mystereys's Journal: Hey, How're ya doing?

Does anyone else find it annoying that "what's going on?" or "how are you doing?" have become synonymous with "hello"? For example, when I'm walking down the hall at work, and I pass someone I know, I'll say hi and the person might say "how are you?" Sometimes, I repsond with "okay, and yourself?" But, sometimes, I get the feeling that they don't really want to hear an answer or start a conversation. So then, why ask the question?

Bleh.

Common issue

[Oculus Habent]

There is no response to this casual use other than a quick affirmative or dismissive humor:

How's it going?
Round and round...

I have a half-dozen of these a day at work, most of them are while the two of us are walking in different directions. There's no time for a serious statement. It's almost like perverse formality - we must take a greater interest in the lives and feelings of others so we make a hollow inquiry with the expectation of an insignificant response.

An anecdote for you:
Some years ago, my f

Plan for you

[Oculus Habent]

A friend of mine in high school went through a week or two saying "Dumptruck" instead of hello. There were several iterations of this.

His point was that greetings are mostly irrelevant; people don't really care how you greet them as long as it's not rude, and the "pleasantries" of "How are you?" and others are worthless.

It's not something that you can always do, but maybe sometimes...