4. Sex and Economics

Complete story — includes the ending

Despite having an after-school job, Kevin's financial hardship is taking a toll on his life. When his young and beautiful history teacher Miss Farmer ( Rebecca Staab ) posts an ad on the school bulletin for a painting job, Kevin quickly accepts. Miss Farmer informs Kevin that she will pay him $500, but Kevin will have to furnish the paint and supplies. Thinking the job will be easy, Kevin is surprised when he is told he needs to paint the whole exterior of the house. This makes Kevin realize he needs to hire a crew to help him tackle this time-consuming job. He lowballs his closest friends, who in turn rebuff him. So he desperately recruits Jimmy Donnelly, Joey Spinoza, and Eddie Horvath ( Jeremy Davies ), three unmotivated slackers who do minimal work. Between their salary and the cost of paint and supplies, Kevin's cash soon disappears. Kevin is further frustrated when the prepaid hired help suddenly quits, leaving him to finish the job alone. Kevin then learns that Miss Farmer sold the house to Mr. Kaplan ( Jack McGee ). Miss Farmer laments on wanting to move because so many locals in the neighborhood wanted to take advantage of a young, single woman. Kevin tries to get out of finishing the house, but Miss Farmer stated that they had a deal. Mr. Kaplan is unwilling to front Kevin any money for the deal he made with Miss Farmer, given that he just paid $15,000 over the appraisal value for the house, anyway. Kevin learns his lesson—namely of being taken advantage of by a beautiful woman, who in turn took advantage of Mr. Kaplan, just as Kevin had attempted to take advantage of his own friends. And that perhaps, everyone was taking advantage of everyone else. He finished the job six weeks later, with $214 of his own money spent. Absent: Josh Saviano as Paul Pfeiffer. Guest starring: Rebecca Staab as Miss Farmer; William Bronder as Mr. Glidden (paint store clerk); Jeremy Davies as Eddie Horvath; Michael Weiner as Dominick; Jack McGee as Mr. Kaplan.