Greeting people with hugs?!

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I smile and emit a sound that resembles "hello". I avoid physical contact, handshakes make me uncomfortable because I don't know if my hand is about to be crushed and hugging is just awkward, I even avoid hugging my mother.

Oh I never hug my family. I'm more willing to hug strangers than my family. I seem to obsess over the contact for days and it's just weird. I still remember hugging my dad once, several years ago, and feeling his spine. I don't know why I still remember that, and it's creepy. But random hugging of other people I don't remember much of.

I don't really like hugging, family or none family. It just doesn't seem like a normal greeting.

And for comedy reasons:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/hugs

shaking hands bothers me a lot to, I dont like people touching me.

My highschool friends used to laugh at me freshman year because I visibly tensed and shook a little whenever one of them hugged me. They turned it into a game so, gradually, I just got used to it. It still doesn't feel right though.

What I don't know how to handle now is the "I haven't seen you all summer and we didn't talk much last year either but I feel the need to greet you with an awkward hug now since, apparently, summer has made me think that we were good buddies" hug. Yes, that one.

I went in for a highfive and I ended up with my face in his armpit, one hand on his back and the other hand on his chest. Very awkward. This is the second time this has happened too, different people. Hugging tall people is rather difficult... Even worse when you don't see it coming.

I nod and I smile. What can I do? I'm Asian. Asians don't hug. (To my advantage, I'm so grateful!).

awsome I need to know more asians

Brilliant thinking. 'Asians don't hug'.
Really, I am not kidding or mocking, wish I could do something about myself in order to look Asian so that people would not expect hugging them.

I don't think most people know that as a rule, though. I know the Asian clique in my highschool was always hugging. I don't think looking Asian would help you in the hugs department.

Thinking about it again - yes, you are right, nekowafer.
We have quite a lot of Chinese people where I live and they do hug from what I've seen.

For Asians who are born and raised in the US, yes they hug. But in Asia, hugging is not a big thing. Good thing that I was not born in the US, in that sense. So most people don't expect me to hug because it's not in my "culture". Being a foreigner can be fun sometimes!

Hugging, shaking hands... I don't like either. Generally, I greet people with a hello. Sometimes, I smile (yeah, I know NTs obsess over smiles, but I think my smile is too creepy - only slightly acceptable when it's genuine). Except when I work. I tend to smile frequently when greeting customers (it's a grocery store). No wonder I hate my job...

Ideally, I wouldn't greet people. I saw you, you saw me, why should we acknowledge such an obvious fact? Of course, I know it doesn't work this way, but I wish it would.