Teddy followed Suzanne, the HR manager, through the office as she led him to his

cubicle. It was Teddys first day at his new job at the advertising agency. A cozy ambience
created by soft lighting made the office building feel homey and inviting. Suzanne pointed to this
room and that as Teddy walked behind her, his head following her hand as it pointed left, right,
and every which way. Teddy smiled, not saying anything other than uh huh in response to
Suzanne. She spoke non-stop, her words blending into a stream of white noise.
Teddy and Suzanne finally reached the cubicle he would be working at.
And heres where youll be working, said Suzanne, motioning to the desk with her
hand.
Teddy was just about to thank Suzanne when a coworker walked by, catching Suzannes
attention. Teddy noticed something in Suzannes reaction that seemed tense.
Oh my gosh, said Suzanne in a quiet gasp. Thats Pam. Suzanne looked back at
Teddy who had only just hung his blazer on the back of his chair. Teddy saw the woman sit down
at her desk and face her computer. Suzanne continued whispering.
Youll never believe this. Pam just finished a stint at the psychiatric unit. Oh, bless her
soul. We used to have another employee here, a Japanese girl named Noriko. She was a college
intern from the University of Hawaii. Im not really sure how the girl graduated given how her
English skills werent up-to-par, but she was so sweet and I thought she could add some flair to
the office. In fact, Norikos English was so limited that during the interview we just giggled back
and forth while doing origami. Actually, Noriko described her work experience entirely in
origami.
Teddy looked confused.

So I hired Noriko as the new intern and, per usual, we had one of our weekly staff
meetings. During that particular meeting, Julie, the office manager, was reminding everyone to
send a certain e-mail to her and added that Pam, the managers assistant, needed to be ccd. Julie
kept saying, Remember to cc Pam. I guess Noriko misheard Julie because after that she called
Pam, CC-Pam. She apparently didnt know what cc meant.
Anyway, I was in the break room with Noriko during lunch the next day when Pam
entered. Noriko turned to Pam and said, Hi, Shi Shi Pam. I almost had soda coming out of my
nose I laughed so hard. I guess Japanese people have a hard time pronouncing cc, so they say
shi shi instead. Well, as you know, shi shi means pee around here, so you can imagine that
didnt go over very well with Pam.
So Pam storms out of the break room, leaving Noriko all confused. I explained to
Noriko her mistake and she felt so bad. She quickly apologized to Pam, but unfortunately word
got around about the incident and everyone started calling her Shi Shi Pam. During our next staff
meeting, an employee made a joke at Pams expense, using the new nickname. Noriko giggled
and so did a few other people, but Pam did not react well. I think something in her brain broke
that day. She stared at the wall for the rest of the meeting.
Not long afterwards the ladies in the office began noticing that someone wasnt flushing
the toilets in the womens bathroom. It was like someone had decided to let it mellow, if you
know what I mean. Theres no proof, but many suspected Pam, obviously. An employee named
Trish was bold enough to approach Pam and ask her if she knew anything about the pee in the
toilets, and that was really the straw that broke the camels back, so to speak.

Pam turned catatonic. It was so bizarre. She literally stopped moving. She was like a
mannequin. I mean full-blown clinical catatonia. We called the psych ward and they carried her
off on a gurney. Of course, Noriko felt so bad and she expressed to us through origami that she
suffered from a condition called taijin kyofusho and after watching Pam get rolled away, it was
flaring up again. She had to quit.
Anyway, after about a month Pam recovered and were happy to have her back with us.
She seems pretty stable. Just dont cc her! Suzanne chuckled. Well, Ill let you get settled. Let
me know if you have any other questions.
Teddy, fascinated and disturbed, sat down at his desk. He sat there quietly for a moment.
Hesitantly, he opened his inbox and started a new e-mail. The cursor blinked, coaxing, in the cc
box. Teddy looked back at Pam and wondered. Curiosity was killer.