verbal pet peeve of the day
I really hate it when people say, “Hi, how are you?” and then keep talking before you have a chance to answer.
Asking how a person is doing shouldn’t be perfunctory spoken boilerplate that you don’t think about. Say, “how are you?” and then listen for the answer.
In a brief conversation with someone you’ve never spoken to before, like calling a staffing agency to see how to apply to work with them, you won’t get a full and detailed answer, but pausing to listen will at least give the impression that you’re actually thinking about what you say.
December 6th, 2006 at 1:28 am
I too hate this! I also think it’s rude when you are walking toward someone and they say “Hi, how are you?” and continue walking without waiting to get a response!
Or how about this - when someone calls into your company, and without so much as announcing themself, say “Hi, how are you?” When this happens to me I think to myself, “I’m great thanks, but who the heck are you and what are you calling for?” When you’re calling into a company, I think you should say, hi (insert name of person who answered if they gave their name), this is (insert YOUR name), how are you doing today?” or something of that nature.
Off my soapbox
I’m glad someone else thinks that if you’re gonna ask someone how they are, it’s common courtesy to wait for a response 