Recently, in the midst of the busy season, in the midst of the InfoComm show season, I got just what I needed least – a jury summons. I was in the middle of consulting on the stage construction and systems design for a new performing arts center, and was going crazy with meetings and details.

But, as lots of you know, I’m also a real pain about democracy, so I decided I had to report rather than delaying it. So I packed my iPad and a bunch of industry reading material to take up the time in the jury selection room, and set up my “out of office” email reply, and went off to do my civic duty.

So I made some notes and did some reading while I waited for the selection process. About 75 of us had been called, and all for a single case, and after a time the attorneys for the two sides explained the case to us. It was a wrongful death suit involving a dead broker, his financial institution, a hospital, and several doctors. A complex case. They then asked people to stand who had a business or personal relationship with one or more of the parties, as they would have a conflict of interest.

In my case, I didn’t have one with one of them, but with ALL of them. Of the law firms, one was a very old installation client, of many years, and the other was one we regularly did rental work for. The hospital was both a rental and an installation client, and the broker came from a firm whose meetings we regularly supplied services for. At the time, I couldn’t stop thinking about how difficult it could be to be a local juror for anybody in our business, because our business, by necessity, develops so many relationships in the areas we serve.

Needless to say, I was dismissed… with not a little chuckling and shaking of heads by the selection teams.

Which, unfortunately, leaves me with a lot of industry reading still to do before the show.

See you there.

JRR