When I was fresh out of college and deciding what to do with the rest of my life, I worked front-desk in a business center. We had interesting clients who rented offices: Social workers and lawyers, mediators and therapists, and quite a few credit counselors. Much to my dismay, we even rented an office to an exterminator. There is nothing quite like answering the phone and listening to someone screech about the rats that hide behind their stoves.

It was a healthy mix of educated and eccentric people and it was an interesting place to work. The three years I spent there gave me a curious perspective on office etiquette.

I shook a lot of hands during these years. Trust me when I tell you it becomes tiresome stating your name and offering your hand (dousing it in Lysol afterwards) many times a day.  The lawyers had strong handshakes (the criminal lawyers had a hard time letting go); the mediators less so.

Therapists seem to smile more or, on a bad day, grimace while photocopying or drinking the awful coffee I had made.

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