New York’s well-liked Mayor Bill de Blasio received poor reviews for his greetings toward female lawmakers this week.
An overly-friendly de Blasio was seen kissing his way across a panel of women while giving men a firm handshake or casual pat on the back during a budget meeting Monday.
While he was first criticized by CBS2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer, others joined in to gasp about the mayor’s ‘faux pas’ in workplace etiquette.
‘Bulletproof Your Job’ author and workplace etiquette expert, Steven Viscusi, chastised de Blasio, telling Kramer the mayor’s greetings were in ‘horrible’ taste.
An overly-friendly Bill be Blasio was seen kissing his way across a panel of female lawmakers this week
Here he is seen touching a lawmaker’s shoulder while greeting her with a kiss on Monday
The mayor is shown again getting close with one of the woman in attendance to the meeting
‘It’s absolutely inappropriate in any business environment today, and even before that – that women should be hugged in an intimate way,’ Viscusi said.
‘Why should a woman have to be pushed close to you and rubbed up against?,’ the expert asked Kramer, appearing disgusted.
The kissing also comes amid a deadly flu season. The mayor reportedly had a flu shot prior.
Viscusi went on to say: ‘In church, the bishop has told people to give a special signal, like this (he demonstrated) as opposed to shaking hands,’ the expert said, about preventing the spread of germs.
He greeted the men with a firm handshake. He is seen here chatting with one during the greeting
The mayor patted other guys on the back before sitting on the panel for the meeting
It seems Kramer wasn’t shy about bringing the topic up during Monday’s meeting either.
Kramer questioned de Blasio, ‘I wonder if you think that is an appropriate greeting for an executive at a business meeting?’
With a blank look, de Blasio replied: ‘I think, uh, certainly for the last 30 or so years that I have been involved in professional and public life, that has been a norm, and it has been a respectful norm,’ de Blasio said.
Afterward, Kramer went about the city streets to ask New Yorkers what they thought about the chummy business greeting.
Workplace etiquette expert Steven Viscusi said de Blasio’s greeting was in ‘horrible’ taste
But de Blasio (seen at Monday meeting) told a reporter he has been greeting women with kisses for years, and said it is a sign of respect
‘It’s too intimate,’ one woman said.
‘I don’t think that would be appropriate,’ another man said, while adding, ‘I’ve worked for many organizations where they wouldn’t be tolerated.’
Another woman who walked by responded with a chuckle, ‘No… definitely not.’
While another woman added: ‘A handshake would probably be the better course of action.
And another man: ‘If it’s his wife… but in a business situation, usually you don’t behave that way.’
The interviews ended with Kramer asking an elderly woman if she thought the greeting was inappropriate and she responded, ‘What?,’ with a pause, ‘sure’.
Here is de Blasio appropriately kissing his wife, Chirlane McCray, on New Year’s Eve at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve in Times Square