Sometimes faking it is the path of least resistance
If I come to your work place, I'll stare at the ground and reply with "that's cool man" no more no less
Discussion
Lmao. I don't feel like faking it. And the real answer to how I'm doing is much more complex than a simple good or bad or whatever. I dunno. This is generally why I'm in the back of the house, but unfortunately our kitchen is just exposed enough to where people will poke in at the kitchen and like say "Oh hello there's the cook!"
Important to remember they don't care what you feel. Its a exercise of small talk. Goal is get them to shut up asap and move on with day politely.
Personally, I would struggle a lot too with people wanting me to act fake happy so I understand.
Don't fake it. Life's too damn short.
Optimize the decision pathway to maximize your happiness while retaining the job till its no longer necessary. That can be in multiple ways.
Outside the practical mechanics of the interaction, you should be allowed to say fine cuz who gives a fuck honestly.
Lol true. Conversely, I'd be much more excited to talk to a Bitcoiner someone from Nostr if they came into my workplace than some rando yuppie.