ROX #16: Out of Work, Out of Mind

B: I quit my job as a telemarketer in November of 1992 so I would have more time for sex and drugs. This was the inspiration for ROX #16, which we called “Out of Work, Out of Mind.”

I had been working part-time at DialAmerica Marketing for two years. This was a job which I frankly hated, but it was relatively easy for me. I quit with hopes of getting work as a production assistant at the community access television station where I was spending a lot of time working on a certain TV show.

That didn't happen. In fact, I hardly looked for a job at all. I was too busy having fun. When I ran out of money in January of '93, I went back to DialAmerica and they gave me my job back. All told, I worked there for seven years, off and on. Without this part-time source of income, I would never have been able to devote so much energy to ROX.

But I didn't know any of this when we shot ROX #16. I was more concerned with getting J to improve the quality of his drinks, which were sucking pretty badly. To that end, I checked a recipe book out of the library, from which tome the three orange-flavored drinks in this episode are drawn. J spilled liquor on it, naturally. But the drinks were quite good.

There's little rancor here. We did not dwell on the miasma of misery that is the telemarketing industry. That seems amazing to me in retrospect. I suppose we were not as bitter then as we are now.

Years later, word of this particular episode got back to my branch manager. He called me into his office and asked what it was all about. I told him quite honestly that there was nothing critical of DialAmerica in the show, and he was satisfied with that.

Also of note in this episode are a lot of firsts: Our first real fan letter. The first edition of “J&B's Video Erotica.” And the very first appearance of TBlack, here credited simply as T.