Do you give good shake?

One of the highlights of this year's Loo of The Year Awards which took place on Friday the 2nd December (full story page 14) was a talk by TV presenter and body language expert Judi James called 'Do you Give Good Shake?'

During her dissection of the etiquette and misadventures surrounding hand shaking Judi challenged the cleaning market to consider their shaking skills and ran through a list of her pet hates which include: “The hand sandwich (where the shaker encloses your hand in between theirs)”, The bone cruncher (self explanatory!) “the shaking or mating shake?”(where the shaker holds on just a bit too long) and when people visibly wipe their hand before offering it (yuck)!

Judi also provided an entertaining insight into the hand shaking habits of world leaders from back patting power tactics to “cool hand shakes”, highlighting just how much meaning can be portrayed through the seemingly humble hand shake.

For those looking to shape up their shake, Judi offered some pointers which included: always having your hand prepared to avoid awkwardness, look the shaker in the eye, and be aware of whose responsibility it is to initiate the hand shake - it is the responsibility of the premises host in a business scenario.

A word of caution however before you limber up for the perfect hand shake. A survey conducted by a team of researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as part of Global Handwashing Day suggested that 16% of people's hands have E coli bacteria on them - so pick who you shake with carefully.

Georgina Bisby
Group Editor, Cleaning Matters
[email protected]