There are too many handshake options. @ColinandSamir
Summary
There are far too many options when two men approach each other for a handshake, and an anonymous rider thinks it's ruining potential friendships. He tells Kareem the confusion is real: you could hand hug, hand hug and lock, slap-release-hug-back slap, or just bump fists. Then there's the hugging lobby, which tried to make hugging the new standard greeting but created even more anxiety. "There's nothing I hate more than when someone in front of me is greeting everybody," the rider explains, because now you're locked into whatever they did with the last person. They also touch on how handshakes change based on race. The solution? Maybe Europe's got it figured out with their cheek kiss thing, though neither can remember what it's called.
Full Transcript
So, what's your take? When two men approach each other for a handshake, there are far too many options for what that handshake could be. It's confusing. We need to consolidate and get on the same page.
100% agree.
Wow. Unbelievable. And yet, we agreed on some sort of weird handshake there.
You thought this was weird.
I felt strange.
It made me uncomfortable.
That's the most normal greeting. But I think we should agree on what is the—what is the normal greeting. I agree with you because, you know, it's the worst when you go up to someone and you're like, "No, no, I was trying to do the hand hug."
'Cuz right now we could hand hug, which we're doing right now. Yeah.
We could hand hug and lock.
Oh, we could slap, release, hug, back slap.
We could do bump that—we could do.
See, I think I [laughter]—believe that I'm losing friendships over this. That there are potential friends I could have made, but because I couldn't read their mind...
A guy has approached me and I've gone like this and he's done that, and then it—and then we go like like this, and I've never seen him again.
He's like, "That's it. I can't hang."
We don't connect.
You know what they tried to do? They tried to make hugging the new shake.
They did.
The hugging lobby came in.
The hugging lobby came in, and they said, "We're not shaking anymore. It's too formal. Now we got to hug." But now you're like, "What if you're not a hugger?" There's nothing I hate more than when someone in front of me is greeting everybody. That person goes in for the hug, but I'm next in line and now I have to hug them.
Now you have to hug.
'Cuz he hugged.
Also, sometimes the handshake changes based on race.
So I can see you coming up to another white guy and going, "How you doing?" But then you see a black guy and you go, "My brother." [laughter]
Yeah, my man.
Next time I see you, let's do that.
Okay, back to the basics. I mean, in Europe, they standardized it.
What they do?
They do this.
No hand.
That's actually honestly—like, it's kind of sweet.
All right, bring back that thing. Leus. Lebus. What's it called? Yeah, I have no idea what it's called.
All right, dude. I'll see you later.
Yep. See you.
Oh, that's weird.
Sorry.