150 Angry Potential Jurors [Prequel to Twelve Angry Men]So last week I had jury duty. Again.
I don't know what it is about Los Angeles, but they are perpetually jury hungry here. After getting hit up four times in fifteen years I have learned a lot of dodges. I always postpone jury duty as much as I can (up to six months without requiring a note from your doctor) which stretches things out a bit more; I also recommend picking a week with a national holiday in it if possible. This year I picked the third week of July because currently California has a court furlough day the third Wednesday of every month. This is because we are broke. I could go on at great length about the pack of clowns who run this state, but I will spare you that. (Except to comment that the libraries are now closed two days out of the week to save money, which infuriates me. I love to go to the library.)
As you may know, to find out if you are going to have to go to court on a given day you have to call in the night before. This flat out ruined my schedule; I had to close it for the week every day but Monday and despite my best efforts wound up seeing only five to seven people per day on the other days.
I evaded the clutches of the court for a few days, but my luck ran out when they nailed me on Thursday. I did get lucky, though; I was not called for any jury and was let out early. It was a very unproductive day. I read the newspaper and some outdated magazines (I forgot my CME journals I had meant to bring) and wandered around reading exciting stuff posted on the walls. Even the bus schedule for Culver City was an object of fascination, to say nothing of the posters of various celebrities who had done their civic duty by obeying the call of the Los Angeles Superior Court. (Sadly, neither Harrison Ford nor Edward James Olmos, both of whom apparently have done jury duty in the past, was attending that day.)
After sitting all morning, going to lunch and returning in the afternoon, an announcement was made at 2:45 that one of the cases scheduled for that day had settled without going to trial. Therefore some (not all!) of the jurors would be let go. The iron-fisted ladies running the jury program began calling names at random, and you could almost hear the prayers ascending around the room. Just as I had given up hope I heard my name called and I felt like I'd won the lottery. You never saw such a giddy bunch of people as my fellow escapees and I packed ourselves into the elevator and got the hell out of there.
I realize this isn't a very exciting story, but it's the only one I've got. After my dearth of posts I figured I might as well tell you what I've been up to.
Labels: Los Angeles, The Doctor's Life
posted by Dr. Alice at #
I seem to have thrown them off my scent for now, but I'd actually welcome jury duty because there are the best gorditas in the market downtown...wonder if celebrities ever make it onto a jury, or if they all get thrown off on some technicality (like being a celebrity)?
