I think that some cats indeed just don't take to certain people. My girl Indy is fine with Alex--always comes and rubs all over him when he comes over.

My mom has the same problem with the neighbors' cat Princess Leia. When they're out of town, she feeds the cat, and this cat has it out for her. My mom's never been anything but kind to Princess, and Princess hates her. She tries to bit her when she's feeding her, and one time she managed to sink her teeth deep into my mom's ankle. It ended up getting infected, and the doctor put Mom on antibiotics. Unfortunately, she found out she was allergic to penicillin, and got really sick. The cat loves the mom of the family, is great with the kids, and is more-or-less indifferent to the dad. Who knows? All we can do is be as kind as we can to the furry ones, whether they hiss at us or not.
--M