How about stating the obvious?

Don't you love it when soemone throws you an open-ended question? Ever wonder where it may lead?

Here's the one that I'm talking about - the good old "Hey man, what's happening?"

Yeah, you're setting yourself up for disaster.

See, I'm a pretty practical kinda guy. The next time someone asks me, as I'm gettig off the elevator "What's going on?" I may just bust out "Well, as you may be aware there's political unrest in Pakistan, Chile just suffered a 7.7 magnitude earthquake, there was an oil spill in the Black Sea, and the New Zealand Rugby Football Union is reviewing their coaches." There, shove that one down your gullet.

But the best one is, the next time I'm taking a piss in the mens room and Jack says "Hey Frost, what's happening?", well hell, I may just call it like it is.

"Hey Jack, how are ya man? What's happening? Well, I'm urinating. How about yourself?"

Erg. Those questions make me cringe. Fingernails on a chalkboard, anyone?