Trust in your gut feeling and lose this creepy customer

Dear Miss Manners: I am a “onewoman band” with a small plant nursery business. A professional relationship has quickly turned icky, but turning away business isn’t a great option for me.

I had been working with this man for about a month when he showed up one day “just to talk” and get to know me. He probed for personal information. I let him know only professional information, but also dropped my husband’s name quite often, which he mirrored by saying how great his son is over and over.

I did tell him “This feels rather unprofessional,” and he exited soon after — but not until he tried to get me on a boat with him (I refused nicely), told me how much money he makes, what a great guy he is, that his wife is not nice and is dying of breast cancer, that he breeds dogs part-time, and other irrelevancies. So many red flags!

After a few days, I was still a bit unnerved with this odd behavior, and I did a public search. Come to find out, this man and his son are BOTH convicted sexual predators whose mutual victim was less than 16 years of age. Now I’m quite sick and my head is spinning.

I really need the business, but I don’t need the “ick factor.” My husband has signed me up for a gun permit (sigh) since I am often at the nursery till midnight or 1 a.m. watering and weeding.

Should I just act like I know nothing, while keeping this nasty, immoral human scum at arm’s length? Or should I break all professional ties with him?

Gentle Reader: Surely the damage your business — or safety — could suffer from being associated with a convicted criminal is greater than that of losing a client. Miss Manners hopes that you will consider this and break ties. And further emphasize your point by sticking to daylight and business hours.

Dear Miss Manners: Is it rude to clip your nails at your work desk?

I work in a cubicle and usually notice that my nails are getting longer while typing on a keyboard. I find it handy to just take care of them then and there.

Gentle Reader: Surely, your co-workers have lots of disgusting habits that they would like to take care of quickly and in public, but no one wants to see or hear them, either. Miss Manners recommends that rather than causing officewide resentment and an HR firestorm, you find a way to take care of your hygienic impulses in private.