I don't mean the general shouts in a crowded room, no I mean actual face to face welcome style "Hellos". Basically in my life there are five general kinds of how to get that done around. The most common is "the handshake" It's appropriate when you meet someone for the first time, if you want to reduce intimacy of any kind and you might even express a little discomfort towards a person through this medium. It's also important for less close relationships like business related things. In case of insecurity always go for a handshake and you can do almost nothing wrong, at least in western civilisation.
In certain situation it might feel uncomfortable though. When I meet a person around my age I consider a handshake to be too formal. Also when I'm meeting friends and I don't want to really interrupt them I need something different to get their attention. There "the wave" is great. People can decide to acknowledge your move and welcome you properly or they can just look past it. It's also very useful to make a general statement instead of having to walk up to each person individually. To be honest I guess "the wave" is my go to move as it's very nonchalant to use.
A third thing is "the clap'n shake". I know that one mostly from the guys at our church. It's less formal than a handshake, a little friendlier and more personal. It means first you clap your hand together and with a smooth movement you switch into a short handshake. Troubles included in that one is a bad clap and confusion by the person not knowing that you initially wanted to do that move. It's pretty handy though and I fully understand why the guys use it a lot.
My former enemy and now best friend is "the hug" though. I used to seriously hate hugging certain people as I didn't like getting touched in general. Over the time I learned that some of my friends are veery good huggers though and I also understood the general meaning of a hug. You can put in a lot of warmth, sincerity and care into that move and it shows a lot of positive feelings. I am a hugger but I'll never forget that I wasn't always so I can respect other people's boundaries when they feel not comfortable with that one.
And last (but also least) is the freaking awkward 2-3 kisses on the cheek thing. Yes I have a biased opinion on it and you might've guessed that it's not positive. I do not understand it; usually it's just rubbing your cheek against another and making kissing sounds. Why is that even a thing? It doesn't mean anything and it feels odd. Actually that is the reason why I write this post. At my Uni we have this bible study group and for some reason they've used this method to greet each other. So far I've managed to escape it by using "the wave" and settle things as soon as I enter but not today. So I awkwardly held out my hand and totally confused this one guy, which internally made me laugh a lot. I mean those cheek kisses with a girl is doable, with a guy I dislike and with a bearded guy I hate, I am sorry.
Oh and on the subject of seriously awkward, did it ever happen to you that you wanted to hug someone whereas they aimed for a handshake? Or maybe the other way around, who knows. And please do not let me get started on the troubles one can get across while hugging, like stroking alongside someone’s face and hitting someone while stretching out to give a proper hug, really terrible stories, believe me. Oh and let's not forget when you accidentally missed to bid someone welcome the right way and that person got disappointed or sad? Which reminds me of that one person who seems to do that a lot towards me lately, how rude ;)
So you see, I am completely nuts, but what do you except of a sleepless person at quarter past three in the morning. Maybe I should get more sleep instead of thinking so much about lavalieres.
Cheerio.
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