This may be the first time I’ve agreed with you, but I could not agree with you more.
There really are too many special snowflakes to count.
People, they’re not asking you for a kidney! They’re asking you not be a complete asshole! Baby back ribs and diseases aside, you’re basically a selfish, social miscreant if you refuse the most basic form of initial human contact in our society.
If someone said that to me and wasn’t an obvious Orthodox Jewish male, I’d definitely be a little, “bwuh?”
I would consider them a polite and caring individual.
I have been mistaken for Muslim or ultra Orthodox Jew because of the way I am dressed for professional occasions. I wear either a headscrarf or a rather obvious wig (think Hasidic chic) thinking that should be enough nonverbal communication to get the point across that I do not shake hands with members of the opposite sex. Frequently, it hasn’t been which is why I think most of the hand shaking zealots do it on purpose to be douchebags.
Or it could be that what you think is sufficient communication isn’t. That is unless of course the wig you’re wearing is shaped so as to spell out “Don’t Touch Me!”
I think it’s completely safe to say that since ZPG Zealot is wearing head scarfs or wigs that don’t correspond to her actual beliefs simply so she can avoid personal contact…she is in the top 5 of Most Absurd And Out Of Touch Posters Ever.
Congratulations! Membership includes the right to believe Obama is a Muslim and 9/11 is a conspiracy. Please sign on the dotted line at your earliest convenience. We have non-commie touched pens as well.
So if you’re not Muslim or Orthodox Jew, why do you limit your “no touching (no touching!)” rule to members of the opposite sex?
I don’t have any trouble offering my hand or shaking hands. If someone refuses, I just put my hand down without feeling insulted.
At the other extreme, when I was wearing a cast on my left arm, I had people apologize when they passed me on my left side without even touching me.
I have to tell you, I, personally, would not understand that you wearing a wig is meant to signify that you don’t want to shave hands with a guy. I would think it just meant that you have poor taste in wigs.
Is this some sort of a joke? I don`t want people listening to me breathing. Do you do business with Darth Vader? Do you own a Death Star construction management firm?
Certainly. It is very unlikely that I would hire a candidate that was 15 minutes late to an interview. The same goes for a candidate who decides to bash one political side or the other during an interview. Tardiness demonstrates that the candidate cannot manage his or her time. Insulting the political opposition demonstrates to me that the candidate does not know when it’s appropriate to say those kinds of things. The lack of a handshake further demonstrates the candidates lack of social graces. (I’m sure you didn’t mean a candidate that did all three things in the same interview though.)
You know what’s worse than a limp, clammy, germ-a-licious handshake? The feeling that arises when people aren’t sure whether to shake. This covers everything from the awkward half-starts, some shaking but not others, people that shake with all my partners but stumble at shaking with me because I’m gasp a woman.
All of that potential BS is avoided by approaching with eye-contact and an out-thrust hand - smile or serious face in accordance with the situation. I think the hand shake alleviates a lot more stress than it causes.
Hugging yucks me out. I hug people I love but everyone else should back the hell off. Outside the business world it seems to be the norm now to hug when introduced to new friends - yikes! My solution - smile like a maniac and offer my hand, works like a charm. 
Edit: I meet a lot of people for work and a big part of my job is convincing them to sign something. I have to make a good first impression and a proper hand shake accomplishes that with folks of any age or gender.
Were not talking about fashion. I only use the wig when I’m dealing with a high Orthodox Jewish population where the wig in combination with conservative clothing is an obvious not for touching uniform.
If you can’t see someone’s face or eyes, their breathing patterns can be a clue to their personality and emotional state.
Newsflash Orthodox Jews and Muslims are not the only people on earth who have moral objections to socially touching the opposite sex.
I never said they weren’t part of my beliefs. I said I am often mistaken for a Muslim or a Hasidic Jew by the way I dress professionally. Unless the issue is pressing, it is sometimes easier not to disabuse people of their misconceptions rather than spend fifteen minutes explaining my ancestory.
Uh, I think they might be though. In fact, I’ve never really heard about any other groups. Even the ueber Christian types who don’t let their women cut their hair allow handshakes, as far as I know. I think the Amish do to.
Anyways, what religious or ethnic group do you belong to, where you have that rule?
What if their religious beliefs prevent them from having someone hear their breathing, so they wear a mask at all times. Then what would you do?
If I wanted or needed to do business with them there are plenty of other characteristics one can observe and use for making judgments. Which is another reason I just don’t find shaking hands as a greeting an important thing. There are too many other factors that you can and should use to evaluate someone. In cultures were a handshake in front of witnesses is a contract, it’s too important a symbolic act to cheapen with random hand shaking.
A lot of my friends do that here in L.A., too, but it’s not like you smack each other on the lips. The real risk is when you touch your eyes or nostrils right after putting your hands on something that has a virus. But it can be anything: a person’s hand, a doorknob, a telephone, light switch.
I don’t think we can ever pinpoint exactly when we get the virus into our system. More than avoid the hands of others, I avoid putting my own hands on my mucus membranes (nose, eyes, mouth) when I’m in public–and wash my own hands as much as possible.