The shaking of hands

One of the first questions I like to ask my business English students is, whose hand do you shake first? They always reply, the woman's. This, my German readers, will get you in trouble. My parents came to Germany to visit me and meet my boyfriends parents. My father stuck out his hand to greet his father and in return his father refused my fathers hand and went to greet my mother. My father was totally offended until I explained to him this custom of greeting ladies first. It is considered a major offense with Americans to refuse someones hand in a greeting. There is no greeting hierarchy, its first come first serve