You Look Great!

Here is the dialogue from this week's 2nensei lesson in Sunshine:

Jim: Hi, Yuki.
Yuki: Hello, Jim
Jim: Yuki, you look great in that sweater.
Yuki: Oh, no ... not really.
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Yuki: Mike, can I ask a question?
Mike: Sure. What is it?
Yuki: Well, Jim always says nice things to me. Is he in love with me?
Mike: Oh, ... I don't know. Maybe he's just very polite.
Yuki: Do Americans always say nice things to each other?
Mike: Sometimes. It's a kind of greeting. Here, I'll give you an example.
When you have a new bag, I can say, “I like your bag.”
Yuki: What should I say then?
Mike: You should say, “Thanks.”
Yuki: Should I say anything else?
Mike: No. Just “Thanks.”

OK, is it just me, or is this dialogue WEIRD? First of all, is Yuki on crack? Secondly, this dialogue makes it sound as though Americans are so FAKE for greeting people with compliments they don't necessarily mean. I don't go around giving compliments as a way of greeting someone if I don't mean it. Do you?? What a nice impression of Americans we're instilling in our students. Seriously.