Sunday, February 15, 2015

The Dirtiest Words of An American Judicial System

The dirtiest words of an American judicial system are simple:



"Jury Summons"


It means I'm sitting at the courthouse at 8:00 am on monday morning, instead of drinking my coffee bitching about how slow the first 2 hours of my work day have been; I'll be crammed in the kennel with the masses of the general public, vying for my opportunity to get out of determining the guilt of some sap who got caught.

I'm not thrilled about it.

When the whole career change happened abruptly this past May, I actually walked into the courthouse and asked for jury duty.  The look on the face of the poor woman at the clerk's office was priceless, "you can't do that."   I tried to explain it.  No use.

Its not that I have a desire to be excluded from civic duties; its just that I know I cant afford to miss 2 weeks over someone's red light camera protest.... or 5 days of closing arguments about underage porn... or 4 months of determining whom really defrauded some pensioner's union....   While I was unemployed, I readily accepted the task.  Now, 9 months later, they come back and put me in the same position that everyone else is in; except they just don't want to do it.  I do--- I just cant afford to.

Either way, after reading the red print, nothing that I am required to appear, and that failure to appear can result, in yellow text, "in court action," I know where I'm stuck tomorrow morning.

/sigh/

S.