my answers are becoming more brutally honest (which is great!).
I wish I could be a little bird nearby listening to your responses. I like how you cut it off and got to the point, then see ya, with "have a great day". If Australia gets any more like Canada, I'm going to feel like I'm living there, not here, minus all those wonderful birds.
Yesterday, I tried out two new responses. First situation (office in my building), two people, asking me how I am. I ignored both questions and focused on the reason I was there. They let it go. After that, I had the thought that I can simply get away with ignoring this question.
Second situation was a different shop I frequent. That time, I preempted the question by striking first with "How are you?" Shop keeper answered me, then asked me a couple times quickly "How are you? How are you?", which I directed into commenting on the weather (#1 Canadian safe topic), smoothly surpassing the question. With that exchange, I realized I'm just talking to a robot on repeat, wanting the "correct" input, before it can perform the next calculation.
I was more satisfied with the outcome from the first situation. Frankly, I don't even want to waste energy verbalizing anything. It's at that point. Last year, a friend said this to me..."Talk is silver, silence is gold." I see a great deal of value in silence, now more than ever before.