How to Screw Up an Otherwise Outstanding First Impression 

By Bill Willard

Contributing Author 

The Issue:  Some people never get the message about how badly a limp, wussified handshake comes across in business or non-business venues—and from women as well as men. This week, we straighten the picture on the wall about that. 

What I Think: Sue and I spent the last two weeks of July with our son in Hawaii. Bill, a prior-enlisted Captain in the Marine Corps, was having arthroscopic hip surgery. His mother and I were on hand to provide moral support, as well as transportation while our heir was recovering and unable to drive.  

Before Bill went under the “scope,” we met and had dinner with two of his fellow Marines, Daryl Fuller and John Cartrett, and John’s wife Claudia, a bravely upbeat, take-no-prisoners breast cancer survivor. You can bet everyone around that table shook hands like they meant it, which is exactly what one would expect in such company. Semper Fi! 

Happily, Bill was up and around, and at home, a few days after the noninvasive procedure, and took Sue and me to dinner at a spiffy Five-Star restaurant near his Kaneohe home. Our meals were excellent, the service first-rate, and all was well as we settled the bill.  

As we prepared to leave, the restaurant manager stopped by to ask how we’d enjoyed dinner, and to thank us for our patronage. So far, so good.

But then he extended his hand, which I took…and instantly regretted it. For such an otherwise savvy, customer-oriented businessman, this guy had the limpest, clammiest handshake I’d been subjected to in many moons—certainly over the past week! 

Did it spoil the evening? Not really. But it did leave behind a terrible impression of that restaurant and of a manager who should have known better. It also provided a topic of conversation for our drive home and handed me a ready-made Issue of the Week.  

What Do You Think? More to the point: How’s your handshake? Your comments are welcome. Have you registered? 

Bill Willard is a freelance writer in Clearwater FL. He has been a high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years. In addition to his byline pieces, Bill’s beat includes ghostwriting and editing for businesses of all types and sizes, professional practitioners and individuals, and is a www.thefreestyleentrepreneur.com Contributing Author. Visit his Website: www.writergazette.com/WillardAssociates.shtmlOr contact him at billw15@verizon.net.   

Popularity: 5% [?]