“Sammy Jankis wrote himself endless notes. But he’d get mixed up. I’ve got a more graceful solution to the memory problem. I’m disciplined and organized. I use habit and routine to make my life possible. Sammy had no drive. No reason to make it work” – Leonard Shelby

Remember Sammy Jenkis -

Sammy Jankis had the same problem. He tried writing himself notes. Lots of notes. But he’d get confused.

Sammy Jankis. Yeah, I guess I tell people about Sammy to help them understand. Sammy’s story helps me understand my own situation

Sammy Jankis wrote himself endless notes. But he’d get mixed up. I’ve got a more graceful solution to the memory problem. I’m disciplined and organized. I use habit and routine to make my life possible. Sammy had no drive. No reason to make it work.

I met Sammy through work.

Insurance. I was an investigator. I’d investigate claims to see which ones were phony.

I had to see through people’s bullshit. It was useful experience, because now it’s my life. When I meet someone, I don’t even know if I’ve met them before. I have to look in their eyes and just figure them out. My job taught me that the best way to find out what someone knew was to let them talk. Throw in the occasional “why?” but just listen. And watch the eyes, the body language. It’s complicated. You might catch a sign but attach the wrong meaning to it. If someone touches their nose while they’re talking, experts will tell you it means they’re lying. It really means they’re nervous, and people get nervous for all sorts of reasons. It’s all about context.

I was good. Sammy was my first real challenge
I’d just become an investigator when I came across Sammy. Mr Samuel R. Jankis – strangest case ever. Guy’s 58, semi-retired accountant. He and his wife had been in this car accident… nothing too serious, but he’s acting funny — he can’t get a handle on what’s going on. The doctors find some possible damaqe to the hippocampus, nothing conclusive. But Sammy can‘t remember anything for more than a couple minutes. He can’t work, can’t do shit, medical bills pile up, his wife calls the insurance company and I get sent in. My first big claims investigation – I really check into it. Sammy can think just fine, but he can’t make any new memories, he can only remember things for a few minutes. He’d watch T.V., but anything longer than
a couple of minutes was too confusing, he couldn’t remember how it began. He liked commercials. They were short. The crazy part was that this guy who couldn’t follow the plot of “Green Acres” could do the most complicated things as long as he had learned them before the accident ….. and as long as he kept his mind on what he was doing.

The doctors assure me that there’s a real condition called Korsokoff’s syndrome; short-term memory loss, rare but legit. But every time I see him I catch a look of recognition. Just a slight look, but he says he can’t remember me at all. I can read people and I‘m thinking bad actor. Now I’m suspicious and I order more tests. His wife has to do everything. Sammy can only do simple stuff. He couldn’t pick up any new skills at all, and that’s how I got him.

So Sammy can’t learn any new skills. But I find something in my research:Conditioning. Sammy should still be able to learn through repetition. It’s how you learn stuff like riding a bike, things you don’t think about, you just get better through practice. Call it muscle memory, whatever, but it’s a completely different part of the brain from the short-term memory. So I have the doctors test Sammy’s response to conditioning… They kept repeating the test, always with the same objects electrified. The point was to see if he could learn to avoid the electrified objects. Not by memory, but by instinct. They kept testing Sammy for months, always with the same objects carrying the electrical charge…

Even with total short-term memory loss,Sammy should’ve learned to instinctively stop picking up the wrong objects. All previous cases of short-term memory loss had responded to conditioning in some way. Sammy didn’t respond at al.l It was enough to suggest his condition was psychological not physical. We turned down his claim on the grounds that he wasn’t covered for mental illness. Sammy’s wife got stuck with the bills and I got a promotion for rejecting a big claim. Conditioning didn’t work for Sammy, so he became helpless. But it works for me. I live the way Sammy couldn’t. Habit and Conditioning. Acting on instinct.

Sammy’s wife was crippled by the cost of supporting him and fighting the company’s decision – but it wasn’t the money that got to her, I never said that Sammy was faking. Just that his problem was mental, not physical. But she… she couldn’t understand. She looks into his eyes and sees the same person. And if it’s not a physical problem…… he should just… snap out of it. So good old Leonard Shelby from the insurance company gives her the seed of doubt, just like he gave it to the doctors. But I never said that Sammy was faking. I never said that.

I told you about how she tried to get him to snap out of it? It got much worse than that. Eventually Sammy’s wife came to see me at the office, and I found out all kinds of shit. She knew that I was the one who had built he case for Sammy faking it. She told me about life with Sammy, how she’d treated him. It had got to the point where she’d get Sammy to hide food all around the house, then stop feeding him to see if his hunger would make him remember where he’d hidden the stuff. She wasn’t a cruel person, she just wanted her old Sammy back. I told her I believe that Sammy should be physically capable of making new memories. She seemed to leave happy. I thought I’d helped her. I thought she just needed some kind of answer. I didn’t think it was important to her what the answer was, just that she had one to believe.

I never said he was faking. Just that his condition was mental, not physical. She seemed satisfied, she just said “thanks” and got up to leave. I found out later that she went home and gave Sammy his final exam. She knew beyond doubt that he loved her, so she found a way to test him. She really thought she would call his bluff…or didn’t want to live with the things she’d put him through. Sammy, it’s time for my shot, she says. Changes the time on her watch and again Sammy, it’s time for my shot. She went into a coma and never recovered. Sammy couldn’t understand or explain what had happened. He’s been in a home ever since. He doesn’t even know his wife is dead.

Sammy’s brain didn’t respond to conditioning, but he was no con man. When his wife looked into his eyes she thought he could be the same as he ever was. When I looked into Sammy’s eyes, I thought I saw recognition. We were both wrong. Now I know. You take it. If you think you’re supposed to recognize someone, you pretend to. You bluff it to get a pat on the head from the doctors. You bluff it to seem less of a freak.