Objects or people?

In Being and Nothingness, Jean-Paul Sartre discusses many bad faith scenarios. Bad faith is a “lie to oneself.” First, he explains the “waiter in the café.” We all have had that waiter that walks up to the table smiling and excited to greet you. We all know that person if not truly that excited to be at work or greet customers. Sartre says, “The waiter is acting as a waiter.” I had never thought about this before but after the discussion in class, I noticed it. It is like a waiter has two personalities. For example, when you see the waiter fixing your drink or entering your order in the computer he not excited and friendly until he has to act as a waiter towards people. Most people think that waiters do this in order to receive a tip but they are trained to act this way. I also noticed that the waiters normally have the same shirt, pants, shoes, and similar ways of performing certain tasks. The waiters are trained to do this because they have to. This is bad faith because he is not being what he is in the mode of being it. The waiter is “fleeing one’s responsibility.” Therefore, they chose to do the job or take responsibility for it. If we look around the restaurant we often notice that the space is perfect. They all seat people a certain way, take orders a certain way, place the food on the table a certain way, and clean the table a certain way. It is almost as if nothing could possibly mess up their route.  However, people used to be classified as a “waiter in a café.” This expression meant that a person was acting as an object in the world rather than a person. After noticing this behavior, I realized that many people in several occupations act as objects in the world.