"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"

This short story is about two waiters with completely opposite views of life. They find themselves constantly waiting on an old, lonely man who sits outside the cafe every night and drinks beverage after beverage of alcohol. The older waiter sees this man to be very lonely and he understands why he wants to drink away his lonliness. The younger waiter, however, sees the old man to be a bother because he forces him to stay at work and wait on him when he could be at home with his family. The older waiter tries to show the younger waiter the sympathy he should feel, but the younger waiter only ignores him. He then tells the old man how he should have killed himself the past week when his niece found him hanging himelf. The older waiter is disgusted. They close the cafe down, and as the older waiter is walking home, he notices a bar that is in no comparrison to his own. It is very well-lighted, but it needs to be polished and cleaned.