I DON’T HUG, EXCEPT FAMILY AND ONE OR TWO OTHER VIPs, AND I DON’T SHAKE HANDS.

I was happy when handshakes, and especially hugging of relative strangers, still seemed to be a thing of the pre-pandemic past, and naïvely believed neither would ever come back, since during the pandemic, we proved that they are, at best, unnecessary and pointless.

And within a week or two, everybody got used to not doing it. So why take it up again? How and why did we even start having to hug everybody?

But now both are back, with a vengeance and in full force (unbelievable, since half the population is sick with the seasonal flu or Covid or some other virus), and people insist on both with even more gusto than before, although I am quite sure my body language is very clear.

Hugs should not be reflexes, like ticks or Tourettes, but be reserved for people whom for whatever reason you really want to hug, and enjoy hugging, and handshakes are just stupid constructs, but these days, where my right had is often bandaged (and extremely sore), people try to shake my left hand instead, which is even stupider. What IS the point?

Nowadays, most people seem to be incapable of handling different social rules for different categories of people (complete strangers, acquaintances, friends) and there is one rule: hug everybody, even the person whom you would normally just nod to when passing them in the street.

However, if there has to be only one rule, as far I am concerned it will have to be – HUG NOBODY (with the special exceptions outlined above).