Every clerk at the store asks me, "how are you"? (kid, college)

[Aptor hours]

Originally Posted by nitokenshi

That is one thing that annoys the sh*t out of me in this country. The constant "may I help you" in stores and everyones "how are you". If I needed help I would ask and just say hello you don't need to know how I am get out of my business and go F yourself.

Why would you even consider saying this?

[Aptor hours]

Originally Posted by nitokenshi

Well, I had explosive diarrhea from some bad chicken and rice that I ate. So not so good.

Immodium AD would help and plenty of fluids...I get questions like that all day only way more descriptive. Not much phases me like that it livens up the day. The only thing that is strange is when somebody is pissed off if I ask them how they are We can actually HELP YOU haha!

[JeepGirl118]

Bah, who cares. . . I'll even say to the cashier at the grocery store or wherever, "Hi! How are you?" with a genuine smile - just for the simple fact that something so 'little' could really turn someone's day around. What if that person is having not only a bad day, but is in a situation at home or what not where they feel unloved and unappreciated. Maybe your "Hi, how are you" is the only part of the day where they felt someone actually gave a hoot and that they matter - leaving them feeling acknowledged. It's how you make a person feel even though they may forget the words you said. Some of the best things in life are without reason. Offer a damn smile and utter something back in kindness - it only takes a couple of muscles. You think it's easy for someone standing there HAVING to be nice when THEY may be having a bad day, oodles on their mind - stressing over their children or their husband/wife, or maybe they just found out they have a terminal illness, etc. - and REALLY want to tell you to shove it as you walk through the door but can't because they need the money/insurance? They are human too and have to swallow things. Deal with it. It's a gesture. Geesh.

[Weekend Traveler]

To me, asking the same question to everyone like a robot without really wanting to know the answer is very rude. How about just a smile or a simple hello.

Another of my pet peeves is when I approach someone in the office and say hello and they say, "what can I do for you?" Translation: "what in the XXX do you want!"

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by Weekend Traveler

To me, asking the same question to everyone like a robot without really wanting to know the answer is very rude. How about just a smile or a simple hello.

Another of my pet peeves is when I approach someone in the office and say hello and they say, "what can I do for you?" Translation: "what in the XXX do you want!"

Well, aren't you the same person who starts threads such as "How can a genius interact effectively with an average person?"

Let's start with the basics. Unless one is the social equivalent of a Thalidomide child or just has scads of free time to dither about this kind of nonsense, one recognizes that those little civilities make the day more pleasant. That's their sole purpose and really don't need analysis. They are what they are.

I mean, when you walk into your office, do you greet your co-workers with "Good morning?" If you do, what if you had a bad morning? What if you had a wardrobe malfunction, fought an unusual amount of traffic, or burned your toast? Is it still a good morning? Isn't saying 'Good morning' to others under those circumstances kind of robotic and meaningless, too? And if you only have a mediocre morning, doesn't that really make you a hypocrite for having said it? Under those conditions, shouldn't you be saying, "Bad morning" to them as kind of a warning?

Essentially what's bothering you here, then, isn't the content of how people choose to greet you, for 'Good morning' can be just as meaningless and disconnected from the speaker's attitude at the moment as 'How are you?' Instead what you're really doing is saying that you prefer one form of greeting over another for totally arbitrary reasons and then attaching a stigma to the person who is simply trying to be polite. And that's kind of petty if you ask me. Actually, not even kind of petty.

Second, since you're the person who starts all these threads that center around the theme of how difficult it is to interact with others, maybe, just maybe you can start by not scrutinizing every single thing people say as if it were a drop of pond water under a microscope. Ascribe good intentions to the other person and move on. Once you adopt that kind of approach, you'll be surprised how much easier life gets, and how much easier people are to deal with.

[bmwguydc]

I agree that it's merely a polite greeting used in the modern world to say "How are you?" It doesn't bother me at all, and I cannot fathom the vehement anger people have over an innocuous question.

And, I do not buy the argument that "May I help you?" is solely designed to deter shoplifters, since many stores ask it the moment you arrive, not only if one acts suspiciously. But, the real problem here is that people do not seize upon this opportunity to get the clerk, or even the manager, to do all the work for you when you need to find something particular.

