Excluding my family members, I’ve never been the type of person who either initiates hugging people nor who enjoys when others initiate hugging me, especially when it comes to coworkers, casual acquaintances, first-time introductions, strangers, etc.
For years, I had some coworkers who were daily huggers. DAILY.
A greeting hug the first time you see each other every day, and a goodbye hug at the end of the workday.
It was considered cold, rude, and impolite to not hug each other because for them, the practice also has cultural significance.
I wanted no parts of it, I avoided it every chance I could, I found it intrusive, fake, and forced, yet in order to get along, I had to go along.
Then along came COVID19. Slowly, there were people who on their own began to break off all extraneous person-to-person contact such as hugging, but not the die-hards. When I balked at being hugged once, a die-hard actually said to me, “Aw, how long have we known each other? I‘m not worried about catching anything from you!” and grabbed me, pulled me in for a big ol’ bear hug.
As COVID19 intensified and many of us were given work from home shifts on a half-week/half workforce schedule, the numbers dwindled of those of us having daily contact. Consequently, the Hug Club diminished in numbers too, and fewer of the Hug Meisters plied their trade. Soon after that, management put out a written policy forbidding many forms of personal contact, hugging included.
Alas, the onset of COVID19 also marked my involuntary early retirement, so within weeks of all this happening, I wasn’t in the environment any longer, so I never got the benefits of the hug-free atmosphere at work, but I’m glad that atmosphere finally came to fruition. I’m not glad that COVID19 was the impetus, but reality dictates that that was how it happened.
For you, how can COVID19 be looked at in any positive light?
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Did that start with COVID19, or intensify with COVID19?
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You love making me sweat; I looked all over for the typo, and I’m glad I found it. Thank you for letting me know there was one, but you’ve obviously been (very badly) influenced by SavvyAnsley and her make-him-search-for-it strategy. I’ve asked you time and time again not to listen to these other women, they’re just jealous of what you and I have together and they’re trying to break it up.
This is crazy, you and I should be talking about this face-to-face. I’ve just calculated the approximate halfway point between Minnesota and California, it puts us in Omaha, Nebraska. Let’s meet up there and make this real once and for all . . .
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You have a typo there, Ansley Clone.