shaking hands???????????????????

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I do it out of courtesy.

If I know someone well enough to give them a hug, I'll do that.

I avoid shaking hands if at all possible. I also have issues with strangers saying stuff to me and then getting upset when I don't respond. This happened yesterday and I finally turned to the woman and said, "What? Do I owe you a response?" BUt that is just me.

I used to dislike shaking hands and felt very awkward about it. Now I'm the reverse and actually enjoy shaking hands - the tricky bit is knowing how hard to squeeze. If their face goes purple then I've got the pressure wrong

I think I've learnt to shake hands as a way of offsetting my social interaction problems - it's like putting on a fake front "Hi I'm sociable and friendly" all part of an act that people expect and helps me to interact.

Here in France people are even more expressive and everyone either grabs my hand or kisses my cheeks. That is taking some getting used to. I never know which cheek one is supposed to kiss first or how many times. It seems to vary from person to person. My neighbour's wife skips the cheeks and firmly plants a big kiss on my lips - even when my wife is there. Not sure what to make of that

As a kid I couldn't even bare anyone touching me - even my own mother (shudder). Age seems to compensate.

It all makes life interesting.

I dislike shaking hands but when in a group with everyone doing it then I think its a good thing and bear it.

handshaking is only a sign of intimidation in my eyes if it is the iron grip one. where the one person tries to assert their power by squeezing the life out of the other.

I am a slight germaphobe, so I don't shake hands ( I always have to wonder where they have been and if they have been washed), but I don't make it obvious, I usually just say I can't shake their (whoevers) hand because mine aren't clean