Episode
A Different World: Occupational Hazards
Overview
While Dwayne is out of town, Whitley buys a $700 business suit for a job interview. She fails to get the job, and accidentally stains the suit, which she had planned to return the next day. Freddie recommends that Whitley file for unemployment. Whitley irritates a claims officer with her self-important attitude and ignorance about the workings of the unemployment office. Whitley grows tired of being given the run-around and decides to get the money on her own. She sells several appliances and takes a phone sales job. The girls discuss Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale in their women's literature group. Dorian impresses Lena when he crashes the group meeting with Terrell. Charmaine constantly brags about her relationship with Lance and mocks her friends for not having boyfriends. However, Lena comforts Charmaine after Lance chickens out of a visit and breaks up with her over the phone. Ron and Freddie struggle to find time alone together.
Details
- Series
- A Different World
- Season
- Season 6
- Episode
- Episode 12
- Air date
- 1992-12-03
- Runtime
- 30 min
Episode context
Occupational Hazards is Episode 12 in Season 6 of A Different World. It aired on 1992-12-03. The runtime is 30 min.
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Episode 11: Original Teacher
Freddie organizes a mentorship program for teenagers detained at juvenile hall. They can receive parole by completing a week-long project. Dwayne is assigned two young gang members, who continually fight after learning that they are from rival sets. Much of the tension stems from the fact that members of one boy's gang killed the other's cousin. Dwayne tries to get the boys to turn away from violence and set some goals, but they don't think they have anything to live for. He tries to talk to their parents, with disastrous results. Billy's proud but violent father does not appreciate Dwayne's interference; he shoves him around and threatens him. Dwayne again emphasizes the fact that the boys can have futures; he tells them that they should not place limits on themselves because of the environment around them. Dwayne eventually gets through to them, as they perform a rap song that preaches for an end to violence. Billy's father listens to his son's performance and seems somewhat impresse
Episode 13: White Christmas
Freddie's free-spirited mother visits, and annoys her daughter by spending all of her time counseling Freddie's friends. She exposes the bitterness that Kim is harboring over Freddie's relationship with Ron. Joni's appearance leaves Freddie confused about her life and stirs old feelings in Shazza. Ron spies Shazza kissing Freddie outside the Pit. Whitley takes a job at the International Cottage of Flapjacks to earn money for Dwayne's Christmas present. She finds herself completely overwhelmed, and gets no help from the owner's lazy daughter. Freddie confronts her mother at ICOF and demands advice. Joni explains that she lets her daughter make her own choices because she does not want to follow in the footsteps of Freddie's grandmother, who condemned Joni for having an interracial relationship. Ron appears and asks Freddie to make up her mind. She runs into his arms, as Whitley loudly launches into ""Joy to the World."" Whitley gets fired on her first day, but Dwayne consoles her with a p
More episodes from this season
Episode 10: Faith, Hope and Charity (2)
Marion and Adele clash over preparations for Thanksgiving dinner and throw food all over the kitchen. Marion takes Malik to task for paying too much attention to Kim. However, he is not her fiancé, but rather an actor whom she hired to break up Dwayne and Whitley. Malik backs out of the deal and joins the rally for the Haitians. Adele and Marion are mistaken for protesters and hauled into jail. When they wonder why they haven't been bailed out, Freddie breaks the news that Dwayne and Whitley are broke. Adele and Marion seem to bond over their disdain for their children's marriage. After returning to the house, Adele admits to Dwayne that she is mostly upset because she didn't get to see his wedding. Whitley assures her mother that she is happy, and everyone makes up. Shazza tells Freddie that he is aware of her dalliances with Ron. She admits that she can't decide which man she wants, so they end the relationship.
Episode 14: To Whit, With Love
Whitley takes a job substitute teaching for an unruly remedial class at a run-down junior high school. The students are completely out of control the first day, then suddenly behave themselves perfectly. Whitley discovers that they all purposely failed their tests. She considers giving up, but instead challenges the students to prove their intelligence. At the principal's suggestion, she uses her own background to cover the material left out of the outdated textbooks. Dorian finally asks Lena on a date. He stuns her by revealing that he does not believe in pre-marital sex. She decides that she is still interested in having a relationship with him.
