Jury Duty

So, I was called in to jury duty on the first day because I'm just lucky like that.  I drove out to the court house and parked in a random parking lot.  My first thought: There should really be more signs.  There were signs telling me where not to park but not where to actually park and no signs actually telling me where to go in.  Considering, we can only get called for jury duty every six years, it's not like anyone is an old pro at this point.

I get there early (9:15 - didn't have to be there until 9:30), as usual, and sit down and start reading.  I left my cell phone in the car because the sheet said not to bring it in.  There's an old guy sitting a row or two away from me babbling on his cell phone really loudly.  Hmmm, why did I listen to the rules?  I could be roaming the internet right now instead of playing Sudoku.  Oh well.

Around 10, people are still wandering in and trying to fight their way out of it.  "Why do I have to stay all day?? This is ridiculous"  At this point, I'm thinking what's ridiculous is that you people won't just sit down and do you're jury duty that you have to maybe do once every six years.  Get over it and sit the flip down. 

We watch a movie.  I read my book.  I get called into a jury room around 10:30ish.  It's a medical malpractice case.  Okay, this could be interesting, call my name so you can interview me.  They interview six people.  After 2 hours, they knock out 4 people and replace them from the rest of us sitting in the room.  I haven't been called yet.

Lunchtime is 12:30-2.  Talk about a waste of time.  I'd much rather just get this all over with.  I contemplate going to law school cause the day starts at 9:30 lunch is 12:30-2 and then we leave at 4.  That's a nice work day!  Obviously, they have other work to do but in my head at this point in time, it sounds fabulous to be a lawyer or judge. 

We go back to the little room we were in before lunch.  They excuse 2 more people and take two more from our little pool.  Now it's 2:45 and they let 2 more people go.  There's only 6 of us left in the room (besides the jurors).  I'm getting kind of interested now because I have a chance of being picked.  I wouldn't mind being picked, I think it would be interesting serving on a jury (yes, I know I'm crazy).  But, really?  How bad is it to serve on jury duty?  Granted at $40 a day pay I definitely couldn't afford my mortgage if I got put on a long case but this one was supposed to last around 8 days.  Five of which my job would pay my full pay so after that I'd only get the $40.

Who could live on $40 a day?  Especially in NY.  What happens to those people who get picked for long cases (i.e. OJ trial).  My house would be foreclosed on if I was paid $40 a day for 8 months.  That's craziness.  My husband would have to go out and get a second job in order to pay all the bills while I sat on a jury.

Anyway, 2 people get immediately excused.  Two more get called up to fill the empty juror seats.  One gets excused.  It's down to me and an old guy.  We're joking around.  I told him he would be called first because my name is ALWAYS last.  He was called up.  He claimed he had sleep apnea so he would fall asleep on jury.  Why don't you go to a doctor and get that checked out?  If you have sleep apnea it means you're not breathing while you sleep - might be worth getting checked out instead of throwing around a diagnosis.  I don't know why it bothers my so much but it really does.  If you know there is something wrong with you, do something about it.  Don't worry about sleeping with a mask on - you'll get used to it and you'll breathe better.  My father has sleep apnea and sleeps with a C-Pap machine. 

So, I finally get called.  I figured I'm a shoe-in.  I'm the last person in the room and there's one seat left.  I sit down with the lawyers.  We joke around a bit.  They ask me where I work so I tell them.  The lawyer excuses me.  He knows the owner of the school I work for.  What?  I don't even know the owner, how does this effect me at all?  What bullshit!  If I worked for Staples, and the lawyer knew the owner, would that be a conflict of interested?? 

Yes, it probably would.  But I was annoyed.  I had sat in that room on that same case for HOURS and now I was chopped so quickly.  Couldn't they call my name hours ago??  So I go back into the main room.  Now, I'm worried that I have to go back into the main pool since it's only 3:30.  I don't want to be called into another room and then have to come back the next day.

Luckily,  I didn't have to.  I handed in my papers and got stamped and I'm good to go for another 6 years.  Maybe next time I'll actually get picked.