Do you shake hands with others?
By Anna
@AAichka (434)
United Kingdom
September 16, 2018 5:21pm CST
I live in a country with very strict rules about personal space. Few days ago I attended a meeting in my son's school together with two school representatives and educational officer.At the end of the meeting the educational officer said goodbye to the other two present at the meeting and only noded,but she came to me said she will be in touch and shook my hand.I wonder why she didn't shake hands with the school representatives.Do you shake hands with people who you meet for the very first time or avoid physical contact.
3 people like this
7 responses
@Daljinder (23228)
• Bangalore, India
16 Sep 18
There is nothing unusual about shaking hands here. Though it is not obligatory.
2 people like this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
17 Sep 18
The situation you describe sounds completely normal to me. The Educational Officer probably sees the school representatives often in the course of a week or a month, so there is no need to shake hands with them each time they meet because they are in an ongoing working relationship. She shook hands with you because you are the parent and therefore her client and it was probably the first time you had met.
It had never occurred to me that Britain has 'strict rules' about personal space but I suppose, now that you mention it, there are widely accepted conventions which we don't usually even think about. We can feel quite uncomfortable, for example, when people from certain cultures (Russian Federation and Eastern Europe come to mind but they aren't the only ones) stand too close to us in conversation. There is no hard and fast rule about it but, in general, we stand at about arm's length from someone who is a stranger when talking face to face - a little closer is tolerated if the atmosphere is noisy. There are also times when we would shake hands with someone - when being introduced, for example - and times when it is not appropriate. I rarely shake hands with my doctor, for example, but the specialist at the hospital who I see much less often almost always offers his hand.
To further complicate matters, the 'rules' vary quite a lot depending on where you are in Britain and on how well you know the person.
1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45123)
• Canada
17 Sep 18
Here, some people shake hands and some don't. Some use the closed fist contact. Things are changing from the time when all people shook hands.
@1hopefulman (45123)
• Canada
17 Sep 18
@kepweng I never met a beggar that wanted to shake hands , they just want some money.
@1hopefulman (45123)
• Canada
17 Sep 18
@AAichka Here it is not the custom to go around shaking hands if you don't know the person. I have taken a few beggars for meal and to a restaurant and even sat down with them where they were begging and shared my food with them but the thought of shaking hands with them did not occur to me or to them. It could be that customs are different gere. Where did you grow up?
