Choosing to enjoy the pleasure of my own company at a table for one

“Table for one?” the waitress asked me with a touch of “poor dear” in her voice. She couldn’t imagine that I was excited about it.

“Maybe you’d be happier at the counter, hon?” she said, folding a sentence into a question by the tone of her voice

“I’ve done counters. It’s time for a table,” I replied cheerfully.

It was during my early days of moving to New York after college, and I was job hunting. Hesitantly, she seated me at a table where I spread out my New York Times classified...