'Round where I’m at (college campus,) it’s common for answers to be like “stressed” or “tired” or “…I’m alive.”

I appreciate the honesty, and I want to be there to listen. I like encouraging people to be honest, so I used to respond to the dismissive “good” answers with “how are you really doing?” But there’s also something to be said against encouraging people to look at the negative, because in the same situation, perspective can make a huge difference.

I’ve been through (some of) the worst of it, and I was able to get through it, but I don’t know how much of a toll it would have taken if I was actively stressing myself out over how busy I was. The highlights of my weeks really helped.

I absolutely hate small talk.

I’ve pissed more than one person off by responding with “Are you actually interested, or is it just a pleasantry?” and when they look awkwardly around and more or less say “just a pleasantry”, I respond with “The don’t ask questions unless you want an answer.” and left it at that.

9 times out of 10 my day is shit. Just tell me what you want and get out of my way. Small talk is for people who have properly functioning brains.