Back in the late '60's and early '70's, at the beginning of a semester, my late father, a department chair at a major Houston university, would say, "Would you do me a favor? (I would attempt to stifle a groan, knowing what was coming) and pick up some Iranian students at the airport? Oh, and be sure to give them that talk about personal hygiene in America. You know, about using deodorant." Oh course, I'd do it. The odor would linger in my car for 2 or 3 days. Much later, when I saw that Seinfeld episode, I knew just how Jerry felt. It wasn't that bad, but damn near! Yes, I would shake hands with them. Shaking hands with them wasn't the problem. Lots of Iranian students came here to study back in the days of the Shah, many going to Houston universities.
Yea, it's a practice that can go away. Shake hand, than touch your phone and notebook... SMH. If you want to greet with more than words, a bow, like how the Japanese do it is much better.
I'm missing half of my right index finger (rabbit bit it off when I was 2). I've never considered that people might be weirded out by shaking my hand. Of course I'm not missing multiple fingers just have a nub on that one, which most people never notice unless I tell them about it. Now I'm going to be self conscious about shaking hands. Thanks.
Not only do I shake hands, I shake hands like a warrior. Spoiler Sometimes I Illuminati handshake Spoiler Sometimes I like to get fancy and do a little dance with it Spoiler But mostly, nobody notices me Spoiler
Man, I never thought about shaking hands with Jontro, given his hobbies. I have a lot of students who want to shake hands each time they visit office hours. **** that noise -- it's all just a germ vector. I have moved strictly to the fist bump.
Shake hands with someone with bad B.O.? Maybe an auto mechanic once or twice at his shop...but an odor and dirt and stuff's kinda expected there so I didn't mind. Just washed my hands shortly thereafter and moved on. However, I shook hands with someone (I and a few others were interviewing him for an IT job) who's hands were unclean and oily. Gave off a bad first impression which he never quite recovered from. We did not hire him.
You better stop right there and not name names. I had a client who was sued over body odor discrimination. They made adjustments per the settlement and the work environment went straight to the toilet.
