The Workermonkey

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Awkward moments in professional development 

# posted by Brancibeer @ 12/10/2008 12:42:00 PM

So this new job I'm in is going to be a lot more smoozing and people oriented. Not to mention I'm dealing with a bunch of stuff I have no clue about and WAY over my head. Such is the way of new responsibilities... I had an important meeting today with another Agency and their top people. Big shots if you will. The meeting had the potential to go sour from the start- very contentious issues. As they are walking into the room, I'm introducing myself and shaking hands. One of the directors walks in and seems like a nice fellow. I go to shake his hand, but something went wrong and the grip positioning somehow got misaligned. He had my hand in somewhat of a perpendicular grasp. Like the kind a lady uses when asking for help down from a carriage. Yeah, like that. So I was forced to pretend through it and move on. But god damn it. The whole meeting I couldn't stop but thinking I was somehow this guys bitch now.

(ps the meeting went fine)

4 comments

I've been there. Here's how to handle it because it's awkward for both of you. You stop the shake, say something like "whoa, sorry, how about we shake like men?" and then proceed with a man shake.

By  ron, at Wednesday, December 10, 2008 11:43:00 PM  

I have to agree with Ron. I've been on both sides of your situation, and to some people a hand shake still means alot. Next time you meat with that guy, make sure you give him a solid grip. Otherwise, he might think you're a fag.

By  Anonymous, at Thursday, December 11, 2008 5:12:00 PM  

"A man shake"? Is that what we do when we're done peeing? Or would doing that with a new acquaintance make us what T suggested? How about something more substantive? What were the contentious issue?

By  Damon, at Friday, December 12, 2008 6:59:00 AM  

Back in the caveman days, one would just whip it out and shake your noodle in a circular fashion. (No joke, saw it on Discovery) The 'man shake' is a degenerate form of this practice. These days, the strength or your shake is directly proportional to the size of your wang. So after Branci's incident, this guy was sitting in the meeting hearing his case for getting some money. He must have been thinking, 'I feel sorry for this guy who has a pansy shake. He doesn't look like a fag, but you never know with these hippies.' He probably wasn't even listening to the pitch and came to the conclusion that he'll approve the funds as long as it includes some man-training for upper management.

By  ron, at Saturday, December 13, 2008 10:49:00 AM  

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