Mauling Social Norms

My father in law is one of my heroes for a very simple reason... which will be shared a little later. I would like to first bitch a little bit about small talk. Yes, the mindless banter that usually starts phone conversations and chance meetings when you have absolutely nothing else to say to the person you are talking to. Let me take you through a typical conversation between (we'll say) two acquaintances that happened upon each other in the park whilst walking their chihuahuas. Watch as they run the gamut of mindless small talk:

Phil: Hey Bob, what's up man?
Bob: Hey Phil, not much... What's up with you?
P: Not much man... (even though he sees that Bob is clearly walking his chihuahua, he still feels the need to ask this) Whatcha up to?
B: Oh, you know... (Obvi-fucking-ously) Walking my chihuahua. (Then, as if Phil's question wasn't stupid enough, Bob feels the need to ask) What're you doing?
P: Walking Sparky.
B: How have you been man? I haven't seen you since Rico's party last week.
P: I'm alright... it took me the whole next day to recover from that one though!
*Collective laugh because they obviously can relate*
*Followed by a collective sigh because they realize this is obviously a shallow friendship based on a couple of drunken nights out together and they have nothing better to talk about.*
(Now comes the real boring stuff)
B:(*Staring off into space because he has already checked out of this conversation*) Boy, do you believe this heat? (NOTE:If you have nothing better to talk about than the weather, keep walking, please!)
P: (*Catatonic because of the idiocy of the question*) No, man. It sure is a scorcher.
*Awkward silence for a solid minute*
P: Well, Sparky has to take a dump. I gotta get going! Take it easy Bob!
B: Good seeing you Phil.

How many useless conversations do you have just like that one on a daily basis?

Now, to my father in law:
The man is a genius when it comes to small talk. He has eliminated it all out of his daily encounters with people. When you get a phone call from him, this is usually how it goes:
*Phone rings*
You: Hello?
Web: What are you doing?
*Taken aback, you answer honestly*
You: Uhh... nothing. Sitting here watching TV.
Web: (Obviously bored by your response) Is my daughter there?
You: Yeah, you want to talk to her?
Web: (Gives you no response... the silence lets you think of the level of stupidity of the question you just asked him)
*Sheepishly, you hand the phone over to his daughter*

The first few times I talked to him on the phone, I thought he was rude. After some thought, though, I realized that he is just a guy who wants efficiency. He probably realizes that life is very precious and we should be doing more with our time than having mindless, meaningless conversations. I wish we could all be a little more like Web and not be a slave to stupid social norms.