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How do you politely avoid a handshake?
Here's the dilemma. My wife and I are not cleanliness freaks, but we are both very careful about washing our hands, especially before eating.
Therefore, we both find it highly frustrating when someone in a restaurant extends a hand and wants a handshake, which may be well-intentioned, but ruins our cleanliness. We have taken those handwashing packets with us and the handwashing gel. Neither one of us trust the cleanliness of a public restroom, so it's not a possibility to simply wash up again in the restaurant's restroom.
My wife is especially frustrated because she was raised to believe that a gentleman NEVER extends his hand to a lady, although a gentleman never refuses a lady's hand. So, what's up with all these clods sticking out their hands to shake my wife's hand?
Is there a polite way to simply refuse a handshake? What would you do or think if someone refused?
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