I’m in Tampa for three days this week for work. Client meetings usually have me coming down here at least twice a year now, along with Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta. On average, I probably travel about every other month for work. In the grand scheme of work travel, this is fairly infrequent, and the distances I travel are pretty short.

I came in around dinner time last night and not sure what to eat, I Yelped a few places that were walking distance from the hotel and settled on the place that had the best reviews but was the shortest walking distance (yes, I was just being lazy). It was a Thai restaurant that was quite large yet practically empty except for four tables, all with older white men dining (this is Tampa, after all, the land of rich, retired white people). It was one of the fanciest Thai restaurants I’d ever been in, with decor that looked like it had been shipped straight from Thailand. The menu was fairly standard for a not-very-authentic Thai restaurant, and because I just wanted something over rice, I got a seafood and chicken stir fry.

As I ate my dinner alone, I thought to myself what it would be like if I were a consultant, traveling the country (or the world) on my own most weeks, four days at a time, living out of a suitcase, rarely having the time or ability to eat or make a home-cooked meal. This would be my life — eating out alone, without many people to talk to. That would get very lonely very quickly and be deeply unsatisfying. I thought briefly of chatting with my server, who seemed curious about my dining alone. I caught him staring at me from the cash register and kitchen doorway multiple times and smiled.

I still think consulting is kind of a bs-y industry, but I guess if companies are willing to pay for outsourced labor to tell them how to run their business, that is what will help make the economy and world go round. But the next thing I thought was… how many of these consultants have these thoughts I do about dining alone and question if they are living a life of meaning?