[jacquesm]

Interesting: so this is one of those things where my ESL background is shining through. I'm sure if I introspect on Dutch I'll find equivalents that I might be using myself which when literally translated to English would upset an English or American counterpart in the same way. Never thought of this. And I didn't know the term Phatic Expression.

Thank you for posting this and the video link.

[smodo]

There is a perfect equivalent in ‘hoe is het?’ or ‘alles goed?’ Those are mostly used as a syn/ack-phrase so to speak.

[gattilorenz]

“Graag gedaan” (“you’re welcome”, “my pleasure”, but more lit. “I did it with pleasure”) can be dropped quite casually, right?

[jacquesm]

Yes, but it actually does have meaning, and it is appreciated for that meaning rather than ignored.

Conversely:Americans probably think I'm rude because I don't first ask them how they are but start the actual conversation without pre-amble.

[lotsofpulp]

I would find it normal if you started a conversation after a simple “hi” or “hello”, and I think many other Americans would agree.

[gattilorenz]

“How are you doing?” also has a meaning, and sometimes is used in “the deeper sense”, i.e. the literal one.

Graag gedaan is also something you say to be polite, not only when it really was your pleasure to do it, so it could qualify as a phatic expression - I don’t think anyone on the other side thinks “oh well, that person surely cares about me: it’s a pleasure doing something for me!”.