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I know what you mean. I once worked at a Berlin games company with many international and US colleagues. Even after three years, I still couldn't figure out why even people I barely knew greeted me with an enthusiastic "Hey [Name]! How are you?". It always felt like a very awkward handshake.

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The first time that happened to me I went on a small rant about some minor health issues and the state of the world in general and that settled the conversation with an overseas colleague.

It was later that I found out that "how are you" is a perfectly valid answer to "how are you" and it still boggles my mind 20 years later.

Haha, I had that same epiphany, also too late.

"how are you? No no, stop, I don't care"

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