Everything people do isn't entirely about status, or we couldn't survive.

I agree.

Yet, almost every human interaction has this... uhm... parallel communication channel where status is communicated and transferred. If you ignore it for a while, unless you make a big blunder, nothing serious happens. But in long term the changes accumulate, and at some moment it will bite you. (Happened to me a few times, then I started paying more attention. Probably still less attention than would be optimal.)

Also, some people care about status less (this probably correlates with the autistic spectrum), but some people care more. Sometimes you have to interact with the latter, and the result of the interaction may depend on your status.

I prefer environments where I don't have to care about status fights, but they are merely "bubbles" in the large social context.