If it wasn’t for certain experiences that I’ve had in the past, I’d say that death is the final end.

But I’m not so sure.

Using a salutation, and addressing someone by name is not a conspiracy to make people trust you. The things that you should care about are the banality of evil, and that no one believes that they've done anything wrong. I live in the Midwest and my job is to make low-impact CRUD applications for a small car insurance company. I would use the same salutation, because I have been taught that that is what I'm supposed to do. I wasn't coached in some session on how to trick people into thinking I'm their buddy - it just becomes part of the shared social vocabulary.