Are you a hugger? Not any more. I spend a lot of my day motivating people to respect the one metre rule, dealing with issues related to the one metre rule, trying to read other people‘s computer screens from one metre away, and generally trying to remember the one metre rule myself. One mistimed cough sends people gasping and scurrying.
Plus, I‘m a hugger. It‘s hard. The french are kissers and hand-shakers. In fact, french workplaces have quite formal protocols about how one is supposed to greet people at work. I would be very wealthy if I had a euro for every time I got interrupted because someone arrived at work and needed to “bonjour” me and shake my hand or kiss me depending on how well they felt they knew me. Not any more.
This is the shattering of a cultural norm. People don’t know what to do with themselves except complain about le nouvel ordre. It’s a surreal feeling of being distant and disconnected despite being surrounded by 500 people each day at work. Having part of my day spent forcing people to move apart from each other. I should have been a nun at a convent school dance back in the day.
Try it. Try for a day to keep one metre away from the people around you. No hugging, no shaking hands, not even a backslap or a high five.
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