Source: Letters to the Editor
By: Frank Towers
Frank Towers left the Adult Industry about two years ago and went back to school. He wanted to help people through the medical field. Unfortunately, it’s hard to leave the past behind when you were a porn star. Here is his story:
“I was working here at a Hospital up in Redding California. I was hired in EVS to learn all the departments and was being trained in the Radiology dept. They wanted to train me so I knew the whole hospital to relieve other workers to fill in on their work shifts, especially because the Holiday season was approaching.
I was told that people will be taking time off with their families so I would be getting lots of work. Anyway, I started on a Monday in early October and was being trained by a woman in The Radiology Dept. I came in the next day which was a Tuesday, and then Trained again in The Radiology Dept.
My manager called me Friday of the same week to come in for work on the following Monday. I came in for work and the woman that was training me in The radiology department said, “Can I talk to you privately?” I said, “Sure.” She took me in the break room and asked if I ever had done porn movies, because this x-ray tech came up to her and was asking if I was a pornstar. She even had a picture of me on her phone and said, “Look it’s him isn’t it? He had darker hair though.”
So I said to the woman training me, yes, I had done adult movies and now I’m going for a different career. This woman couldn’t let it alone. All day long she kept bringing it up. A busybody in a small town. So I went to my manager and told her the story. She already had heard the rumors and I said it was true to my manager about all the rumors. She told me to tell people it’s not true if they ask. I told her why are you asking me to lie? I don’t think it’s a good idea for me not to tell the truth. So she said she would talk to my supervisor and we will get back to you by the end of the week to see what we will do to handle this. She also told me that it probably wouldn’t hinder my job. I said it shouldn’t have anything to do with my job performance. Besides we are not supposed to gossip at work right? We’re supposed to do our job and leave the drama at home.
So I didn’t hear from my manager by the end of the week. I called two weeks later left a message for her and no return phone call. Finally, I called right before Thanksgiving and she called me back telling me, “We just don’t have work for you right now. People are just not taking off time like they have in the past.” I said, “Does this have anything to do with my past adult career?” She said, “Like I said, we just don’t have the work.”
I smell discrimination here.
A month goes by and I go into Human Resources and tell them the story. They were surprised and thought I was being trained in the different EVS Departments. So then they said they will have a talk with my manager and get back to me. Then, I finally am told that I will get a call from the head of Human Resources and she will be handling this.
So the head of Human resources calls me and I tell her the entire story and she says over the phone to me that they have a 90 day probationary period where they have the right to fire or lay off anyone without giving them a reason. So I said I worked three days and my manager said that I would be on every paycheck… She then told me that my manager will be re-trained and that we don’t promise anyone work. I said so you spend hundreds of dollars on a background check, drug test, and take 3 vials of blood to work me three days? She repeated herself as a robot and then said, “I’m sorry we are going to separate our business contract from you”.
So she fired me over the phone!
I then proceeded to tell her this is fishy and smells of discrimination and that I’m going to seek legal assistance on this issue. She told me to go ahead to do so, and to “have a nice day.”
This all happened five days before Christmas and I have a call into the nun that works at the hospital and she handles disputes. I haven’t heard back from her yet.
Frank Towers
[This is a common occurrence. People who try and move on and leave the Adult Entertainment Industry are treated with less acceptance than convicts on parole. What happened to OUR second chance? Where is the forgiveness from a Catholic hospital? It makes no difference to the rest of the world – they try and put on a holy face and are hypocritical about helping people raise themselves up. – Ed.]
