Jury Duty - Long Overdue

To put you into context, my jury duty date was back in May... I'm guessing the 6th...

Up to this point, I've never been summoned in for jury duty. You always hear the horror stories and the "what to say/not to say," and it wouldn't be so bad if I weren't pressed to close on a transaction this Thursday. My mom, who is a veteran at sitting on a jury, told me wear to park but I'm not great with directions and I'm not great with paying attention. You can't exactly go wrong when you see a big sign at a parking garage that says "Jury Duty. Park here. $7." Although I missed the entrance, I circled back around (I hate the one way streets downtown). As I was circling, I recalled my mom saying they would reimburse me for parking and it should be about $5, but at that point, I didn't care b/c there was that very massive sign.

Anyhow, I frantically hustle to the room b/c the summons sounds quite threatening if you're late. I manage to make my way to this large holding room. There's tons of people in this room and I don't know if I'm allowed to talk on the phone or not, but there are no signs and it's so quiet! (I later find out that there is a large break room, wired to the PA system, that is located adjacent to this holding room. Had I known such a place existed, I wouldn't have scarfed down my chicken and rice with mangoes while I was driving! Yes, it was dangerous but one has to be fed!)

In any event, I"m not really sure what is supposed to happen but a bunch of people sitting there silently waiting. I'm a little bit stressed because I really need to be back in the office, so I'm working off my blackberry when I heard this police man get onto the PA system. He first tells us that they'll be calling names to go to secondary holding rooms. Apparently, it's in these rooms that you may or may not be selected to serve on an actual jury. Prior to calling out the names, he also tells us about parking, the large break room, and how the only channel the TVs will play in the holding room is the Discovery channel. Apparently, CNN wasn't working out.

So as he begins to call names, my heart races because I wonder if I'll get selected. They go through 2 batches and I still haven't heard my name. They let us know that they'll hold us for an unknown amount of time. If by 3pm they haven't called our names, they would release us. So I end up going to the back room and working on some of my Bible study homework. Soon enough I get sleepy and just pass out in the break room. (It definitely reminded me of the AIM reading room at the business school minus the comfy chairs). I was awakened when they got onto the PA and informed us, "thank you for your time, you are free to go home."

Yah, it was pretty anti-climatic, but I'm not complaining. I ended up being very well rested and got a check in the mail for my services. Had I found the parking lot my mom was referring to, I would've been reimbursed for my parking expenses, but I ended up paying about $2 for a nap.

Good times.