Spent some time at the Texas Inn in Lynchburg, which lost its best cook during the pandemic to a head shop.

Cheesy Westerns, bongs and labor shortages: understanding Va.’s hectic pandemic job market

HOUSING, WORKING & BUSINESS

Cheesy Westerns, bongs and labor shortages: understanding Va.’s hectic pandemic job market

BY: NED OLIVER - AUGUST 24, 2021 12:03 AM
LYNCHBURG — The Texas Inn sits at the end of Main Street in Lynchburg, an 86-year-old beacon for late-night drunk food with a menu centered around a Depression-era chili recipe and a grease-laden sandwich known as the Cheesy Western.

And for more than a decade, you could find Jacob Johns happily working the flat-top grill behind the 15-seat counter — a job he loved, until, amid a historic pandemic, he realized he didn’t.

“Nighttime would be fun as hell,” said the 27-year-old, who started working at the restaurant alongside his mom as a teenager. “I remember singing Queen songs on the damn bar with drunk people. And I love stuff like that. There’s no other natural endorphins than being able to make somebody smile.”

Like hundreds of other restaurants around the state, the Texas Inn closed when the pandemic hit. And like hundreds of other restaurants around the state, when it finally set about reopening, it found many of its former employees weren’t exactly keen on returning.

The impasse has led to headlines about worker shortages, promises of big bonuses for new hires and bitter, partisan debates over enhanced unemployment benefits, which many low-wage employers blame for their ongoing staffing problems.

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