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Once I had an interview at a company for a job with the boss.

Everything was great but there was only one thing that made me choose an other company for a nearly identical offer : the man kept picking his nose during a big part of the interview.

It wouldn't be such a problem if courtesy didn't make handshake a part of greetings.

If I encounter such situation again I'd like to politely express and explain my bother to him. But it is even possible?

If yes, what could a good approach for this be?

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  • I feel the answer is, it is not possible. (It's also fairly unlikely it will come up again? :) )
    – Fattie
    Commented Feb 5, 2019 at 15:54
  • @Fattie Sadly that's the answer I was fearing yet expecting. However It's likely to happen again : I might get interviewed for this job again nearly one year after.
    – coucou
    Commented Feb 5, 2019 at 15:59
  • You get another job, awesome! Now let it go.
    – tweray
    Commented Feb 5, 2019 at 16:38
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    The polite thing to do when someone makes a faux pas is to ignore it. anything else is boorish.
    – Old_Lamplighter
    Commented Feb 5, 2019 at 16:57
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    Either shake his hand and then go wash up discreetly, or use one of these strategies: interpersonal.stackexchange.com/questions/8377/…
    – Meg
    Commented Feb 5, 2019 at 18:19

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If I encounter such situation again I'd like to politely express and explain my bother to him. But it is even possible?

No.

You might be able to avoid shaking hands by gesturing with some other kind of greeting (though even that could be taken as a bit odd), but you're not going to find a polite way of saying "I'm not shaking your hand because you've been picking your nose."

In practice, hold your tongue, shake the guys hand as you would any other, and if it bothers you that much, ask them to point you to the bathroom straight afterwards.

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