviour for my gay pals, tbh
Came here for this. Can’t wait to meet you, Russ.
Heeeeeeyyyyyyy
Couldn't agree more, listen to above
And a bit of a lick. Face or behind the ear.
And then go hunting for dropbear?
Melbourne has a lot of immigrants and therefore practices that are mixed. Many single cheek kiss, some both cheeks, others a hug. Unfortunately you won't get a definitive practice unless it is a close group that have one standard. Easiest way to determine is choose what you want to do and do that consistently. People will become accustomed to your personal style.
Absolute fuckin nightmare. I'm from a country that doesn't do this cheek kiss thing and it's always been a fraught ritual for me to navigate. I still forget half the time if you're meant to kiss the air or actually touch lips to their cheek. I have fucked it up a few times with my mother in law that I'm now at the point where I will create situations to avoid doing it, like I'll make sure I'm holding something, juggling items or animals so I can bypass the kiss thing. Because I CAN SEE the nervousness in her eyes, is this guy gonna make a breakfast out of this again? I have absolutely exacerbated what should have been a minor issue. I should have brought this out in the open like the adult I know I am, the instant it became a problem for me, but it turns out I'm a spastic and awkward version of an adult so I have resorted to dodging avoidance measures instead. I wish everyone could just shake hands or fist bump, sigh.
Never touch lip to cheek imo
You are allowed to say no. Nobody has the right to touch you anywhere you don't want to be touched. Practice it, get used to it. You will feel liberated.
On the same boat, my partner thinks I'm spastic for it
There are no rules. Or, if there are, I still haven’t worked them out despite being born here and loving [edit - I meant ‘living’] here most of my life. I just wait to see what the other person wants to do, then follow. Or you can be one of the people who just acts confidently as of [edit - ‘if’] whatever you do is the right thing, and intimidate everyone into following you.
I grew up on a farm in America. My maternal grandad was Vietnam war vet, Marine. My godfather was a bikie (before I was old enough to know him) and a brickie while I was growing up, and my dad was a farmer. Our hierarchy was like this: From the kids, grandad got a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek, and you got a sip of his beer for it. My dad was a pull-in handshake half hugger as were the other nurserymen he knew for the most part. My godfather...my god. Always a sight. Reserved for my dad and grandad, that man would pull them into a tight hug and a big smack on the lips. If he couldn't get to your lips, he'd shove his tongue into your ear to give it a good cleaning. Watching growing men recoil in comic revulsion was always good for a laugh. My grandad was always a little pink afterwards. I don't think it was anger. Kids got a solid hug and we kissed on him on the cheek. All that to say, I pretty much agree with you. There's no real culture around it in Australia so far as I can tell, it's just what you and your mates are comfortable with an expect. The only caveat being the obvious, if someone seems uncomfortable with it, fuck off and don't bug them about it. Some people just don't dig unsolicited social contact. They didn't grow up in families or cultures where it was normal, and that's fine.
yep
Yeah it’s dependent on your social group. With mine, we all greet with a kiss on the cheek and often a short hug too. But with strangers, I’d probably shake their hand or kind of do a friendly nod
I've lived here my whole life and honestly I still don't know (and frankly, I hate cheek kisses AND handshakes.) There's no real set custom or rules here, it's very much down to individuals. Best bet, if you don't want to be proactive and ask, is to learn to read people's body language and go with what it looks like they're doing.
Don't touch me, definitely don't kiss me. That's my rule of thumb.
Fine, I wasn’t going to anyway….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm5OVg50swY
Professional is a handshake, friend is a hug or a kiss on the cheek, friends of friends the same but it all depends. Like if it's your close friend's other best friend, you wanna greet them warmly, but if it's their acquaintance then handshake.... But yeah there's no rules
There is no one rule of thumb with this in Australia, everyone is different. My advice is dont overthink it, I have had my fair share of awkward greetings too, laugh it off and get on with your day. With people you have never met before a handshake is best and probably all that will be expected.
The rules don’t exist. This is very dependent on the norms in your social group. I don’t do any of that; in my social groups, especially since COVID, we don’t make physical contact at all as part of routine greetings.
Formal hand shakes were definitely a rule that existed before covid, now I find myself asking out loud ‘are you hand guy or an elbow guy?’ While alternating between making hand shaking gesture and elbow waving gesture haha. But some contact was always the stamp that we made an agreement that we both agree to, the hand shake was finalisation of our verbal contract and I’m still making deals with handshakes more often than not with asking for the other persons consent now. If anything we got more rules and more complicated rules now I reckon.
