"Hi, how are you?": polite or boring?

[madkathy]

What did you guys think of the CWTTAB last week where the guys asked listeners to quit saying "How's it going?" (or any variation) when they are introduced on air? Was it rude and pompous for them to bring it up? Or do you, too, hate when the momentum of the show is interrupted?

[breadboy09]

I think the guys were right on. People call, supposedly, to contribute to the show, not to find out how the hosts are doing. They generally talk about how they are doing in the first segment, or in the CWTTAB segment. It's like in the classroom when a student asks a question that was already explicitly answered by the teacher. It is unnecessary, ruins the flow, and often upsets many other people.

[chadillac]

It's a conditioned response. If you see a friend in the store or at work, and you say Hi, and they say, "Hi, how are you", you wouldn't just walk away because get didn't get to the point in a half second.

[jaimeinnashville]

boring! this show is a politeness/etiquette free zone!

[hotzester]

It's just something you say. No one expects you to genuinely care. Most of the time it's just how they start a sentence.

That said, there's a world of difference between the guy who starts his call with "How's it goin?" and moves on, and the guy who says "What's up?" and just sits there waiting to be told to go ahead with their point.

Burden of conversation...

[dudeshadoway]

I like it when someone says "How's it going?", because usually one of them will say "Good" and one will say "Not bad" at the same time so it comes out as "Not good".

[The Biff Lebowski]

A pet peeve of mine is when someone replies with "not too bad". That indicates to me that there is a strong degree of bad going on.

[Zig]

They were totally in the right and they knew it. I want them to go through with what they joked about doing, where they'd actually go into a detailed and boring appraisal of every aspect of how exactly they are doing at that moment to punish people for asking. There's nothing pompous about wanting to streamline the show, and everyone would get used to it and adapt sooner that you'd think.

I also wish they had quicker hang-up fingers in general. Noisy phones and boring calls kill the show unless you kill them first. It's kill or be killed, and the hang-up button is their weapon.

[billyj]

I can't believe it took that long for them to start doing this. And why can't listener's figure out how to talk on the air? Although the guys should come up with something distinct to the show (like kaboobie) that sidesteps the whole issue.

[madkathy]

i wish callers would figure it out and get to the point... but i don't know if there's any way that the guys could enforce this without pissing off a bunch of casual listeners. every segment would turn into stump the show. "hi, how are you?" "good, and thanks for listening" *click*

[mermantiger]

I'm with the guys for sure. It bugs the piss out of me when people take forever to spit it out. And actually, now that I think about it, most of the people that stall at the beginning usually have nothing good to say anyways.