Skip the kind gestures and polite itchy ego scratching.
"How's it going?"
"Good, how about you?"
"No complaints here?"
The truth is too heavy and time consuming to hear. It might be something like:
"How's it going?"
"******, but its still early. Usually the day ***** less as it progresses."
"Decent, but the jury's still out. No what I'm sayin'. I reach a positive peak of enjoyment during the last hour of work. By the time work ends I begin the descent to a feeling of unfounded dread."
Who wants to hear that **** though?
I do.