Canada's top butler shows you how to shake hands properly
Beware of the 'wet fish' handshake
There's more to the proper handshake than you may think.
Charles MacPherson has been a butler to some of Canada's wealthiest families. He runs a school for butlers and he uses his skills to consult with businesses about good customer service.
For a perfect handshake, he says turn and face the person, make good eye contact by noting the colour of the other person's eyes, extend your hand and don't hold on too tightly or loosely.
Manners are really about making other people feel comfortable.- Charles MacPherson, butler and head of Charles MacPherson Associates Inc.
"The amount of pressure is what it's like to hold a water bottle," MacPherson told CBC Saskatchewan's Blue Sky host Garth Materie. "You never want to do this — it's called the wet fish — what do you do with that? Or the bone crusher because I'm really tough. It just makes you look like a goof."
MacPherson is in Saskatchewan consulting with Ford about how to improve customer service.
He says he feels our society today has gone too far in an informal direction when it comes to manners.
However, he says having stellar manners has less to do with proper etiquette and more to do with sincerity.
"Manners are really about making other people feel comfortable."
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