How are you?

Usually when I get assaulted with this question by someone in the halls at work, I feel like it is a formality whose answer neither one of us are really invested in. However, today, a cheery man practically yelled it to me from across the hall, and after I reflexively asked him the same back, he responded that he was “just great!” It seemed as if he had been waiting for someone to ask him that question so he could let loose his inexplicable cheer.