jury duty, part 1

I showed up to jury duty this morning with a really bad attitude. I didn't want to be there, and I wanted them to know it. As we all signed in, I sat down on the bench and pulled out the six backcopies of People Magazine that I just haven't had time to read over the last few weeks. Finally, I might be able to get my celebrity fix.

And then the best surprise of all....one of my good friends from my company walked in. If I was going to have to endure this, at least Jose was there to keep me company. While the 50+ other people stuck their noses in their books, he and I happily chatted away and caught up on things, until we started noticing little spiders on the bench, along the wall, and coming down from the ceiling. You can't imagine anything worse for two OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) people like ourselves.

But our reunion was shortlived as Joe was selected for the first jury pool and I went into the room with the second jury pool. The case was for a DUI charge. The poor guy sitting in the room with his wife and twin boys sitting there. In a moment of weakness, I had an overwhelming sense of compassion for them and actually wanted to be selected to be on the jury.

And then came the questioning from the lawyers and the judge. The end result? I didn't make it on the jury. Why? Well, it might of had something to do with my response when they asked if any of us had been pulled over by law enforcement. I spent a few minutes on my tirade about the"injustice" done to me when I was ticketed at a stop sign in December for which I believed I had come to a complete stop at. Apparently my passionate response was taken into consideration because they skipped right over me and I was dismissed from duty....but only for the day. Another curtain call at 8:30 am tomorrow.

In hindsight, I almost would have wanted to be on today's jury because the case pretty much guaranteed a one day trial. Now I'm going to have to play a round of "Press Your Luck" and hope that tomorrow concludes my responsibilities as a juror.

And as for Jose, he got dismissed from his jury pool too, so it looks like we'll be meeting up again for coffee tomorrow morning in courtroom four.

But all in all, I learned an important lesson. Jury duty is not as terrible as I thought. It could actually be an interesting experience...but only if it isn't a huge inconvenience to me. Because after all, it's all about me, right? :)