Bye Bye Handshake…
by Sara
And hello fist bump? Incredibly that’s the direction that doctors, clean freaks and even the NBA alike are recommending we head in (check out this article about the NBA restriction). What with the current craze of the H1N1 virus, and all other germs/diseases in general, people are seriously recommending abandoning the one formality left to our increasingly disconnected society.
As you can imagine, we here at Southern Protocol are a little enraged by this. Yes, by a handshake controversy. We are etiquette-oriented, after all…
Our main concern is the inferred laziness behind the fist bump over handshake recommendation. I realize that germs are running rampant, but haven’t they always? WASH YOUR HANDS! BE A HYGIENIC PERSON! Take extra precautions to prevent germs spreading. I literally read an article that said “how annoying is it to Purex your hands after every handshake?” My response? “How annoying is it when modern society is unflinchingly stupid?”
There is so much you can tell about a person by a simple handshake: firm or limp fish, direct eye contact or awkward aversion…Just take a second to imagine a scene in which two businessmen walk into a meeting, are introduced, and fist bump instead of handshake (“explosion” after fist bump optional). It turns formal introductions and etiquette into a joke, and we do not like it one bit.
Keep the formality, people.