of Expectations and the Delimma of Personal Exchange

Walking into Tom Thumb and, before anything else, I approached the cart collector walking out for a round of baskets. Before our shoulders passed, our eyes met, and stuck, and he asked me, "What do you say?"
I said, "I'm, alright?"
I then wondered, What'd he ask? Following, I said what? and, Did I ask, You alright?
As the backs of our heads walked further from each other, I realized he had not asked me, "How are you?"
All he said was, "What do you say?"