Today, my wife has jury duty.
It could be worse. She could have hives, or something like that.
It is only jury duty.
The funny thing is that she doesn't mind having jury duty.
For her, it is some time away from the office, or in her case, the bank.
It is time to relax a bit, and her company pays her when she has jury duty, so it really is a no brainer.
It is also an obligation that all Americans must heed, or endure, whatever the case may be.
The good thing for her is that we appear to have been redistricted. In the past, we have had to go all the way into downtown Brooklyn--near 50 miles away and let me tell you from personal experience, a real pain to get to--to serve jury duty. Now, we don't go west to serve, we go out east, to Suffolk County, to Central Islip, which is 30 some odd miles away, but so much easier for us to get to.
As it is, I am sure she is hoping to get on a jury for a long trial, because her place of business has to pay her.
My time is coming too, but the situation is so much different with me.
My place of business refuses to pay for my jury duty days., and I mean, absolutely refuses.
They will pay for the first three days, and that is it.
A few years back, you might remember that I went into Brooklyn for jury duty, and against my protests, I was put on a jury for a trial that was expected to last a few weeks.
My place of business refused to pay, and I was told by the head honcho that I would be fired if I stayed on the jury, which is, of course, illegal.
I hemmed and hawed, and they finally let me off that jury.
So for me, jury duty is a real pain in the butt, but it is an obligation we, as American citizens, must fulfill.
Sure, you get paid for being on a jury, but it is a mere pittance.
It is very difficult to get off jury duty now. You cannot protest that you won't be a fair juror, or that you have other obligations--they simply won't listen anymore, and you can be charged with contempt of court if you protest too loudly.
That is why in the previous time I just described, I was put in a quandary not of my own making--risk being fired or risk contempt of court? I got away with it, but it made me very uncomfortable.
All I had to do in the past to get out of jury duty was claim "child support" and they would let me go in a flash.
I can't do that anymore.
Getting back to my wife, if nothing else, she might just see someone she knows in the court today. In a funny twist of fate, my brother in law--my sister's husband--also has jury duty today, so they might be strange bedfellows, so to speak.
Her time is now, my time is coming, and I have to wonder what is going to happen the next time I have to serve jury duty.
Good luck to my wife, and my brother in law--I hope they don't have to court with any nonsense while they serve ...
And certainly nothing that I have to cope with when my time comes.
Whether you go to Brooklyn or Central Islip is really just the luck of the draw, they're both part of Eastern District of New York. Higher need for jurors in Brooklyn, though, so you're more likely to wind up there than in "the White Elephant".
ReplyDeleteWell, I am happy that my wife got C.I. Brooklyn is really going out of the way, since we are at the Eastern tip of Nassau County. If I never saw the Brooklyn courthouse again, I would be quite happy.
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