"How are you?"

So, Saturday I have to stop by Walgreen's with Mad-girl to buy an over-priced Crayola Glow Board for her friend's b-day party.  At the check out, I ask the clerk how she was.  She literally responded, "Terrible."  I was taken aback and said "Okkkk...uh, so dealing with the public may not be your best option."  It is her job to make me feel delighted to be at Walgreen's, not awkward.  Apparently, she is not intelligent enough to know that being greeted by a stranger with "How are you?" demands a "I'm well, thank you; how are you?"  I was offended, because she did not even return the greeting and if she had I would not have said,  "Well, I was hungover most of Saturday, because I got blasted on Friday night and now I am f-ing pissed off that Collin is working and that I have to attend an insanely loud and crazy birthday party with over 20 five and six year-olds, that I had only RSVP'd to because I knew that I could send Collin.  I have a shit-ton of laundry to do and my cat, just got ran over on Friday and is being stored in the freezer at Madeira Veterinarian for about $35 a day thanks to my sweet, animal-loving neighbor who could not bear to see my already dead cat sit in the heat until I got home.  Other, than that, I am ok."

I have a lot of experience in food service and retail.  My initial career in the hospitality industry began in my teens.  I am going to guess that out of over 100 resumes, that McDonald's was most impressed with mine.  Oh, and strangely enough, my chemistry teacher's wife was the office manager!  We would grow to become great horse buddies, and then I would date him, eventually; but that is a whole other post, in itself.  Anyway, through dealing with the public, I would grow into a compassionate, caring, and polite person.  Even on the worst days, I would have never responded to "How are you?" with "Terrible."