How are you?

I just don't want to be polite anymore. It's exhausting and often nonreciprocal anyway, so why bother? If one more person asks me how I am, that complete indifference dripping from every word being uttered, I'm going to punch them, followed by a cheerful reply of 'Much better now, thanks'.
The other day I tested the futility of these empty pleasantries. A cashier at a supermarket check-out dared to enquire about my well being, again, with no real interest in my state of mind (or her job). 'I'm actually not so well at the moment. I just lost my job. My girlfriend is leaving me and I have scabies. Oh, I forgot to mention, my dad is serving a time in jail and I have halitosis. But thanks for asking, love, it means a lot'. A reply like this would/should be met with genuine concern, be it perfunctory. But my new found cashier friend didn't so much as bat an eyelid or even take her enquiry any further (Damn. And here I was thinking we could become firm confidantes). You want to know why? She couldn't give a flying hoot about how I am, just like I couldn't care about her. All I want is to get away from the supermarket, her and the possibilty of others wanting to fake probing into the inner-depths of my life. So why ask? It's an ice-breaker, an opener to thawing out that iceberg between customers and service provider so as to ensure a smooth transaction. That's the only reasoning I can think of.
But this pointless social gesture extends to all human interactions. Work colleagues will ask day after day how you are. I was fine the previous day you asked the very same thing and the thousand weeks before that. They may choose colloquial derivatives to appear as if they are matey with you. Words and phrases are created like hiya, how you doing? Howzit? And my favourite, What's up? or Wazzup? (you can choose how many Z's you want to add depending on how super-cool, awesome you think you are). A recent survey (Oh, how I love surveys) conducted in the UK revealed common conversational pleasantries like 'Thank you' are dying out and being replaced by words like 'Ta' or 'Cheers'. How how I wish 'How are you?' could be substituted with more the more honest 'I don't know you and therefore don't care about how you are. So let's just get on with whatever we intend doing'. Short, sharp, maybe a bit rude, but it gets the day moving on and allows us to avoid the bullsh*t of human dynamics.
Some people do seem to care... briefly. With a seemingly genuine tone of concern they'll employ those three words (How are you? Not, I love you) in conversation thinking they are doing their civil duty and are being good humans (If there is such a thing). The danger here is, the person being addressed could just pounce on this enquiry with a verbal thesis on their lives, thinking you actually give a damn. This should/could be met with your eyes rolling back into your head, a frothing mouth full of foam and terrifying facial tics. That should secure a quick escape from these mind-numbing, unnecessary moments.