Interesting verbal tic...

...of a (cool) (late 20s) cook from (Laos) at the one (Thai) restaurant where I work now --

For real?

-- which he occasionally says as a pat default reaction whenever you tell him something, especially when you are in a conversation and something new and surprising is said.

. . .

(I wonder if he found an equivalent in English to something in Lao, or if it's just him.)