You never know the sorrow.

[gerrerd]

That,s behind the mask.

[primrose81]

True, the automatic reply to « How are you? » is « I’m/we are fine, thank you » when we are anything but. People use it as a meaningless greeting like hi, not as a question. I always pause or hesitate before I answer if I am feeling dodgy, and if that doesn’t drop a hint, I usually say « Not great today » and then will elaborate if they are not too much in a rush/wouldn’t understand anyway etc

[gerrerd in reply to primrose81]

People rush around on auto pilot now adays.

[Agora1 in reply to gerrerd]

Isn't that true. We're like robots, showing no emotion. xx