Virgil Winston:Marketing Guru
Like most people, I tried everything in my power to get out of doing my civic duty and duck the Jury Summons that showed up like a bright pink demon in my mailbox. I’m all for trial by jury and the constitutional rights our forefathers fought so hard for, but somebody else can do it, right? As I was soon to discover, in Los Angeles County, there is no getting out of jury duty. Believe me, I tried. After running out of excuses and postponements, the day had arrived and I prepared myself to brave the downtown traffic.
I entered the Courthouse and made my way to the jury waiting room to join the one hundred other prospective jurors, hoping my number would not be called. I sat down and began plotting out how I could become an “undesirable” juror. I imagined myself saying things like, “If he’s here, he must be guilty!” and “ I think the system is rigged!” I was still hatching my plan to act like a bad juror when my name was called. I followed the twenty or so other people in my group to Court Room 12B and filled out a questionnaire meant to find out if I pre-qualified to sit on this particular jury. As a reached for my favorite black pen, I noticed many of my fellow jurors rifling through their bags looking for something to write and it hit me! I had been looking at this thing all wrong. Jury Duty wasn’t an inconvenience; it was an opportunity. Grandpa Winston’s words came rushing back to me, “Every day is a good day for marketing.” I quickly handed her my pen, which of course…all together now, had my name on it! Of course I had extras and proceeded to pass them out to my fellow prospective jurors. Soon, everybody in the courtroom would know my name.
You never know when you’ll have an opportunity to get your name out there. Sometimes it’s jury duty, other times it’s an elevator stuck between floors. The point is, it’s best to be prepared. Don’t miss another opportunity to be noticed, order a bunch of Seville pens and get your name out there now.
I’m off to the Emergency Room, there should be a lot of people there with a lot of time on their hands and I have a few extra copies of my book I’d like to un—er, promote.
Heed the words of Whitney M. Young, Jr. who said, “It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.”