There are definitely markers of a person’s personality that can reveal if they’re either inherently good or bad. It’s always a good idea to gauge a person’s moral compass, whether you’re just looking to be friends or pursuing a romantic connection. But getting to the core of who someone truly is usually takes time, right?

In a TikTok video, a content creator and a philosophy Ph.D. Julian de Medeiros explained that there are definitely signs to look out for when interacting with someone that you may not know very well that can truly reveal a lot about their personality.

The way a person treats strangers reveals whether or not someone is a good person.

“Here’s a pretty good indicator that somebody is a bad person, and vice versa, how you can spot a good one,” de Medeiros began in his video. He explained that the behavior goes back to a rule from German poet, playwright, and novelist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who once wrote that you should never trust someone who is unkind to those who can do nothing for him.

De Medeiros claimed that what Goethe meant was simple yet extremely profound. Someone who is inherently a bad person is always rude and dismissive of strangers, from elderly people to children to service staff. Anybody that they’re not trying to impress doesn’t get the common courtesy of being kind.

“A good person carries grace within them and shares it freely with abundance. A good person treats other people as they would like to be treated as well. And it doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter what your status is, they will treat you and see you as their equal,” he continued.

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Someone who isn’t a good person generally treats others poorly unless they can benefit them in some way.

A bad person is someone who is not only full of themselves but has a big ego, as well. De Medeiros insisted that a good person is someone who has peace in their heart for everyone, and doesn’t look at interactions like a tit for tat encounter.

The way people treat service staff is, in fact, a remarkably good indicator of who they are as a person. When you’re getting to know someone, they obviously want to impress you and therefore won’t show the negative sides of their personality, but watching how they interact with others can give you great insight into who they are at their core.

Dubbed “The Waiter Rule,” you can truly tell someone’s intentions and who they are as a person based on how they treat restaurant servers. In an interview with the Guardianresearcher Dr. Daniel Redhead explained that restaurants are some of the best places to observe human dynamics at play.

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“Social hierarchy has a big role in whether individuals are rude to others,” he told the publication. “Waiters may be thought of as taking a subservient role, and the clientele may have power over them. These asymmetries in power can lead certain people to act more dominantly — behaving more rudely or selfishly, and being manipulative — because they believe that this clear hierarchical structure legitimizes such behavior and do not believe that they will face any repercussions for their actions.”

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Actions truly do speak louder than words.

People can only hide their true selves for so long. Flowery words and promises only mean so much until they don’t follow through on those promises. It’s like the “Wizard of Oz;” once the curtain was pulled back, the true man was revealed.

So, if you truly want to know if someone is a good person or not, observe their behavior in a situation like speaking with restaurant staff and see how they react and speak to them. The biggest red flag, without a doubt, is a person who chooses to rudeness or dismissal without a second thought.

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Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.