Different cultures have different greeting customs. Unfortunately where I live, it’s a little more intimate than I’d like it to be. When going to greet someone who’s Arab, most of the time you’re expected to hug them and kiss their cheeks, multiple times (too many times). Sometimes it is one kiss, other times two, maybe three or four, even seven is considered acceptable... by god know’s whose standards.
The biggest flaw of this greeting style is that you never know how many times the other person is going to kiss your cheeks, or even which side they’re going to start with, because it varies in different Arab countries. Most of the time you end up awkwardly just standing there and letting the other person kiss your cheeks as opposed to kissing theirs as well because it makes it less complicated, but this way comes off as rude to the other person.
Personally, the thought of having a stranger peck my cheeks, or even hug me, makes me extremely uncomfortable. Half the time I’m not even comfortable with my closest friends and family hugging me, let alone kissing my cheeks. Although, I’ve learned to leave a very large gap between myself and the person I’m greeting to avoid making myself feel awkward, most people usually close the gap in an attempt at being “friendly”.
In my perfect world, people wave to each other as a greeting and consider whether the other person minds having their personal space violated. Maybe I should move to Japan where people bow to greet each other? Maybe just pretending to be Japanese would work?
