(no subject)

I have mostly distilled down my interactions with my least favorite patron to an impersonal 30 seconds or so - grabbing his holds as soon as he enters, quick polite greeting, no eye contact, checking out his items and telling him the due date, quick polite farewell. I try not to give him any opening for conversation or any cause for complaint. Other, newer staff who don't have a history with him chat more; I don't feel required to.

Unfortunately, today he had an actual question to ask rather than just picking up holds, which meant a longer conversation. This gave him an opening to use his favorite repeated piece of condescension: calling me a "gentlefemme and scholaress". He has done this periodically for years, it has always been awful. The worst part is that he says it like it's a compliment, so I have to make polite "thank you" noises when he does it.

He's such a slimy, odious person. I try terribly hard not to wish other people ill (mostly because it's not good for me) but god, he makes it hard.