by Travis Mateer

What are the real world impacts of the labor shortages plaguing businesses across different sectors of the economy, like hospitality?

If you ask Adam Alamano, creator of the Debra Gets Red Pilled podcast (after his road trip discussed in episode 63), the impact is the realization that the small lump at the foot of your bed at the Motel 6 you’re staying at in Missoula, Montana, is a tampon (unused) somehow stuck UNDERNEATH the fitted sheet.

The reason I think a lack of staffing could be part of the issue here is due to the brief investigation I did yesterday. I heard Adam mention his suspicion that people were living at this particular Motel 6 on a longer term basis, due to the personal items seemingly locked to the bannister on the third floor outside one room, so I biked down to the Motel 6 and took this picture:

After the tampon was found beneath the fitted sheet still in its hard-shell packaging, Adam’s wife addressed the issue and a new room was procured in addition to $50 dollars being returned.

Then, as Adam’s wife returned to the new room, she first wanted to double-check the first room to make sure they had everything out, and that’s when she saw the room being tidied up WITHOUT the sheets being changed, sheets their dogs had been on. Instead of new sheets, the visible dog hair was being removed by hand.

After taking the picture I went to speak with the person at the Motel 6 lobby. I wanted to see if there were any weeklies (a term I used when I worked at the shelter and spoke with motel managers) that were being rented out.

I didn’t get far enough in my conversation with the staff member. I identified myself as a local journalist and the woman said she was too busy to talk. I said I could come back later, and she said specifically that she didn’t have enough staff and had to do everything, including cleaning rooms, so there was no good time.

Maybe I shouldn’t have asked if there had been any recent complaints, and maybe I shouldn’t have referenced the tampon incident, because when I did those two things the woman got very defensive and asked if “crazy Winston” sent me.

I said no, and repeated that I was a journalist, and she demanded I prove it. She only gave me a few seconds of NOT responding to this demand before calling 911 on me. I took that as a cue to leave.

People who experience a nasty stay at a motel might think it would be the realm of the County Health Department to oversee, but it isn’t. Instead, if one were inclined to spend energy on bringing official attention to a situation like Adam and his wife experienced, one could file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

The rest of Adam and Emily’s brief Missoula stay sounded delightful, and reminded me of what inspired my then-finance and myself to decide to move to Missoula 21 years ago next month.

I get more and more nostalgic for the Missoula I remember with every new condo project that goes up, and the knowledge I now have, after working at the shelter, of what really goes on in too many of our nasty motels.