On people who are professors.

The other week, I had a *horrendous* session with a dementia patient, where they didn't recognize me and projected a malevolent explanation onto me, that I was trying to nose into their room and steal their stuff.

Because of that, they fled the room a lot, and I had to accompany them, since they couldn't be alone.

A few times they clicked out of it and went back to normal, and a few times the residential home staff came and intervened a few times, and a new person together with us created a new and interrupting dynamic that was very helpful and also managed to usually click my client back to a more normal state of perception.

When my client was distracted, too, once a residential home person apologized sympathetically, and was like, "I'm so sorry, this happens."

At that, I was like, "Oh no, it's not a problem for me, I'm just worried for [my client's name], she's so upset."

And, that was the truth, since I wasn't stressed out at all, and I'm serious about that; I simply was completely calm, with absolutely no stress.

Later, I told this story to a woman I did my master's with, who went on for a second master's and now does editing work, for which she often has to work with academics.

"Once you've dealt with academics," she was like, "Dealing with everyone else is easy."

She then observed that academics were very much self-centered babies, and you had to coddle them no matter what they did, like when they write you and tell you they missed their deadlines because they were busy in France.

I really do think that she's right!

I've since mentioned that to a few people, including my home client care company supervisor, and everyone's laughed, and someone with a university library job said she's heard people say that before, too.

I mentioned that to my parents, and they found that observation fascinating.

Really, it's telling, I'd rather deal with a paranoid dementia client, than many tenured professors who are supposedly of right mind.