Modern business vocabulary has shifted from "Dear Mr. LastName," to "Hi FirstName!". This shift happened first in more "trendy" places, although most everyone has already moved on to using informal language in customer relations.
I do agree with your point about banality of evil.
Ha - you’re right. I suppose I object to "Hi $FirstName!" becoming the standard in professional communication. Often there’s nothing exciting that follows that exclamation mark, and the comma has been the standard so far.
I do agree with your point about banality of evil.