All of us can think back to pivotal moments in our lives: that one moment where, with one decision, our futures branched off in a new direction, for good or ill.

I’d like to think that I’ve only ever made one terribly poor work-related choice, what you might call a “Career-Limiting Decision” in my life. It took place a long time ago, and spurred me towards a career in AV.

Before AV I worked in sporting goods, and it was our region’s management golf tournament. I was golfing in a four-person group that included two guys from a store in Calgary and our district manager.

Some backstory is necessary here: I didn’t actually get my driver’s license until quite late, which is a story for another time. At the time of this story, I didn’t have one.

I was paired up with our district manager (I’ll call him “Doug”) and he asked me, “Lee, do you want to drive the cart?”

He did NOT ask, “Lee, do you have a valid driver’s license?”

Despite not having a driver’s license, I was certainly up for it, and besides, I’ve played a lot of race car video games.

Really there’s not that much difference between driving around a golf course and playing MarioKart, right?

There was a brief rain shower, and when it let up we left the club house and drove back to the hole we had been playing.

The grass was slick, I was going too fast, and we spun out, did a full 360? and hit a small tree with our front bumper.

Doug was unsettled and a little freaked out, so it seemed perfectly natural to jokingly question his manhood for being unnerved by such a little bang-up.

My sense of humor was not appreciated.

Over the course of the next month I got written up for any number of increasingly creative work-related faults, so it was no real surprise when I was dismissed.

On the upside, I did learn to not be quite such an insensitive jerk, and I made my way to the CE industry, so things really did turn out for the best.