Most people who hear this question are annoyed. Why? Of course, not because they don’t know at all how to answer. To the question: “What are you doing?” - there will always be some kind of answer, but not that confuses. Whatever you do at this moment, someone else's curiosity is taken by surprise. What should a well-educated person do? Give a detailed report, laugh it off or coolly hint, they say, does this concern anyone?
Why are they asking him?
Before we learn how to answer the question “what are you doing”, we will think about why people ask it. If this is a telephone conversation, the interlocutor may be interested in what you are currently doing in order to find out whether it’s convenient to talk now, how much time you can devote to him, etc. Then there is no difficulty how to answer the question “what doing it. " You can share with a person what you are really doing at the moment: you read, watch a movie, surf the Internet or just sit back. Or say, they say, at the moment very busy and can not talk. And if the call is long-awaited - you can safely say: look forward to it.
However, in most cases, this issue does not carry much meaning and is only a way to start a conversation. The English, for example, have the phrase: "How are you?" ("How are you?") - means a greeting and does not imply any explanation. If you suddenly begin to describe in detail to the person you are talking about, you are most likely to cut you short, as he had no intention of listening to a lengthy confession. How to answer the question "what are you doing" in this case?
Beat back
The most popular answer: “Nothing special. And you?" And then the interlocutor either escapes with a couple of insignificant phrases and proceeds to that main thing, for which, in fact, he started a dialogue, or begins to thoroughly talk about his affairs. Maybe he called (wrote in a chat) just to speak out, pour out his soul?
Apply the irony
Answer number two according to the frequency of use: “I’m talking with you”, or: “You won’t believe it, but I’m sitting on VKontakte” (or in another social network where this question was asked). This is enough to support the dialogue. At the same time, you can hint that you are not a fan of formal issues. And absolutely for sure - this person will never ask such a question again if you answer that you keep statistics on how many people asked you “what are you doing” and “how are you” per day.
Laughter is the best medicine
The third common answer to the question: “What are you doing?” - a joke. She can be neutral, kind, or somewhat offensive. You can say to an interlocutor who understands humor that you save the world, hunt wild cockroaches in the kitchen, grow your hair, think about the meaning of life, etc. You can laugh it off like this: “I think how to rob a jewelry store. Are you with me?"
Make it clear that you don’t want to discuss it
The fourth way to discourage asking tactless questions is a counter-question: “Why are you asking?”; “Why do you need this information, how will you use it?” After such a persistent interrogation, the turn will come to embarrass the interlocutor.
The fifth option is to ignore an uncomfortable question. If it sounded right after the greeting, then just greet back. If you have already said hello, and the other person asks about business, you can safely transfer the conversation to another direction - share news, inquire about the specific details of the life of the interlocutor, and so on.
Review number six - to evaluate the "originality" of the question: "Great question! Ask again how to save the world! ”
The seventh option is to demonstrate a violent emotional reaction in response. You can imitate shock, shock: “I can’t believe that you are asking me this!”
