Character Analysis
As far as we know, Lloyd is some king of ghost haunting the ballroom of the Overlook Hotel. But Jack Torrance talks to the guy as if they've known each other for quite a while. The moment Jack wants a drink and can't pay for it, Lloyd casually answers, "Your credit's fine, Mr. Torrance." Now this is already creepy, but what is even creepier is when Jack answers,
"That's swell. I like you, Lloyd. I always liked you. You were always the best of them."
So it seems like Jack and Lloyd are old friends, but it's hard to see how this is possible.
The explanation for Jack's relationship with Lloyd doesn't actually come until the end of the movie, where we see Jack in a photograph of the Golden Ballroom from 1921. This ending suggests that Jack is somehow in a time loop where he has returned to the Overlook Hotel after working there in another life.
So when he runs into Lloyd, Jack is actually remembering someone he might have known in a previous life. This helps explain why he wants to kill his family at the Overlook, because he wants them to live there forever as ghosts. After all, it'll give him much more time to shoot the breeze with Lloyd… and booze away to his heart's content with his infinite bar credit.