After Covid-19, what should we do with the handshake?
Ever since Covid-19 came about and turned our lives upside down, the handshake disappeared and a simple hello replaced it.
Ever since Covid-19 came about and turned our lives upside down, I am no longer sure how to greet people that I meet, especially those I’m meeting for the first time.
Before Covid -19, a handshake was the default form of greeting, the ‘universal’ act of courtesy and respect especially when meeting new people, or saying hello to one’s elders and other people you respect.
And then the pandemic happened and medical professionals warned us that one of the fastest ways to contract the dreaded virus was to shake hands. Keep your hands to yourself, they emphatically told us.
And so the handshake disappeared and a simple hello replaced it, while others waved or practiced namaste, though this didn’t really catch on, on this side of the world. Having stayed for almost two years without shaking hands, it was widely believed that handshaking was gone for good, something that would one day be described in words and pictures in museum halls across the world as an extinct form of greeting.
Alas! This wasn’t the case, because once Covid-19 faded away, and with it most of our dread, the handshake began creeping back. But not all have embraced it, which explains the awkwardness that many feel when they find themselves in a situation which demands a handshake, say a work networking event, a business meeting, a get-together, or even bumping into an acquaintance in the streets.
I recall that when the world managed to control the pandemic, and as we slowly and cautiously eased into becoming the social animals we were meant to be, the fist bump became popular, a comfortable alternative to the handshake. Unfortunately, the fist-bump is painfully casual, and only works with close relatives, friends and colleagues.
I mean, imagine visiting your grandparents and extended relatives in the village after a year or two and then proceeding on a fist-bumping spree. Believe you me, by the time you leave, your reputation will have been dragged through the mud by the whole village, never to be salvaged. They will talk about how “Nairofi” made you forget your manners, made you turn your back on your roots.
Come to think of it, would it be professional to fist-bump the company CEO or MD? In such a case, I’m sure you’re thinking, why not just wait for the boss to make that decision and then follow suit? Unfortunately, it is not as easy as it sounds because I have found that most people grapple with this decision, whatever their standing in life, so one of you might offer verbal greeting while the other will offer a hand to shake or a fist to bump. Covid-19 really messed up our lives…
In my case, when I find myself in such and other situations, there is always a moment of indecision. Do I stretch out my hand in offer of a handshake? What if this person ignores my outstretched hand or takes it just to be polite all the while wondering which virus or germs I have passed on to them?
Or do I keep my hand to myself and risk coming across as being rude or snobbish? Many times I’ve found myself in a situation where I have offered a fist bump, only for the other person to offer their hand, or a look of surprise that I offered anything to begin with.
This may sound trivial, given all the pressing matters the country is grappling with, but we need to agree on what constitutes acceptable forms of greeting to get rid of all this awkwardness going around.
cnjunge@ke.nationmedia.com
Dear reader, my column is taking a break and will return on May 11.