No one I work with better try to air kiss me.

Oh hells no.

ETA: and the moment I posted that, I remembered that I actually do greet one of our consultants with an actual lip smack when he's in town. But that's special, because, a) he's hot, b) he's funny as hell and I really like (not like like) him, and c) he's just that kind of guy.

But anyone else can back the fuck up.

Theater and restaurant/bar work - we hug & kiss all the time.

Office job - NSM with the hugging, oh hell no with the kissing.

Going back to being oblivious and flirting for a moment, I just had to take the Westlaw Rep up to our new associate's office. NA is tall, cute, male, single, seems straight, and has a cute New Zealand accent. 2 seconds before we got to his door, one of the female associates cuts us off, then stands in his door way (really, she leaned into it-- her body language couldn't have said "DO ME NOW" more if she had been wearing neon) and completely fails to notice that the westlaw rep and I are standing behind her.

I don't know if NA was oblivious to her flirting or not, but I'm pretty sure he caught the rep and I making fun of her.

Yeah, when I worked on Comm Dev Banking (in a very made up job, but whatever, it paid), the hug thing was totally case-by-case. Lots of the community folk we dealt with were huggers - big huggers. Not too much with the cheek kissing, though. And then a lot of people I worked with were actually friends, so that line got blurred. Man, that was a good group of people. Too bad there was no there there where the job was concerned. I miss those people.

ETA:

I don't know if NA was oblivious to her flirting or not, but I'm pretty sure he caught the rep and I making fun of her.

Ha!

I shudder to think of all the time and energy I wasted through high school and college and embarrassingly far beyond with silent pining, trying to make this friend or that love me through the sheer power of my (silent, cryptic, completely passive) mind.

Ah, how familiar this sounds. Though at least by 30 I'd wised up enough to let my crush object know, and got a fun and un-tense friendship out of the bargain (if not the sort of affection I'd have preferred.) Crushing when they know you're interested and are up-front about not sharing the interest can actually rock.

The difference is I enjoy flirting, but being hit on gives me the willies.

One of the benefits of being a complete slut is that if someone I'm attracted to hits on me, I'm a sure thing. Though if there seems to be an expectation that I'll feel obligated to say yes, things can go pear-shaped rather quickly.

Timelies all!

Hugging is fine, in its place.Like at a con.(The con I was just at had a "hugging contest" and asked people to put stickers on their badges to indicate if they wanted to be hugged. Red=no, yellow= ask first and green= yes) Not at work, though.

I'll hug co-workers I haven't seen for a while, as some are friends I've known a decade or more. But not the ones I work with daily even if we're friends, and as for the co-workers I'm related to, none of us are really huggy types.

If I could tie together stories about associate crushes, nice guys and office flirting-- I have a few paralegals who work on my cases. One is a 6"3" blond Adonis. He actually has the same name as a famous Viking. Took a couple years off after graduating from Harvard to be a ski instructor. Totally diligent and sweet. All the girls on the case have a crush on him, and at least one is scheming to, you know, get busy. To me, he's like my little brother. There's this other paralegal who works for me on another case. He's short and pudgy. But OMG, does he make me laugh-- the other day after complaining that everyone senior to him makes him do stuff that they could do themselves, I said something like, everyone does that to junior people, and he made some crack about bossing around a microbe that sits at his desk. I laughed so hard that after that I started blushing furiously and wondering what he thought of me. Now I'm smoothing my hair and sticking in gum and cleaning my desk when he's going to come over and rewriting my emails to make good jokes. So, there you go. I'll let you know if we accidentally kiss.

The con I was just at had a "hugging contest" and asked people to put stickers on their badges to indicate if they wanted to be hugged. Red=no, yellow= ask first and green= yes) Not at work, though.

I think this is a good idea for Cons in general. Lots of people with no concept of personal space and affection comfort levels.

they were discussing the apparent trend to greet or say goodbye to a business associate with a hug or even air kiss. Have you seen this at work?

Oh, hells no. No one at this office job gets hugged. Ever. At the krav job, it varies. The standard male to male greeting is giving daps, and some guys don't give daps to the women. Or, at least, to me. So there's a bit of squeezing. It all depends on how touchy feely the guy is, and how off-the-mat touchy feely we are to each other. Some will never get hugged.

I hug friends just fine. I don't have any friends at work, just co-workers I like. Some of the kravvers are friends in a way that leaves the centre, and in a way where we don't have to talk about krav all the time (although it sure is fun). They're up for hugging, if I like them enough.