shaking hands

by man in black 20 Replies latest jw experiences

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  man in black

  when I was a witness ( esp. as a youth) it seemed that whenever i went to a meeting, or assembly

  I would send an incredible amount of time shaking hands. One assembly I remember being an attendant and I shook hands

  over 25 times within ten minutes.

  fast forward twenty years, and I still sometimes hold back, or just plain don't see the value in it deending on the situation.

  That whole "witness thing" about shaking everyones hand sometimes really gets to me.

  Is this something that anyone else has experienced ?
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  Diest

  Its even worse in Spanish Congregations....
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  Anony Mous

  It's called a masonic handshake. Don't you know nothing of the JW history?
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  AnneB

  I hated it back in the days when I was a witness. We had one pervy elder who just wouldn't take no for an answer, forced his handshake on everyone who came into the KH or book study where he was the conductor. My kids hated it, I hated it. One day, for my kid's sake, I told him we weren't going to shake hands any more, that it wasn't our custom. After that he made a big display of offering his hand then snatching it back with an 'ooh, ooh, you don't want me to touch you' act.

  Who knows what's being passed during a handshake! Sometimes it could be "green", most times it's just germs and dead skin cells and whatever the person has done since last washing. Nooooo thanks!
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  WTWizard

  I usually did my best to squeeze hard enough to create some pain. I don't like shaking hands with every man that claims to have power--and they never got anything that remotely resembled green. Or gold. Or silver.
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  bigmouth

  We had a particular elder from England that would shake your hand every time he met you. He was the effusive creep of the Elder Body of course.

  Now we live in Australia, I find the custom of shaking hands constantly a bit tiring. It seems to be more common with the European and Baltic expats we see four times a week or more at our soccer club.

  Germs don't bother me but I guess it could be worse.

  Thank God no one greets me with a Holy Kiss !!
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  Disillusioned Lost-Lamb

  I'm a woman so I haven't quite had this problem, but when any witless men do want to shake my hand I squeeze HARD and they never do it again. BTW I have really strong hands and arms and can squeeze the dickens out of wimpy toilet scrubbing JW hands.

  What I get annoyed with more are the half-ass hugs; what do you miss/like me enough to touch me but not enough to fully hug me? Did no one tell them that pretending to "show affection" by sideways hugging is odd and kind of insulting?
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  Broken Promises

  I hate those "wet fish" type handshakes.

  If you're going to shake my hand, do it with meaning! No wimpy loose-wristed handshakes thank you!

  And this applies to both men and women.
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  Chemical Emotions

  Brothers ALWAYS want to shake my hands...ugh.
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  Broken Promises

  CE,

  As a female, you have the option not to shake their hand. It's not an obligation and at the end of the day, it's your body. If you want to shake hands, fine. But if not, it's your perogative to refuse.