Do you shake hands?

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So was the issue that you saw people at church shaking hands and you think they shouldn't have or is the issue that you've all along would like social acceptance in not shaking hands and hope that the pandemic has created an environment where this is done? These are really different questions.

One is your personal viewpoint on covid protocols (and by the sounds of it a hygiene thing in general for you) which gets expressed in judgement of others.

The other is a desire not to be judged by others.

So really two very different sides of the judgement coin.

 

[SirDuff]

I just hope we can get rid of the "bises" (the kisses done in many French speaking countries). Not the least of which because the number of them is often messed up (where I live it is three but just over the border it is two so if you have one person from each side...you can get up with banged heads).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

2020 was no hand shaking

only thing that has changed is that once I shake hands I will use sanitizer as quick as is allowed.

This is kinda how it is now except I think the situations in which a handshake has been offered immediately have gone down some. Like meeting someone new (casually not on a business level) it used to be more customary to handshake IME but sorta hasn't come up as much. I'm not adverse to a handshake now but do try and use hand sanitizer soon after (although I know looking back it's not been every time).

 

[Moliphino]

I prefer not to, but generally will if someone puts their hand out. Not a fan of physical contact with people I'm not close to.

 

[ronandannette]

Pre-Covid I was a hand-shaker upon introduction; either extending my hand or receiving an extended hand as etiquette dictated, especially in professional settings. All that of course went by the wayside and I've actually not met very many new people in person for the past two years. We are starting to gradually hold more in-person meetings but very few people offer their hands and I don't offer mine. Nobody seems to mind.

In our personal life we have begun freely hugging family and close friends again. In our church people are starting to shake and to hug again. Whether I shake, hug or just try to avoid both entirely completely depends on the person.

 

[TippyThomas]

I'll shake hands but it's not my top choice. It never really was. I like to keep my hands to myself.

 

[happiestpoe]

It's part of my school's ethos that we shake hands with students as they arrive in the morning. Since Rona, we stopped shaking hands, but they sometimes sneeze in my face. So I do wonder about the efficacy of that policy.

With adults, I like to do the 'long nod' or deep incline of the head. It's formal but not super stuffy.

 

[leahgoogle]

Yes and Yes. I will say that fist bumping has become popular especially in school and athletic settings.

 

[Buckeye218]

I can't say I still shake hands as I never stopped. But yes, and yes.

 

[disykat]

Yes, I shake hands.

Yes, people are gross. You think you're avoiding it by not shaking hands? Do you carry a tissue everywhere to touch doorknobs? Do you wear gloves to put your shoes on so you don't touch the germs you've picked up walking around? Swab your shoes and find out what you touch every time you touch them.

Sorry, this is just one of those things I think is ridiculous. Anyone who thinks they're escaping wallowing in other humans' germs by avoiding handshakes is just willfully naïve. Every surface you interact with has gross human all over it. And most germs you contact are not pathogenic.

Well then, you sure told me! I have to admit I laughed out loud at your post and of course you have a point, but are you always like this? Every person in the world, including you, probably has some things that gross them out more than others. I maintain my dislike of handshaking with no shame whatsoever.

 

[jrmasm]

How many shake hands but won‘t allow shoes in your homes?

 

[starvenger]

How many shake hands but won‘t allow shoes in your homes?

Well for me that's currently a no and a H-E-Double Hockey Sticks No. I don't even like wearing shoes in a hotel room - we actually have "travel" flip-flops that we use specifically inside a hotel room/vacation rental.

A bit much? Perhaps.

 

[jrmasm]

Well for me that's currently a no and a H-E-Double Hockey Sticks No. I don't even like wearing shoes in a hotel room - we actually have "travel" flip-flops that we use specifically inside a hotel room/vacation rental.

A bit much? Perhaps.

But do you shake hands?

 

[starvenger]

Not really.

 

[easyas123]

Call me crazy, I wear shoes in the house and shake hands!

 

[toolmanjan]

I will shake hands with anyone except a mask wearer. my reasoning is as follows. When you are wearing a mask you are constantly adjusting it, with you hands. You may not realize it but you are. So not only are you adding your germs to your hands but adding any germs you have picked up on you hands to your mask. Sanitize or wash you hands often. Loose the masks.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I don’t mind shaking hands for the most part, but it’s definitely cut back since Covid. In the Covid units and ICUs in 2020, we took to doing elbow bumps and even foot bumps, and we made jokes about it, but it was awkward. I haven’t seen anyone doing that in a while.

@disykat, here’s the thing. If I do shake someone’s hand, I’m not going to do anything else significant with that hand until I sanitize it again. In the hospital we are constantly sanitizing our hands (and were even before Covid), and I pretty much do the same thing outside of work. After years of doing it you get a feel for when your hands have germs on them. But I have to agree with a pp, there are germs everywhere, and it’s impossible to control every single one.

In college in Medical Microbiology we did an experiment where we went around the room and swabbed things like doorknobs, sinks, surfaces, and the like (today there would be cell phones and computer keyboards too) and then plated and grew the cultures in an incubator for a couple of days. It was pretty horrifying to see what grew out.

Cell phones are especially gross! Eating while using a cell phone probably isn’t much different than eating after shaking someone’s hand who didn’t wash after using the restroom or eating while using a shared computer.

 

[Lilsia]

It is a very common route of transmission for the common cold. That is why I keep saying this isn't about covid, but rather about all the handshaking that did stop during covid (because of distance protocol) and my hope that would continue. My dad was a doctor and always thought shaking hands as a greeting was crazy. (Prior to covid, he wasn't able to comment about covid and is no longer alive.) I'm not afraid of getting Covid from a handshake. I'm sad that I'll likely be sick again soon after a two year reprieve from colds and viruses.

It was a shock after two years of no handshaking to have so many people want to shake my hand. I am decidedly uncomfortable with it.

I don't think that handshaking is the problem. After all, we touch a lot of things on a daily basis. The real problem is that people are gross. They don't wash their hands often and many don't wash their hands before handling food and eating. That one, simple step of washing your hands before you touch your face, or touch your food, makes a world of difference. Before covid, I swear that we were the only family that washed their hands before eating at a restaurant. We would order our food, and then go wash up before touching any utensils or drinks, etc. Never saw any other people do that.

 

[Lilsia]

I will shake hands with anyone except a mask wearer. my reasoning is as follows. When you are wearing a mask you are constantly adjusting it, with you hands. You may not realize it but you are. So not only are you adding your germs to your hands but adding any germs you have picked up on you hands to your mask. Sanitize or wash you hands often. Loose the masks.

How do you know that the person not wearing their mask didn't just pick their nose before shaking your hand? I think that your logic is a bit flawed.

 

[sarah4770]

Not since Covid. I hope we don’t go back to it and I will avoid it if possible.