How are YOU?

I overheard an interesting exchange yesterday when I was paying for purchases at the student store. It went like this:

Cashier - "Hey! How are you doing? What's new with you?"
Customer (whom she obviously knew) - "Oh, not much. How about yourself?"
Cashier - "Oh, I'm fine. And you?"
Customer - "Great. How are you doing?"
Cashier - "Uh...that'll be $6.98. Do you need a bag for that?"

I started laughing a bit. I wondered if they realized that they had each asked the other how they were doing twice and answered the other about how they were doing twice. And I realized that I do the same thing myself. How often do I ask someone how they're doing without listening to (...or maybe even caring) about the response? And how often do I just toss out "fine" as a response without really thinking about if I'm really fine at that moment? I think I want to make it a goal to listen to the answers of others when I ask how they're doing and answer honestly when asked. So test me out next time I see you.

Clarice