Cats (usually) have a rather sophisticated strategy for dealing with a persistent unknown: they keep a certan distance away from it and then gradually decrease that distance as long as the unknown remains interesting or at least unthreatening.
So you have to give the cat time. How favorably or unfavorably it views you initially will be a function of its experience with humans in the past. Unfortunately, because of this, playing “good human” won’t help all that much. Just be patient, let the cat approach you on its own terms, and help reinforce the idea that humans may be big and loud and smell funny, but they’re good for some things (all you can ever expect in terms of feline approval).
Came to post this. I had a pet-sitting business and always did this with the cats. It seemes to be the equivalent of saying 'I am not a threat and I mean you no harm". Always worked for me.
In my experience, even if a cat hates a person, she can get used to them (in a “I’m going to stop and hiss at you instead of running away” sort of way), maybe even be in the same room as long as the person is sitting still quietly reading. The nicest stranger could be in the house, and poof- scaredy-cat is gone. So if you’re nice and patient and still like everyone else is saying, the cat may still take time to warm up.
I’d go with Acknowledge kitty, then ignore kitty. Turn around and act like you’re working on something REALLY COOL. Dig in the dirt or grass. Act busy.