Responding to Standard Greetings
On a slightly humorous (but true) note, this is something I struggle with every day. How does one respond to normal greetings such as "How's it going?" It triggers a rush of thoughts in my mind... does this person really want to know or are they just saying something to be polite? Do I answer truthfully or should I basically lie and say "Great! Couldn't be better!"? This may be more of an INTJ personality type topic (more on that in other posts) but I suspect other introverts have the same thought process that hinders them until it is almost too late to answer as someone is walking by. I imagine extroverts must think I'm totally weird and rude as I struggle to process all of the thoughts to this seemingly simple question and utter something that is "socially acceptable" for the time and place.http://intjforum.com/showthread.php?t=78690
A simple "not well" is sufficient. If they really care, they have several alternatives:
ReplyDelete1) Ignore and move on, because they already knew that.
2) Ask if there's anything they can do to help.
3) Pretend you said "well".
4) Ask "why?", to which you'll probably have to answer "I don't want to talk about it."
Vague smile and "Ummmm. . . " does me quite well.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm feeling witty I occasionally murmur, "More than somewhat. . "