Shake IT Real Good

From now on i'll stick to fist bumps.
No one has ever said i've done that too hard

I was at a BBQ a couple of weekends ago when someone complimented me on my handshake. I say complimented, I mean commented. This is the first time in my adult life that anyone has mentioned anything about my handshake. I've practiced with Chelsea before and she thought it was strong but then she has the most delicate and frail of mits so I can't take her too seriously. Or so I thought, to my peril.

Anyway at the BBQ, I shook hands with a guy. 'Woah, that's a strong shake' I might be paraphrasing but if so not much, he had a voice exactly like an excited Peter Kay, 'What do you do for a living?!' he exclaimed. Whilst I am in no way slim I am in also no way built, I have next to no muscles so the idea of me doing anything remotely physically challenging is laughable. 'IT' I responded. I'm not sure what he was expecting but he was shocked. He spread the word, loudly, and challenged another BBQ gooer to guess what I did from my handshake. The challenger was taller than me, i'm 6ft 2ish, and much larger than me. I didn't like the pressure. More than I didn't like the pressure i didn't like his response, 'IT' he said without even coming near me. He had pre-judged me by my beard and glasses. Of course he was right, but I didn't like it. Now I reflect on it I think it's actually less insulting that someone thinking I was going to have a weak handshake.

Shaking hands is something I think about a lot (if you hadn't guessed...). As a child I would go to various functions and shake hands with people and I assume I offered them the strongest hand a 9 year old can (heads out of the gutter). Responses would often be 'You need to work on that' etc. I didn't. I have done almost no work on it other than shaking hands with people and a few time as mentioned with Chelsea. I have however feared offering a limp wet hand when meeting someone. I never really trust those who offer these, it's like trying to shake hands with jelly. On the other hand (haha) I hate shaking hands with people who squeeze because I was under the impression I am fairly weak and I hate the feeling of bones crunching in my hand. Not sure anyone likes that?? And it's just a show of authority, I hope people don't think this is the reason I am accidentally strong. Often there is also the accidental finger hold. I'm not sure how this one starts but it ends with a firm grip around the fingers and not the palm, this is not comfortable physically or emotionally.

I hadn't thought much about the incident or subsequent shaking potential until today when I got another comment. 'That's a firm shake'.... how are you supposed to respond to this I wondered. I kinda smiled and showed her the way to the meeting room.