hellohowareyou?

I've gotta rant for a moment. It's gotten to be so annoying to me lately how people say "Hi, how are you?" without it really meaning anything. It's just a generic greeting without people really caring. Some don't even wait for a response to their question. It's like a "Hihowareyou?Fine.Houwareyou?Fine" and that's the "conversation." Do people really care how anyone is anymore? How do you know if you answer anything other than "Fine" that it's socially acceptable?

Say for instance I'm asked by a co-worker, "How are you?" and I respond with, "oh, well things are actually not going too well. I've got this awful stomach thing and I've had to really watch what I eat" What if they give me a look and politely say, "Oh, I'm sorry" but really think, "Whoa! Waaaay too much information! I didn't really want to know how she was. I was just being polite."

I guess it's their problem since they asked. But often I don't want to tell people how I really am. I feel like it's too much information sometimes. So why do we even ask if none of us care?

My friend Carrie once told me that she really did care how I was doing so I tried to break myself of the habit of the automatic response. Sometimes it takes someone to say they really care just to make it okay to say how you really are.