Young and Old Waiters Attitudes Toward the Old Client

As one grows old and death draws near, one becomes more and more painfully aware of the meaninglessness, the nothingness-nada-of life, this is what the old waiter realizes and comprehends due to his old age. Because of this fact, he sympathizes the old customer’s feelings in particular and other elder customers who come at night to the café looking for clean and well-lighted place in which to destroy the darkness which means loneliness, despair and nothingness for them. So that, he likes to stay late at café to serve such clients because he knows that he may one day be just like the old man—unwanted, alone, and in despair. Ultimately, the old waiter is reluctant to close the café as much for the old clients’ sake as for his own because someday he’ll need someone to keep a café open late for him. This reflects his understanding on a deep level why he and the old client are both reluctant to go home at night. He tries to explain it to the young waiter by saying, “He stays up because he likes it,” but the young waiter dismisses this and says that the old man is lonely. The young waiter was so brash, harsh and insensitive, the young waiter can’t see beyond himself. He readily admits that he isn’t lonely and is eager to return home where his wife is waiting for him. He doesn’t seem to care that others can’t say the same and doesn’t recognize that the café is a refuge for those who are lonely. The young waiter is immature and says rude things to the old man because he wants to close the café early. He seems unaware that he won’t be young forever or that he may need a place to find solace later in life too. Unlike the old waiter, who thinks deeply about life and those who struggle to face it, the young waiter demonstrates a dismissive attitude toward human life in general. For example, he says the old man should have just gone ahead and killed himself and says that he “wouldn’t want to be that old.” He himself has reason to live, and his whole life is ahead of him. “You