Episode 9: Faith, Hope and Charity (1)
Whitley's mother surprises Whitley and Dwayne by coming to visit for Thanksgiving. Whitley is too ashamed to admit that she is unemployed and that the couple was recently robbed. Marion stuns Whitley by introducing her fiancé, Malik, a much younger man who sells oils and poetry for a living. Although Dwayne believes that Whitley should let her mother live her own life, she fears that Malik is a golddigger. She asks Kim to come over and flirt with Malik in the hopes of driving the couple apart. Just when it seems that things can't get any worse, Dwayne's mother (who has not spoken to him since he married Whitley) shows up on the Waynes' doorstep. Freddie tries to avoid Ron and re-commit to her relationship with Shazza. She even dons her old ""earthy"" look for a rally on behalf of Haitian refugees, but a law school assignment conflicts with the protest.
Episode 15: Happy Birthday to Moi
Dwayne discovers that Whitley has goaded Kim into letting her assist in the planning of her own surprise birthday party. Dwayne takes Whitley to a cheap dinner and tells her that he scrapped the party. She feels that she deserves a nice birthday after her rough year, while he insists that she should have trusted him to plan the party on his own. Dwayne sends Whitley into the kitchen, then sneaks all of their friends into the living room to surprise her. Charmaine and Terrell struggle badly in French class. They refuse to accept help from prize pupil Gina, and all other tutors dismiss them as a lost cause. Terrified at the prospect of having their perfect grade point averages ruined, they hide a baby monitor in Gina's bag in an attempt to learn the contents of the oral midterm. Charmaine and Terrell get caught and automatically fail the midterm, leaving Charmaine humiliated. She admits that she wouldn't have been so desperate to get a good grade if Gina hadn't taunted her about her str
Episode 8: Baby, It's Cold Outside
Whitley catches Ron sneaking Freddie out of his apartment at six o'clock in the morning. Dwayne and Whitley cannot find any time together because he is working three jobs in an effort to support her. Dwayne expresses his frustration to Kim. Kim tries to convince Whitley to talk things out with Dwayne, but she hangs up on her. Whitley calls Montel Williams' talk show and confesses that she and Dwayne have not been having sex. She does not realize that Gina is addicted to the show and has organized a dorm-wide viewing party in the lounge. All of the girls come over to Whitley's house and offer advice. Lena, Gina and Charmaine suggest a girls' night out to take her mind off things. Whitley, Kim and Freddie go to a club alone because the others are under the drinking age. Freddie confesses to Kim about her attraction to Ron. Kim already knew what was going on, but thanks her for her honesty. Kim dances with Spencer, her lab partner. Whitley goes home to find Dwayne waiting for her, and the
Episode 16: Mind Your Own Business
Members of En Vogue play dowdy choristers whom Ron and Charmaine must make over into a nightclub act for the Blue Dog.
Episode 7: The Little Mister
During their Halloween party, a drunken Dwayne responds sarcastically when Whitley and friends discuss women's rights and the ""Year of the Woman."" He falls asleep on the couch after the party, and dreams that all of the candidates in the upcoming presidential election are women (including incumbent Georgia Mush and eccentric Texas billionaire Rose Godot, who can't decide whether or not she is in the race). Whitley is the philandering Jill Blinton, who frustrates husband Hilliard (Dwayne) with her lying and infidelity. Hilliard agonizes over the fact that no one--including his own wife--has any respect for his opinions. Dwayne wakes up and apologizes to Whitley for his sexist comments.
Episode 17: When One Door Closes... (1)
Whitley discovers she's pregnant; Dwayne's computer-baseball game is a hit with Kinishewa Corp., which wants him to move to Tokyo.
Episode 6: Don't Count Your Chickens Before They're Axed
Charmaine observes Whitley in the office as a sociology project. Whitley is dismayed to learn that her company has put a hold on all purchases until a merger is completed. Determined to hold onto one of the paintings, she convinces Dwayne to invest in it with her. The merger falls through, and Whitley (along with her entire department) is laid off. Dwayne promises to find a way to keep them afloat until she gets a new job. He takes Whitley to dinner to console her. They return to discover that they have been cleaned out by burglars. Kim and Freddie invite Ron and Shazza for dinner in the hopes that they can all make peace. Ron and Freddie cannot stand to see one another with other mates. They alternately flirt and act jealous, and everyone gets into a huge argument. Kim realizes that she and Ron have no chemistry, so they decide to break up. Ron stops short of telling her about his feelings for Freddie.
Episode 18: When One Door Closes... (2)
Marion and Adele's interference causes tension between Dwayne and Whitley; Ron considers suing Dwayne.