He smells of onion and garlic ar 9.00 AM! He greets me with 2 kisses, like the rest (usual procedure here). The smell is so strong it makes me feel sick, like I want to puke. The worse part is, the smell seems to stick to me, I can feel it in my skin a half hour later! Why do I have the trouble to shower in the morning and apply expensive perfume, if I’m going to smell like onion and garlic ??? Problem is, he’s not a bad person, I’ve known him all my life, I don’t want to hurt him (he’s very sensitive to critique)…
The way of greeting people with 2 kisses seems to have confused some of you. Let me explain, it’s nothing sexual, here in Portugal and most of Europe it’s very common to greet people, men or women, with a kiss on each cheek (actually, the kiss goes into the air, the cheeks just touch. Lips don’t touch cheek.) We only shake hands on very formal occasions, or with strangers. The other times it’s one kiss on each cheek (or rather, a person’s cheek touches the other person’s cheek and the lips send a kiss to the air).
I’m speaking from a woman’s perspective. Informally, a woman does that to either men and women. A man does that to women, and shakes hands with men. Formally, both men and women shake hands to both genders. Of course a small office like mine, where everybody knows everybody else for 20+ years, is informal. In large offices most people just say “hi” or “good morning”.
Good advice, but I can’t make up my mind. For the moment I’m avoiding him, until he asks me what’s wrong. Your answers are so good, I can’t choose one. I’m putting it to vote!
