Wwyd about creepy cleaner who gave me a creepy handshake on my first day at work?

Yes, really well done OP. it takes guts :) Really glad your manager got straight onto it. Hope all goes swimmingly with the job from now on :)

Well done - that's not an easy thing to do at any time, let alone when you're starting a new job.

Well done

fuck me handshake

Ew! I didn't know about this! Gross!

You really can’t, you know.

If someone tries to death crush your hand, I think it tells you a lot about them.
DH told me he had a lecturer at uni who, on shaking hands, gripped his hand tight, fixed him in the eyes and started forcing his arm to rotate, like some mid-air arm wrestle. DH just thought what a wanker!

Well this is all very bizarre. Friggin something else now to watch out for

Ugh

I think you can often tell something about a person from the way they shake hands

You really can’t, you know. And as we have seen, believing you can disadvantages women who are reluctant to shake hands for fear of being perved over.

I have had this done to me a couple of times years ago. Although I felt vaguely uneasy I didn't know why or what it meant. Grim. Men are odd creatures.

Thanks for the reply @TheInebriati

I admit that I am pro-handshake. I think you can often tell something about a person from the way they shake hands - particularly the type of man who insists on squeezing hard.
@GottaGetUp had an unpleasant experience with this creep, but at least she now knows about him - if she hadn’t shaken hands he’d still be there sliming around, but she wouldn’t have had the warning signal.

our RE teacher taught us this handshake when I was about 14. Yes he was a bloke, but I wouldn’t in a million years have thought he was a perve! He said it was a Masonic handshake!

This handshake was a 'thing' years ago (70s or 80s) and is code for 'I want to have clandestine sex with you'

Ew Ew Ew really? Fucking hell... Mind blown.

Dirty fucks.

I’ve had this done to me years ago. I’d forgotten it, but am creeped out again remembering. Grim!

This is one reason I refuse to shake hands with men

How do you manage this?

I smile and greet them verbally, keeping my hands by my side. I've had men try to grab my hand, at which point I say 'I don't shake hands'.
If they make a fuss I say 'There's no need to make a scene, I have arthritis and I don't shake hands. Its painful.'

Handshakes are generally weird!

Where I am in the ME a standard handshake between women, or a woman & a man, is 'lay your hand briefly & limply in the other person's hand, as if passing them a dead fish.'

Follow up with double air kiss if both of you are female. If you are greeting a person of opposite sex, the 'pass the dead fish' is enough, & if the bloke then goes in for the air kiss he's either family or being decidedly over familiar.

Man to man (or man to woman if the man is demonstrating his 'I'm all about the equality, me, so will greet my child's female teacher in manly fashion!') is a hearty hand grab. Usually followed up with a bit of back slapping/a hug/double kiss but again that's definitely reserved for men greeting each other - again, anything but the handshake from a man to a woman would raise eyebrows (ie he'd be inappropriate) unless good friends/family.

Sleazy palm tickling would be hugely frowned on.

Honestly, who does that?! Anywhere. I'm used to greeting everyone with a firm handshake & have had to adapt to different cultural standard re dead fish & air kisses.

But wtf scraping a finger over someone's hand to indicate you're up for it ?!

That's very clearly inappropriate in any workplace.

You are right, the knuckle rub is freemasons as my dad and husband have bothhad it done to them. I didn't know about the specific knuckle though

I must be a right minger- I’ve never even heard of the handshake let alone experienced it.

It happened to me too. It was in the early 90s and a new guy at work did the lingering hand shake thing (no finger rubbing stuff tho) and i tried to carry on as normal. Then one day he actually tried to make a physical move on me from behind when we were alone in the office. I turned on him and said in my best assertive voice, "Get your fucking hands off me! " in no uncertain terms and he virtually ran away pissing himself in fear! Very liberating. He never went near me again.

AFAIK the Masonic handshake is nothing like this.

A guy I knew when I worked with a load of older men who were probably Masons, told me the Masonic handshake is about applying subtle pressure to a specific knuckle of the person you're shaking hands with. Which knuckle they apply pressure to denotes their rank in the Masons.

No idea if he was bullshitting me or not, but I guess it's quite cunning as it'd be pretty much impossible to pick up by watching someone shake hands.

I had a few guys shake hands with me like that, when I worked in the City. Being a woman I'm obviously not a Mason so a secret Masonic handshake is badly targeted at me! I wondered if they were so used to doing it, they did it to everyone. Or if it was just bollocks.

This is one reason I refuse to shake hands with men

How do you manage this? If you are in a formal or semi-formal situation where a handshake is offered what do you do? I can't see any way of refusing the handshake without causing an awkward situation

Whilst I don't think this is the norm for meeting new colleagues shaking hands with clients/ other agents is the norm. I've never come across this.

Vile behaviour.

The stricter branches of my religion forbid physical contact between men and women who aren't related. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm beginning to think they have a point...

Snap friar!

Oh I thought it was a Mason thing