Greetings and Pleasantries

We have all said them, but rarely do we mean them:

• "Nice to meet you"
• "Pleasure to see you"
• "My pleasure meeting you"
• "Good to meet ya"
• "My pleasure"

And on and on they go. Yesterday I met an older man who, upon meeting him, had a response to a 'pleasantry' that I had never heard before. It went something like this:

Me: Hi Bruce, how are ya?

Bruce: Hi Corina, good thanks. Corina this is my friend whatever his name is.

Me: Hi there, nice to meet you.

Random stranger: Thanks!

Further conversation ensued between Bruce and I and then...

Me: Alright, well it was nice to meet you.

Random stranger: Thanks!

THANKS??? THANKS??? Who says 'thanks'?

I have met a lot of people in my days on earth but not ONE has ever said "thanks" in reply to any of the aforementioned pleasantries. Either this guy really felt that my pleasantry was genuine and honest, or he is that checked out socially that he doesn't know that they are simply things that people say when meeting someone they will likely never see again.

What a doorknob.