Am presently cooling my heels in the lovely L.A. Superior Court Criminal Courts Building jury assembly room. (The good news is: free wi-fi and a few computer stations. The bad news is: jury duty.)
As a state employee -- and, indeed, one who works in the legal system -- I have to treat the experience in a somewhat positive fashion as, intellectually, I know how important it is that all citizens step up to the plate and participate fully when called. As a human being with shit to do, however ... not so much.
They don't have juror parking nearby -- it's about a three or four block hike to where they have juror parking set up. Coincidentally, it is about the same distance to my office. So I pretty much just drove to work -- I just didn't walk into the building. Hiked up to the courthouse. Duly assembled. Sat. Waited. Nearly fell asleep twice. Finished my book.
At lunch, I waited ten minutes (with all the rest of the jurors) for one of the four totally overworked elevators, and eventually gave up and took the stairs. Then hiked back down to work, where we were having a birthday lunch for a co-worker. Then hiked back to the courthouse. Waited another ten for the elevators going up. And am now using my "no more than 25 minutes if people are waiting" on one of the court-provided computers.
"Boredom" does not even begin to explain the mind-numbing feeling of being in here. I don't know if it's something in the recirculated air, but I'm so bored, there's nothing to look at on the internet. That's right, I have the whole web to look at (well, except for swimsuit shopping -- there's a sign here that prohibits surfing for porn, intimate apparel, or swimsuits) and I just feel so fried, I can't bring myself to even google anything interesting.
Perhaps if I fell asleep on the keyboard, and had little key-shaped indentations on my forehead, I'd get thanked and excused.
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3 comments:
You're not going to get selected, anyway. I mean, seriously - what attorney, defense or prosecutor, wants one of their own in the jury box?
I think those of us who are POSITIVELY GOING TO BE EXCUSED NO MATTER WHAT should have a box to check to that effect.
You would think that, Janiece, but I've actually been selected a staggering FOUR times in the past. (OK, some of these people really SHOULDN'T have put me on their juries, but they did.)
Odd. I've only been called once, and I was dismissed early because my father was a deputy sheriff.
Since I don't work in that field, I would love to serve on a jury, but alas and alack, I fear it's not to be.
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