the look of weary expertise
There’s this look of weary expertise the House Staffers cultivate, then have to flex their face to get rid of when they’re off-duty. Gately’s gotten so stoic in the face of abuse that a resident has to mention actual unnatural acts in connection with his name for Gately to Log the abuse and give out a Restriction. He’s respected and well-liked by almost all the residents, which the House Manager says causes the veteran Staff some concern, because Gately’s job is not to be these people’s friend all the time.
Context
The craft of Staffing rendered as a learned face and a learned threshold: the weary blank expertise held on-shift and pried off after, the stoicism so deep that only named unnatural acts earn a Restriction. And the veterans' worry that Gately is too well-liked names the institution's hard paradox — the recovering addict who becomes Staff must be, to the newer addicts, precisely not the friend his whole grateful nature wants to be. Service here is a discipline against one's own warmth.