What the ending of 'A Clean, Well-lighted Place' tells us

 At first the story "A Clean, Well-lighted Place" seems like its main focus is the conversation of old waiter and young waiter about the old man who tried to kill himself. However as we approaches the conclusion of this story, we can realize that the main character of this story is actually the old waiter who is going through similar situation as the old man but the reaction toward his situation was different. Both old man and old waiter is in situation where there both feel loneliness because there old and there is no one around them. The old man chooses to kill himself to run away from this situation. However the old waiter decides to be in 'well lighted place' where people's always around which is the restaurant for him. However as the night comes and people leaves the restaurant he got epiphany that how hard you try to run away from the loneliness, it will always follow you. The 'well lighted place' was just a little illusion that made him think that he is not lonely. The truth is he was always lonely.