Most stores realize that a modicum of customer service is required to keep a customer happy, and many seem to have had training lately whereby they ask if you require assistance. It's not to be nosy or to invade your privacy or whatever else people think is a sinister ulterior motive. It's merely a way to bridge a gap between store and customer in an efficient format, letting the customer know that the store is there to serve their needs.

Now, I don't doubt that it can also be used to control the criminal elements who invade the store for nefarious purposes while they are acting suspiciously, but the delivery will be quite different than the smiling associate or manager who asks the same question.

Oh, and I don't know if it's just me, but I get stock associates on the floor at the grocery store or Target who will also give a greeting, and they are clearly not interested in pushing merchandise. Overall, I agree that if someone cannot just chalk "How are you?" or "May I help you?" as being par for the course in the modern retail arena, then they need to look at why that evokes hostility in themselves, since it's a perfectly legitimate greeting.

Oh, and I guess we should have the people who ask "Did you find eveything today?" imprisoned for daring to ask if there was something that we could not find that they could potentially help one to have shipped to their home, and/or restocked/ordered by the store. The nerve!

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by bmwguydc

I agree that it's merely a polite greeting used in the modern world to say "How are you?" It doesn't bother me at all, and I cannot fathom the vehement anger people have over an innocuous question.

And, I do not buy the argument that "May I help you?" is solely designed to deter shoplifters, since many stores ask it the moment you arrive, not only if one acts suspiciously. But, the real problem here is that people do not seize upon this opportunity to get the clerk, or even the manager, to do all the work for you when you need to find something particular.

Most stores realize that a modicum of customer service is required to keep a customer happy, and many seem to have had training lately whereby they ask if you require assistance. It's not to be nosy or to invade your privacy or whatever else people think is a sinister ulterior motive. It's merely a way to bridge a gap between store and customer in an efficient format, letting the customer know that the store is there to serve their needs.

Now, I don't doubt that it can also be used to control the criminal elements who invade the store for nefarious purposes while they are acting suspiciously, but the delivery will be quite different than the smiling associate or manager who asks the same question.

Oh, and I don't know if it's just me, but I get stock associates on the floor at the grocery store or Target who will also give a greeting, and they are clearly not interested in pushing merchandise. Overall, I agree that if someone cannot just chalk "How are you?" or "May I help you?" as being par for the course in the modern retail arena, then they need to look at why that evokes hostility in themselves, since it's a perfectly legitimate greeting.

Oh, and I guess we should have the people who ask "Did you find eveything today?" imprisoned for daring to ask if there was something that we could not find that they could potentially help one to have shipped to their home, and/or restocked/ordered by the store. The nerve!

Thank you for that. I just can't imagine people seething over something so trivial. They must have snakes in the head or something.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by bmwguydc

Overall, I agree that if someone cannot just chalk "How are you?" or "May I help you?" as being par for the course in the modern retail arena, then they need to look at why that evokes hostility in themselves, since it's a perfectly legitimate greeting.

greet·ing
n.
A word or gesture of welcome or salutation. (as in "hello," "hi," "good morning," etc.)

No way has a question been ever considered a greeting! I'm also not aware of any other culture using a question as a greeting.

If a question is used as a greeting, that's either inappropriate, dumb, and irritating or it's supposed to evoke an answer. As we all know, the answer is neither expected nor cared for, so the whole concept is simply hypocritical and annoying at the same time. Sometimes it's not even pronounced with the intonation of a question (which it is) and that makes it even more ridiculous. That's all.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by sierraAZ

greet·ing
n.
A word or gesture of welcome or salutation. (as in "hello," "hi," "good morning," etc.)

No way has a question been ever considered a greeting! I'm also not aware of any other culture using a question as a greeting.

If a question is used as a greeting, that's either inappropriate, dumb, and irritating or it's supposed to evoke an answer. As we all know, the answer is neither expected nor cared for, so the whole concept is simply hypocritical and annoying at the same time. Sometimes it's not even pronounced with the intonation of a question (which it is) and that makes it even more ridiculous. That's all.

Well, it's not ridiculous at all. In just about every part of the country, "How's it going?" or "How do you do?" or "How are you?" are perfectly legitimate greetings. In fact, "How do you do?" can be construed as somewhat formal in nature. What you're doing is trying to impose a single cultural norm. Heck, in Germany, people greet each other with "Wie gehts?" In Russian, there's a similar greeting, but I don't have the patience to type it out in Cyrillic letters.

[dave nz]

to the OP

What next ban Father Christmas?