[Tom Line]

In my family, I handshake my male relatives and hug my female relatives. My father was a very stand-offish person. He still never gives hugs. My mother was the opposite. So that's what I learned. I was absolutely shocked the first time my father-in-law hugged me. When I get together with my relatives, I give handshakes to the males and hug the females. When we're congratulating teams members, I handshake some, high five others, and hug still others.

Does that make me gender biased? I hardly think so, and I'll state flat out that I'm not. Part of always acting like your grandmother is watching is to not going looking for problems. A hug or a handshake, a high five or a back slap. I don't think these are really things we need to critique. If it affects you personally, then ask the person not to do it again. That's your personal space and you can expect that others will respect it.

I'm sure someone is going to say that I'm glossing over something that is clearly an issue. But I think the idea of learning tolerance and acceptance to understand that other folks may not act exactly the way you do. Different people act in different ways. Different cultures treat hugging and handshaking very differently too. I'm not going to expect them to change either just because I prefer one over the other.