Ask “How are you, really?” and then leave room. A lot of people only answer the second time.

The first answer is a reflex, worn smooth by a thousand hallway exchanges, and it is less a lie than a polite decline. Asking again signals that you have time and that the real answer will not be a burden to you. What tends to follow the silence is whatever they have been carrying all week. Most people are not hiding, they are waiting to be asked as though it counts.

Pick one person today, ask twice, then stop talking. Do not fill the gap with your own story or a fix. If they would rather not, let that be fine as well.