Lost in Translation

For those of you who don't know, I work in advertising. Specifically, I work in Hispanic advertising. And even more specifically, I work in Hispanic advertising on the account management side. This means that I'm management or better stated the middle-man / baby-sitter between the client and various departments that make up an advertising agency. And for those who may or may not know, as the norm, the creative department at a Hispanic advertising agency as well as the creative vendors for Hispanic advertisers are almost entirely made up of Latinos of the South America persuasion.

So with that said, I regularly speak to my editing house which is staffed by women who happen to be South American. They are very nice and extremely helpful but always end our conversations with the following cheerful farewell "un beso, ciao ciao!" And since I have the tendency to over think things at times, this leaves me perplexed because I do not know what the appropriate response should be?

I'm pretty sure they are not expecting a "un beso to you to" from me which is good because I would not feel comfortable saying that. But I'm also pretty darn sure that I can not pull off a single ciao much less a double shout-out ciao, ciao. So what do I come back with?

What I have been using is the standard but always classic adios. It seems to have been working for me and I do a good job pulling it enough. And sometimes when I'm face to face, I compliment it with a peace sign extended towards the person (too much?)

This post written while listening to the album "Rattle and Hum" by U2.