How Are You?

Is there a more over-used phrase? I'm starting to doubt it. It always bugged me when I worked at Chick-fil-A. A customer would ask me how I was and by the time I answered they were looking at the menu figuring out what they wanted to eat. *sigh*

It bothers me at church too. (Although I'm guilty of this, so I can't be too harsh.) People walk by and as I'm rushing by and they're rushing by, the following exchange occurs. "Hi, how are you?" "Good, how are you?" "Good!" And by the time the last "good" is uttered, we're usually at opposite ends of the hall.

I know, it's a reflex. It's a way of being polite. But to me, it's not polite. It's rude. Because you're being false. You don't *really* care. Or maybe you do but for some reason you just can't take the time to stop and really ask. So wait until you *do* have time. Because a lot of the time when I answer "good", what I really mean is "ok", "not so good", "eh" or "LIFE SUCKS!" :-D

And like I said before, I'm guilty of this too. Especially with those people who you're not really good friends with but you see often enough that you kinda should care. But I'm working on not asking unless I really want to listen. Otherwise, I'm just a hypocrite!

So, how are you? ;-)