Record not found. You’re excused.
Haaaaaallelujah! Haaaaaaallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Halleh-eh-lu-u-jah!
You are asking, “Say what?” NO JURY DUTY ON MONDAY!!! Shout it to the hills! NO JURY DUTY ON MONDAY! I AM EXCUSED! ‘splain, KW! Okay. At the beginning of the summer, I received (yet another) summons to do jury duty. My scheduled date to appear fell on the Monday of the ONE BLASTED WEEK that I was taking vacation this summer. YAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! I *immediately* called the jury board number to take advantage of my one and only postponement. The very nice (yes, really) jury board “mom” and I looked at the calendar and, long story short, I picked September 14th. I’m not sure why I picked that date but I *know* that I rejected the day after the Labor Day weekend. Even if Radical Betty’s celebration hadn’t happened on Labor Day weekend, it would’ve been a bad date. The nice jury board “mom” on the phone said that they would send me a new jury notification and I said thank you very much and she didn’t know that I was pretty much down on my hands and knees with that thank you and then we both went on with our lives.
Except that… I never *received* that new notification. I have to admit that I was worried. What happened? Did my postponement not get into the database? And therefore, did I miss my August date? And, if so, will I receive a bill for umpteen thousand dollars for not showing up for jury duty? Sigh. I waited and I waited and I waited and I absolutely HATE to make phone calls so I waited some more. And my life is currently a fire drill. I have a lot to do at work and a big chunk of it is due next Friday and then there’s my personal life, which I can’t blahg about for the moment (nothing really awful you guys). And so. I was freaking out. I finally called the Jury Board office this afternoon and guess what? After I spat out my long, sad sob story, the very nice woman on the phone told me that they had changed “the system” over the summer and that some people had received letters about that but some people had not and anyone who was not in the database was excused.
I gave her my name and she looked it up and she said, “Record not found.” I asked, “Does that mean I am excused?” She replied, “Yes!” This is a good thing, since my life has been a fire drill all summer and I have a beloved but rather intense job and I have a huge functional specification due next Friday. And all manner of relatives including, well, I’ll leave you at that since I lost a beloved one last week.
But I do not have to report for jury duty on Monday and that is a good thing!!! Hallelujah! (And I think I have repeated myself a couple times in this entry and I do not care.)
September 10th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Sounds like you dodged a bullet.
September 10th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
When you get to choose, try a short week like just before T-Day or in December. Carl has done this because his kids’ parents are usually available to cover for the kids. 2 times the jury pool has been sent home due to lack of trials scheduled.
September 11th, 2009 at 12:48 am
Jury duty NEVER comes at a decent time and I’ve been excused every time. They don’t want teachers to have subs in their classes all the time. What a relief for you!
September 11th, 2009 at 6:14 am
I will find out on Sunday if I have to report to the courthouse on Monday. Yes. For jury duty. I did not think that the parallels in our lives—and there are tons of things that have no parallel!—would extend to (potential) jury duty.
September 11th, 2009 at 7:35 am
I really think the jury system here needs to be overhauled. I think there should be *some* element of choice from the beginning. Maybe they could provide 2-3 dates you could pick from? Also, I have been called something like three times since 2004 or so. I know other people who have never been called. It is supposed to be random but that doesn’t feel very random to me. Also, they can currently only summon a person once a year. I think that should be a longer period of time, maybe five or even 10 years. There is a call-in system here also. Every time I have called it, I’ve been told to come in but I have never had to serve. Having a jury pool sitting around waiting is often incentive for people to reach a settlement without a trial.
Yes, I dodged a bullet! And Sam and I do have very parallel lives. And maybe I should’ve been a teacher. Except for the part where I would strangle the kids!
September 11th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
It is OK to repeat yourself. You are in training to be an Octo some day.