Drive-By Huggings

[damont]

A number of friends who do the Instant Messaging thing will have noticed that occasionally I will perpetrate a "Drive-By Hugging" upon them in IM. It has occurred to me that folks might be interested in knowing the (real-life!) origin of the term, at least with me. Hey Sherman, set the Wayback Machine to June 2003, would ya please?

I was riding out to St. Louis with herveus and his wife Megan for the SCA Known World Heraldic Symposium. The route is pretty straightforward from Bowie MD: get up to I-70 and go west on I-70 until you cross the Mississippi River. Somewhere in Ohio we came to a rest area and decided it was time for a pit stop. Pulling into the parking lot, we saw a pickup truck that looked familiar, with Virginia license plates that looked *very* familiar... so we pulled in, got out of the van, and went over to lay in wait. In less than a minute, out came jaine_parr towards her truck! Quite the surprise! Turns out she was off to Indiana for some truck-related event, and it was just serendipity that we all should stop at the same place at about the same time. So we exchanged hugs and went our separate ways. Afterwards we referred to the incident as "The Drive-By Hugging."

Recently it occurred to me that I could do something similar with IM -- deliver quick hugs to friends without requesting, or appearing to request, a longer conversation. So I'll just IM a friend out of the blue with "Drive-By Hugging! **hugs**" or something similar. How does one do this correctly?
First, it is necessary to *announce* that this is a drive-by hugging -- that hugs are being delivered without expectation of a longer conversation at that time, and indeed without expectation of getting a quick online hug back (though the *hope* of getting hugged back is certainly implied!). The announcement can be very simple, or it can be lengthier (if so, wit and/or humor is preferred).
Second, the actual hug(s) itself/themselves should be delivered, either on the same line or on the next.
Third, if the initiator of the drive-by hugging is about to log off IM, it is customary to wait just a little bit for a possible return hug before cutting the IM connection.
Fourth, while it is not necessary for the recipient of the drive-by hugging to reply at all, it is good etiquette to respond, thus at least informing the initiator that the hugging was received. Replying by sending hugs in return is perfectly acceptable.
Fifth, the initiator should *not* try to start a longer conversation until at least several minutes have passed... but the recipient is free to make such overtures right away.

If any of you who do IM wish to deliver drive-by huggings of your own, please feel free. [EDIT: My only requests are that you check with the intended recipients first -- and if anyone asks for stories, link to this post.]

Comments

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

::drivebyhug!::

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

*hug* *wave*