The Hand Bump Hand Shake 07/18/13
I have never seen this particular subject written about
before so I thought I would bring it up. Just now sitting here at my favorite
café, Peet’s, two men came in separately and when they saw each other they both
automatically reached out with their fists and did the “Fist Bump”, both in
sink. Now, I have seen this particular greeting happen many times before, but when
is one supposed to know when to Bump and when to Shake?
This just happened to me the other day. I was sitting
outside here at my café, when a younger man sat down and we started to talk
about jobs, the weather, etc. After about a half hour, as he got up to leave, he
reached out his right appendage. I to
reached out mine to shake his hand but while his hand was fisted, mine was all
fingers. (I personally would like to keep my middle finger in one piece without
breaking it in the process). Then we both did the same thing at the same time.
We reversed polarity and changed our hands like we were playing Rock, Paper and
Scissors. After the third attempt of
trying to match fist bump verses hand shake, we gave up and he walked away. I
thought about writing Dear Abby, but I think she’s dead! So here I sit not
knowing when to do the hand bump verses the handshake. My thoughts on this
matter are a bit scrambled. I thought it was a younger generation thing, but
when I tried the Bump Fist on my nephew, he just said, “Uncle, you’re so
chill”. Uh? Actually he said, “Uncle
Chill.” I was not hot at the time so I just went along with him. So here I sit
in my early, early 50’s wondering when I became, Chill, verses Cool. When did
the hand shake go out of style and why has society greeting manners become so
complicated? From now on I think I will just hug people, and that way, everyone
will feel awkward and included at the same time.
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