It’s official, Hong Kong has a job for me, subject to a number of conditions.

On Friday I received a scary looking envelope. Scary, because it’s Christmas and everything else I’ve been receiving in the post is an invitation to some discounted high-brow shopping event or a card. This came in a government envelope stamped ‘Hong Kong Court’.

Not one to panic easily, I made myself a tea and sat down outside with the mystery letter. It was quite thick so clearly the government had a lot to tell me and I wanted to be comfortable while I tried to work out what it is I either a) had done or b) they wanted me to do.

Opening the envelope revealed a six page letter, one side in English and the other in Chinese. It was from the court and the heading was centred, underlined and in bold. It read ‘Jury Duty’.

My first thoughts were ‘I hope this isn’t when I’m on holidays’, followed by ‘I hope it’s an exciting / interesting case’ followed by ‘I wonder if you get a jury allowance the way they do in Australia?’ and ‘what will the food be like?’. I decided to continue reading given it was lengthy and I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions.

Further reading revealed the true intention of the letter. It was simply to advise me that I was now on the jury roll. This means that I can be randomly selected by a computer to participate in a jury at any time subject to a number of different conditions.

I wasn’t allowed to be a public servant, in the military, clergy (of any religious order) or married to someone that was in any of these. I was to be able to understand either English or Cantonese (both is not necessary). I’m also not allowed to be a pilot or in the media because both services are necessary to keep going irrespective of whatever else is going on in Hong Kong. The conditions covered four pages.

Interestingly, the letter didn’t mention that I wasn’t allowed to be a property tycoon, share investor, stock broker or anything else that helps keep Hong Kong operating.

Mr Shallot didn’t receive the same letter and I began joking why not. I read him one of the bullet point selection criteria that I had glossed over earlier – ‘Must be of good character.’




* Thanks to The Cruel Sea for the title to this post.




PS – Hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year’s and enjoy the festivities, but not so much that you have a hangover for the start of 2011.