Meaning of este

Hola Shirley > Here, 'Este' is a masculine demonstrative pronoun - meaning 'this [last-named] person'; i.e. the camarero. There used to be a rule [or at least a recommendation?] that you should put a tilde on the first 'e' to identify it specifically as a pronoun, thereby distinguishing it from the demonstrative adjective 'este'. Thus, it would have been clearer if it had been rendered as "Éste se negó ..." However, this custom is no longer applied very much [although the 'Academia' does suggest following it if there is a risk of confusion?]