Park Center
909 E. State Boulevard
Ft. Wayne, IN 46805

June 16, 2004

Dear PC:

I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba; a wonderfully lush place in the summer, and a beautiful place in even the harshest of winters. If I had to name one thing about it I could do without, it would be the abundance of mosquitoes we face every summer. Winnipeg is easily one the top ten mosquito infested cities in the world.

I felt you should be aware of this information before I got to my main motive for writing you. You see, I work as a manager of a restaurant/pub. I have under my employment a man whose behavioral eccentricities I am beginning to question. At first, I believed “Jimi” (I will call him), to be one of the finest servers ever to work under the restaurant roof. I’ll admit, I had my reservations about him at first, he has a few tattoos, and there is a certain image our restaurant is attempting to maintain. But, Jimi is sharp, dedicated, and hardworking. This, I could never deny. One day, while supervising his service, I witnessed him slap a customer fairly strongly on the shoulder. The customer never complained, so I decided against ever mentioning it to Jimi.
Well, after several eyewitness accounts from myself, my staff, and victimized customers, it dawned on me that this event was not an isolated incident. When I approached Jimi about his conduct, he openly admitted to it, but brushed it off as a god given peculiarity. Not wishing to touch on the topic of or oppress his religious views, I simply gave him an ultimatum: fix this problem, or find new employment. I wish I could say that I am happy when reporting he has since fixed the problem. Get ready to discover why I wrote that first paragraph...

Jimi, taking full advantage of his city’s notable infestation, got a tattoo of a squashed mosquito on his palm. After slapping someone, he quickly shows them his palm and acts as if he were swatting a mosquito. Admittedly, the tattoo is very realistic. Couple it with a little fake blood, and it is a dead ringer for a mosquito pancake. Nonetheless, I am extremely worried about these incidents. This quick solution will stand for the summer, but what happens when it is no long mosquito season? I can’t even fathom what he will do in the winter to disguise this behavior. Should I be attempting to seek out help for him, or do you and your organization believe this to be a worthwhile solution to particular his mental quirk? Would he benefit from counseling or social conditioning? You come highly recommended and I would really appreciate your feedback on “Jimi”. All I know of behavioral science is a few B.F. Skinner books I have read, and I don’t think changing the world around him will help.

Yours truly,

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