Awkward Office Moments in Europe

Yesterday I read an MSNBC article entitled Awkward! How a workplace hug can go awry. It was basically about the etiquette of hugging coworkers and how awkward moments can arise when one person goes in for a hug and another for a handshake. 

It makes me think of a similar dilemma we have working in multinational European offices - kissing in business settings. 

Photo:Reuters

First, there's the question of to kiss or not to kiss, which can result in some similar awkward moments. But then it gets more complicated from there with the question of how many cheek kisses.

It's not that simple...For a French colleague, it will be twice (once per cheek). For British colleagues, sometimes it's twice, sometimes once. And then I have to just remember which Dutch colleague has two and which has three (as many Dutch and Belgians do). 

It's probably a good rule of thumb in Germany to expect a handshake from a German colleague, though depending on the person and the formality of the office, you may be surprised. German companies still are more formal than those in the US, where you may still wear a suit and tie 4-5 days per week and work with a colleague for 10 years and still be on a Sie (formal "you") basis. But, times are changing and the influences of other countries are working their way into the workplace here. 

Last year, Germany's prominent etiquette group, the Knigge society, called for a ban on office kissing and maintaining a 60 cm distance during a handshake.

Personally, I find a kiss on the cheek hello or goodbye can be a nice thing. But I can see where it could be uncomfortable when it's between boss and subordinate or if you have a sleazy coworker (fortunately neither are an issue for me!).  

I generally observe someone's interactions with other colleagues first (to see if generally they're a kisser or a handshaker) and also let the other person take the lead.  Though I've had many of the funny awkward moments of going for two instead of one, or stopping at two cheeks when someone is used to three. But it's something we do laugh about as a common and very minor cross-cultural miscommunication.