Yesterday I had a phone call from a friend. It started with: "Hi, how are you?" My answer: "Fine, thank you, and how are you?"
After having posed the question I went and listened to the news my friend had called to tell me about; threw in some questions, and some ahs and ohs.
After a while my friend asked: "And how are the kids?" I didn't even get halfway through my first sentence when I was interrupted, and the conversation went back to her topic. So clearly she was not interested at all in my answer. (How silly of me to think otherwise...)
Why ask if you don't really want to know?
You might think it's polite, which it would be if you listened to my response.
As it stands I just find it rude. It's just another rhetorical question, and I guess I was expected to say: "Great, thank you".
In this fast-paced world, are we going from caring and engaged individuals to shallow, superficial and self-serving creatures?
I can't speak for anybody else, but I'll be sure to watch myself next time I pose the question: "How are you?"
I used to laugh at a radio host who was irked by that question. Imagine hosting a radio show and having callers ask you that stupid question all day long. They would ask "How are you?" and his response would be, "Do you care?". Most were taken aback, some would say 'no' and some would say 'yes' and he'd answer them.
ReplyDeleteIt's a silly habit.