Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Is It strange That I Like Jury Duty?

I served jury duty the past couple of days. Despite how some people feel, I actually don't mind going in when they summons me every couple of years. It's the perfect spot to people watch and, I'll be honest, to  be a catty, evil person...only in my mind, of course.
For starters, I always wonder if some of my fellow citizens save their absolutely worst outfits for jury duty. There was one woman this morning who honestly looked like she was ready to go scrub floors. C'mon, we all know you don't want to be there, lady, but how about a clean pair of jeans and tee shirt minus the logo?
A kindly, older gentlemen was in the chair to my left (he was a Vietnam vet, his baseball cap told me so) and while he was dressed plainly but neatly, a shower or some deodorant wouldn't have killed him. He exuded an interesting aromatic mix of dust and rancid cologne. Fortunately, he met another juror, also a military vet (yes, I eavesdrop on other people's conversations, so sue me) and they went to another corner of the room for a quiet chat.
And of course, there is always that one pissed off human being who can't believe that yet again, they've been called in to possibly serve on a jury, and they are apparently the only one in the room who has better things they could be doing, and for the love of God, do they really have to fill out one more piece of paperwork? Yes, yes you do, lady. Just shut up, fill out the form, and deal with it!

As it turned out, after two days of sitting alone from the rest of the world, we were politely dismissed, obviously the overflow gang on standby in case the other jurors didn't pan out for the defense and prosecution. We were told to not discuss any of the proceedings with anyone after we left. This will not be a problem, I think. I can't vouch for the rest of my contingency, but during the two days, no one in any official capacity shared anything with me that anyone on the outside world would care to hear. Basically, I sat on by butt and enjoyed a good book. The jury commission even gave me fifteen dollars a day. Best of all, jury duty allowed me to sleep in two extra hours in the morning. All in all, not a bad deal.
They can summon me anytime they want.

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