50 kisses... a day

I started my new job at H&M this week and I realized, it's been a really, really long time since I've worked somewhere with so many people. Hell, it's been a long time since I've actually had to get off my couch and get out of my pajamas to get a full days work in. But I'm not complaining. The one place I wanted to work at was the one place that hired me, so we're golden. I'm really enjoying it. I've already worked three days out of my four day work week and it might not be as easy as I thought it would be, but at least I'm sure I can do this. However there is one thing which I think might be impossible to get used to. I work with about 30-40 people on any given day. And when these people start their shift at staggered moments throughout the day, they approach me, they say "salut" and then they go in... for the two-cheek kiss.

For some reason, this is one french custom that seems impossible for me to get used to. I don't really agree with it. For me it's too close to soon. I'm all about personal space, and if you're not my friend yet, I just won't be comfortable getting that close to you (nothing personal). I think insulted a guy the other day because I accidentally forgot which country I was in and extended my had expecting to shake his. He laughed it off and assumed that 'I must be new here' before he dove in to plant his lips on my face (twice).

I must admit that thanks to this custom, I've managed to learn a lot about my fellow co-workers in a very short amount of time. I now know that Mikey is a smoker, Abdel has extremely soft skin and Sophie smells awesome -- all the time.

It made me wonder last week about the commonly used slogan "as Montreal as a two-cheek kiss". WTF people?! In my 26 years as a resident of Montreal I was ill-prepared for the amount of time I would be two-cheek-kissing people over here! There's nothing Montreal about it! Ya, we do it sometimes, but to claim it as 'our own' is preposterous. We clearly stole the gesture - so I think we should stick to what's actually really 'Montreal': Poutine, Bring your own wine, smoked meat and Tete-a-Claques (which I watched with my roommates the other day and reminded me how proud I am to be a Canadian).

So I guess I'll have to throw two-cheek kisses into the "French things I've really got to get used to" category. It's in the same category as: the sun going down at 9:45pm, carousels at every turn and everything being closed for the siesta from 12-2:30pm.

That's all for now folks,

Bisous :)