Quote Originally Posted by Galuf View Post
hope this aint too old to say but... i found out that being nice can hurt other people. it can make them remember stuff they wish not to remember, so that breaks my most basic greeting of asking how people are. this is a tough problem because now im at a loss of what i should do. should i ignore how they are? i dont think so. i dunno. maybe ill know when im less nervous.
Saying "how are you doing?" does not make you responsible for how that person is actually doing. They would be having a bad day whether you asked or not. It is simply a common courtesy and not something you should be worrying about asking people. Most times if people do divulge that they are having a bad time then they usually are opening themselves up to speak about it, or at least receive a follow up question. If after that they say "I'd rather not talk about it" then the you simply drop it and go on with another conversation.