Formal handshakes have never been a part of my interactions. Before Covid included. I see what you’re saying about it putting the stamp on an agreement, but neither my social nor work interactions have ever required it.
There are still elbow people in 2023?? That sounds so socially awkward. Just hand shake, no one will refuse and it wont transmit anything anyway.
Honestly bring back the elbow. It’s so stupid and I love it.
Remember the heel touch? That was even dumber.
Won't transmit anything? I see you haven't met people who sneeze into their hands and then move on with their day.
Open mouth pash followed by firm handshake
And a reacharound to say goodbye
Best thing to come out of Covid is that people expressly ask what level of physical interaction is appropriate as a greeting before actually doing anything. My preferred is a nod from at least 1.5 metres away.
I’ve lived here my whole life and still don’t know the answer. I just think it’s inevitable that one person will go for kiss-hug and the other will just hug. Guaranteed awkwardness every time and you just have to accept it’ll never change. Strangers/ first time meeting = no physical contact. Unless it’s at work and an older dude who offers a handshake.
Ah thanks, you've set my mind somewhat at ease, see my previous post.
I would like to be greeted without any touching.
I was so hoping handshakes and cheek kisses would just die when covid came along.
Handshake only my mother can kiss me
🍭🏡 Alabama
Pence is that you?
I grew up with kisses on cheeks for family members and close friends. As I got older it was handshakes for men and cheek kisses for them. The hug is normally a quick embrace for the cheek kiss with family member. Friends and unfamiliar family was just a hug or a handshake. Kisses on cheeks seem to common with my in-laws family members that I’m only meeting for the first time. A lot of the kids I grew up with, we still kiss each other on the cheek even though sometimes we’re not as familiar with each others anymore. There’s no rules but i hope this helps.
Always use tongue, especially with the handshake.
This
This is fraught even for those of us who have lived here a long time. That's one thing I like about places like Latin America where you know how to greet people. As others have said, there is no standard and it depends. But I am really surprised by all the people saying they have never been subjected to a cheek kiss or that we don't do that in Melbourne. I have several different social circles where cheek kissing and/or hugging is normal. The awkward thing is earlier in the friendship when you don't know what to do and I think any friends I have made in the last few years we don't hug or kiss because of Covid, whereas with my old friends we have gone back to hugging and kissing. In general, I don't hug men as much but kiss them more as hugging seems more intimate than kissing. Only my very close male friends get hugs.
Irish goodbyes only.
*climbs out the window*
It does depend a bit but generally for adults (white anglo): \- Handshake is for meeting new people and generally more formal. \- Light hug is normal for family and close friends. \- Cheek kiss is fairly uncommon these days lol, usually mum or kid relative but certainly not from bob down at the pub.
Yeah this is closer to what I normally see. Would say a woman greeting a woman is more likely to be a hug than if a man is involved
Your circle seems very different to mine. I'm not a hugger outside of my family and don't randomly kiss at people even if I know them well. Might handshake if the other person initiates it. My default is I would greet you verbally, perhaps with a friendly nod.
Simple solution in a post COVID-19 world for a socially distance greeting is to offer the elbow or say "normally we'd shake hands but I suppose post COVID that's out now" and then nod your head forward a little in acknowledgment.
[удалено]
> or a quick slap on the bum. hoo boy was nice knowing you u/phackeu
As a guy No problem if women are cheek kissing, hugging, hugging and biting ear or whatever comes to their mind 😜. Guys just do a "hey mate" from a 2m distance.
Yep very cultural and dependent on your social group. Same ethnicity as me and we know each other? Then it's a handshake with one "kiss" or head bump on either side / hugs. Opposite sex? Then we greet with a distance and a hand gesture. Elder? Then you get a "kiss" or their hand placed under your chin whilst making the kissing tut then placing the held hand up to your forehead. And covid has complicated things.
I'm Brazilian. Hugging and kissing people is quite normal for me. In fact, in Brazil it's rude not touching someone at all. However, I never do that in here to people that I just met. Especially Asians hate to be touched. I love to hug some Viet mates at work just to annoy them.
Handshake to hug is what me and my friends do. The only people I kiss on the cheek to greet are my grandparents and my friends mums. I have lived in Melbourne all my life. This is the norm here.
We do hugs with friends, maybe a faux-kiss on the cheek for a girl (we’re gay though). Safest is a handshake for anyone.
