in [France], people greet each other with a kiss on each cheek - this is polite. To refuse is as rude as putting your hands in your pockets in America when somebody goes to shake your hand.
Well, Hamster, many people kiss one another on cheeks in France, but not everybody does and only with friends. We usually do it with someone of the other gender (mediterranean men tend to do it more readily with other men), and it is never as casual as shaking hands. It's quite true that the WTS has "advised" not to do it at the KH, for a reason I can understand, that is, it creates a sort of segregation between those who get a kiss and those who don't and the latter ones may feel they're not part of the club. Now, quite a few still do it with their close friends, I do it and no elder has ever openly disapproved of in front of me in the last ten years. I suppose some frown on it though since the WTS stand on this subject hasn't changed, to my knowledge. Depends in fact on congregations and elders and I don't know what the practice is in other countries.