My Civic Duty

People who hate being summoned for jury duty must really love their job. I got called in last year and didn't know what to expect. You can wear jeans and you have anywhere from one to 5 days off work. The train ride to Jamaica Queens was much shorter and emptier than my ride into midtown. Sure the first hour was arduous, filling out forms, laughing at all the people who've no idea how to fill them out, sitting in a large room with a bunch of strangers, listening while the guy up front told us what to do.

The only thing you have to remember is to pay attention for your name. That's it, really. I brought books and magazines, there were computers with free internet, you were able to talk on your cell phone and they played movies for us. Plus, they let us take all the coffee/cigarette breaks we wanted, all we had to do was sign out and not be gone for more than 15 minutes at a time.

Also, it is SO easy to get out of most cases once your name is called. They called me for a medical malpractice case, which would have had me in court for a month (which I SERIOUSLY considered- it would be great not to have a real job for part of the summer!!). I told them I once went to an affiliate hospital that treated me very badly, so I would no doubt side with the plaintiff. This was actually true though.

I never got called again, had an hour lunch break, talked on the phone, checked my email, read 2 books and watched "A Perfect Storm" and "Mrs. Doubtfire". I met some interesting people and it was nice to feel you could have so much fun with something that is required of every citizen.

I got to go home at 4, and was really sad when the guy handed me a slip that stated I would not be contacted for another 6 years. I took the train to a stop before I was supposed to get off, and walked the rest of the way home thinking all the funny characters I met today were a nice change from the normal characters I see everyday.