Dan isn’t a germaphobe exactly, but… well, maybe he kind of is. Airports are places where germs from all over the world get to meet and infect people in new and exciting ways. At the Enterprise car rental counter, the agent behind the desk would shake hands with every person in line, and this made him uncomfortable. He avoided the handshake, but wondered what other people would do.

I was recently on a trip to Seattle where I picked Enterprise for my car rental.

While in the checkin line, my girlfriend and I noticed that each rep would walk around the counter to personally meet and greet each person from the line, extending a handshake and taking them back to the counter.

For me personally, airports and airplanes are places where hands should be washed frequently, so when it was my turn to get checked in, I had to awkwardly decline the hand shake.

Thinking about it later, it was not just the health concerns that I might personally have about airports and airplanes, but also that I prefer to shake hands with people I am familiar with or already trust.

Here we are not family, friends or being introduced by a mutual friend. I just want to check in, get my keys and be on my way. Smiles, chit chat is great, but a handshake extended for both myself and my girlfriend in front of the whole line just felt awkward.

I would be interested to see why the Consumerist community thinks.

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