It's odd but I don't find it polite. It's akin to calling someone on the phone and when they say "Hello", responding with "Hey cptskippy, let me put you on hol

It's odd but I don't find it polite. It's akin to calling someone on the phone and when they say "Hello", responding with "Hey cptskippy, let me put you on hold real quick." If you say "<small chat> <actual question>", I'm perfectly capable of responding "<small chat> <actual question || delaying response>". There's no need to decouple the questions and making one contingent on receiving a response from the preceding question. The downside to slamming a person with multiple questions is obviously aligning their responses to the questions asked. So there's obviously some thought that must go into formulating your questions. But I don't see any issue with opening your line of communication with small chat and your actual question as the responses would be easily distinguished.