Think Porn's Going Mainstream? Try Getting a Job in Mainstream as Chef Jeff Learned- final

Porn Valley- In his seven year career in the adult industry, Chef Jeff was a peejay on KSEX, ran websites, designed them and had occasional sex with porn chicks.

But when Jeff, who's background is tennis, tried to get an administrative job in that capacity for the city of Surprise, Arizona, someone ratted him out and Jeff was fired. Surprise, surprise.

Jeff tell me he's at a legal dead as far as doing something about this.

"Arizona is a right-to-work state and at-will employment," he explains.

"They can fire you for any reason. Unless it's a protected class of discrimination they can fire you because they don't like you. So I don't have any legal recourse as far as suing the city for wrongful termination. The real issue is that people who are employed or formally employed by the adult industry or associated with it, I guess you can't get another job doing anything else."

Jeff said in his case, his job was administrative.

"I worked at the tennis desk," he says. Informally, he also gave tennis lessons until they were able to hire someone for that.

"I had given maybe eight hours of tennis lessons and only until they were able to hire a full time instructor. My official position was running the front desk and getting people signed up for events."

Judging by his experience, Jeff feels that people who work in the adult industry have other talents and being in the business shouldn't preclude them from other opportunities if they want to make a career switch.

"At it's core essence this is unjust," says Jeff.

According to Jeff, his was a government position and, evidently, the government didn't want him working at the tennis center for being in porn.

Prior to getting into the adult business, Jeff was a career tennis pro for 12 years. He was a tennis-teaching professional and worked at a lot of country clubs throughout the country. In 2000, Jeff's ex-wife and he got into the adult business with a website. About 30 days after, she got on the Howard Stern show. With the subsequent money they made off that site, Jeff was able to get out of tennis altogether and went into adult full time.

But after seven years Jeff found that he wanted to pursue other things..

"It was great to be in it, KSEX was great, the websites were great, but I wanted to do something more personally satisfying and rewardinmg," he says. Jeff then sought out a friend who's a former Wimbledon champion.

"He not only recommended me for my previous job but he was in charge of this new tennis facility out here in Arizona. We talked about the possibiliy of me coming to work there. We had lunch and at the end of it he said I have to ask you a potentially embarrassing question. Tell me about Chef Jeff. It had gotten around the tennis community and people know about stuff. I told him the whole history, and he knew all about it. He personally had no problem with it. In the end we both agreed that my having been in the industry was irrelevant to the position I was going to be working at."

After having gone through the interview process with the city, Jeff got hired out of 150 applicants.

"It didn't pay a lot [he was making less than half what he would have been making in porn], but it was a much sought after position," Jeff notes. "But I was personally much happier."

"The benefits were tremendous working for city government if you can imagine."

About 30 days into Jeff's employment someone decided to send in an anonymous letter to his supervisor. The author of the letter had apparently Googled Jeff's name to check his tennis teaching credentials. And the letter goes on to say that Jeff had been involved in porn. The author of the letter identifies himself as a former US Marine.

He goes on to say that Jeff's former career made him wary of him teaching wives, daughters and teenage friends. Jeff's boss in turn showed him the letter and described it as very disturbing and chicken shit that someone would send an anonymous letter.

"But following proper procedure he took it to his supervisor and then I was fired the very next day," says Jeff. "Without reason- and here's the kicker- I was fired on 9/11. Their official reason for firing me was that they didn't have to have a reason. And I guess, according to the laws of Arizona, they don't have to have a reason. But it's pretty clear to me that it was my boss' boss- middle city management- either had an objection to the nature of my previous business; or wanted to sweep it under the rug so that the person writing the letter wouldn't write another one to the newspaper.

"I didn't put up a fight. I packed up my stuff, handed in my keys and left. My boss said there was nothing he could do."

Since the incident, Jeff said he'd been exploring his legal options and had a phone chat with attorney Larry Walters, who he's interviewed in the past.

"Everyone I've talked to agrees I potentially have a case against the city government," says Jeff. "But it would be very difficult to overcome Arizona's at-will employment law."