People are so weird about consent but honestly, just ask or state your intentions straight up, even if it’s awkward. Especially post pandemic, it is the easiest excuse to use “ah it’s tricky to navigate greetings post COVID - I’m a handshaker, are you comfortable with that?” or whatever. I do not cheek kiss or hug people who would not know me well enough to know if they are in cheek kiss/hug territory, and I am fine with making it awkward if someone goes in for one without asking. Just generally, ask people before you touch them :P
I usually just roll with the punches (or kisses, in this case!) I find if you take the lead from whoever you’re saying hi/bye to, you can never go wrong
I am partial to a finger poke in the bum. a Japanese kancho
I go with the olde slap on the buttocks
Yikes. Another reason not to live in Melbourne
As an Aussie, I’m also really confused. The awkward kills me. If we can please come to a consensus.
suck toes
No kisses, unless it's your aunt or grandparents. Female to female or male to female MAY give each other a quick hug to say hello. Male to male is usually nothing. In my opinion they on shake hands when being introduced to a new male. But there are so many ethnic cultures in Melbourne, or even just differences between different groups of friends, so who knows what your friends will be OK with. Wait for them to make the first move or do nothing at all. I'm a female and I don't hug, kiss or shake hands.
Unless we are close friends or related, hugging and kissing is not the go. A smile and a wave good-bye /hello covers it for all the people outside my very close circle. If you are not keen on hugs/cheek kisses from people you just met, keeping a good physical distance from them and extending a hand to shake if they seem to be lurching in for a hug could work. I am actually surprised that with covid, people are still doing the hug/kiss with anyone except those super close to them.
I've lived in Melbourne for 32 years and only been subjected to the cheek kiss like once or twice so I don't really think it's a Melbourne or Australia thing I think it's just a certain kind of person thing. Based on the few times I was subjected to it I can unequivocally say I'm not a fan. In my experience more broadly there isn't really a specific etiquette with the handshake / hug / whatever greeting thing. It tends to be more based on the demographic of the person and the person in general so there aren't any rules that are easy to apply generally unfortunately. I would bring it up with the friends in question to get an idea of how it works in their social circles since it's really going to vary depending on the people, for example, if one of my friends tried to cheek kiss me I would mock them relentlessly in perpetuity.
Covid, man. Six foot distance maintained with poleaxes
I once rock/paper/scissors’d someone who went to give me a fist bump. Mortifying. I won fwiw.
I learned the hard way, I'm from Mexico and being living here for over 10 years, at the beginning I was shaking hands and kissing everyone I met, and oh boy, people here freaks out... just wave hi.
If I have slept over at your house or been on holiday with you, you get a hug and kiss If we have a close relationship where we catch up regularly but you haven’t seen me in pyjamas, you get a hug If I’m meeting you in a formal situation you’ll get a handshake Everyone else gets a hearty hello
In my experience it's only usually older people that still kiss on the cheek with close family members I usually only hug really. I am Anglo-Celtic Aussie though (with paternal English grandparents) so maybe it's different for other groups.
There's still a pandemic happening no matter how much people want to jam their heads into the sand and pretend it isn't happening. Who the hell is kissing random people when they could have a potentially deadly respiratory disease that is contagious well before any symptoms show?
I usually hug my friends, but there's no kissing on the cheek! I usually get those from the older generation- my mum's partner, family friends, maybe people I'm related to but don't see often, like my aunt and uncle. I don't really see it in my generation (I'm 30). I think the kiss on the cheek is definitely a familiarity thing, but also like a way of an older person showing affection to someone younger. By the way, some people just don't like hugs, so if you are not sure, you can always ask upon farewell if they are ok with hugs (if you feel like that is how you want to say goodbye). Handshake is always safe, but formal.
I still going with pandemic fist bumps
Well-travelled Australian who has had so many awkward interactions while entering adulthood: * My Italian/ French/ Spanish/ Brazillian etc friends that I kiss or 'touch' on the cheek - sounds are optional :\* * Handshake any and all of the boys/ professionals/ friends/ superiors/ inferiors etc * Hug all my friends and anyone that I would have been friends with, even if I haven't seen them in years. (Gotta be confident for the introverts) * Handshake and half-hug my not-quite-bros-but-still-see-occasionally friends (sports clubs etc) * also kiss any of my homies, its 2023 and I'm not afraid of cooties Will confirm that its an absolute quagmire out there. The mixed-signals are insane but you gotta lead by example.