How important is a firm handshake?

[slipknotpsycho]

to me it doesn't matter, but i know it matters to other people (lol seems kinda ridiculous to care about to me.) so i always make sure it's firm.

[Pipe Dreams]

I dont know if I could "hold a dominant handshake" with you, but my old man also taught me that eye contact and a firm handshake make a good first impression. Naturally, thats stuck with me my whole life and I also think that both are important.

[originalblu]

dont really care,, the only time i shake somones hands is if im gettin a job or meetin somones fokes,, if its a friends then hand shakes feel too formal, no need for a "dominant hold", sounds like a weird sex position

[Abattoir Dream]

some fuckin american i know did that to me... shook my hand like he was on steroids or somethin... i dont shake hands... im not the hand shaking type.. so when he shook my hand he nearly wrenched my arm off...

i didnt think any bigger of him, in fact it annoyed me alot... now if someone goes to shake my hand i'd rather shrug it off than have some little 'subconcious competition' with them...

[MacWQ33]

Firm handshakes are fine and all, but to me it can be a little too uptight and formal in some settings. If I meet someone at a party or something, haha I'm not gonna shake their hand like I would at a job interview. Just a nice little waddup slap some skin or pound it whatever and move on.

Call me crazy, but I always kind of look twice at the people that give me a regular ole' handshake. It just doesn't look natural, or it looks funny, I'm not sure. ~

LOL, was waiting to see this response. I've been to hundreds of parties with hundreds of different people from when I was in high school to college, and it's more like slapping hands and locking fingers (still FIRMLY, but not very formal)...this is basically with people my age or younger. And of course with close friends..you're not going to give them a firm handshake to say 'Whaddup' lol. But, yeah...with anyone older, a nice firm handshake is in order.

And I agree, a firm handshake does look funny if done at an informal event with young adults.

[thcbongman]

I only shake hands for business.

Otherwise, it's some skin and a fist.

[Ganj]

some fuckin american i know did that to me... shook my hand like he was on steroids or somethin... i dont shake hands... im not the hand shaking type.. so when he shook my hand he nearly wrenched my arm off...

i didnt think any bigger of him, in fact it annoyed me alot... now if someone goes to shake my hand i'd rather shrug it off than have some little 'subconcious competition' with them...

There's a big difference between firm and overbearing.

[GHoSToKeR]

I think it's wrong to say that you can judge somebody by their handshake. In fact I'd go so far as to say that's bullshit, although I hope you're not too offended.. People are just too complex for that, dude..

Anyway nah I don't really think firm handshakes are that important, but I have a couple of friends who have the most weak-ass handshakes in the world, and it usually irritates me.

[xcrispi]

10 = a sign of substance / charecter .
Peace
Crispi :jointsmile:

[ValkyrieAg]

Well the complexity of a handshake really isn't complex at all. Its not so much I judge a person, heck they probably are pretty good people if I the are a friend of a friend of mine.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't walk up to people in high school when I was younger and shake the death out of people. That isn't really natural.

But to me, if you can't look me in the eye and shake my hand like you have a single muscle (i know you do, everyone does). To me, that means that you are nervous that you don't have your daddy to hide behind or your momma to run underneath her sundress.

I think it deals alot of with age too. When you meet new people, you have to give respect to get it. I've met *alot* of $$$ people. Used to clean dove with Tommy Lee Jones....cleaned Mick Jagger's deer....met Rick Perry....shook 50+ peoples hands during an internship my freshmen year.

If you walk up to someone with substance and bring that weaksauce handshake, might as well not shake hands at all.