Rant #3,589: Dumb

Something lighter for today ...

Have you ever served on a jury?

Several years ago, I was supposed to serve on a jury in the court in Brooklyn, but my employer told me that either I get off the jury, or he wouldn't pay me, and on top of that, he would fire me--

Which, of course, is totally illegal, and I told him I would sue him if he dared to fire me.

(Once again, sometimes you have to threaten litigation, and remarkably, people come to their senses pretty quickly.)

I have not had the pleasure on serving on a jury since, but my wife has done this, and her work did not give her the least bit of a problem.

Since we moved to a new residence in November 2023, my wife and my son have both been put on standby, but they haven't gotten me yet.

In fact, my son was cited by Nassau County, and as I have told you time and time again, we don't live in Nassau anymore, we live in Suffolk County.

And what's worse, they had our current address correct, which is a Suffolk County address.

As I have told you many times, we live on the border of the two counties, and I have a feeling that at one time, this address was, in fact, in Nassau County, but has since been redistricted.

Anyway, the latest wrinkle to this quagmire is this:

Guess who just was served as a standby juror?

My mother, that's who!

My mother never lived at our residence in Suffolk County, yet the letter went right to this residence.

And it was for Nassau County!

And, the third thing--

She is deceased, passing away in September of last year 

I received this letter, giggled a little bit, but it was now my job to get her out of this obligation, one she couldn't do even if she was still with us.

I called two numbers that were provided on the communication, but after about 20 minutes of calling one number and then the other, I wasn't getting anywhere--

So I decided to find a number for the Commissioner of Jurors Office, in Mineola, in Nassau County.

I actually got a real human being on the line, someone named Mike, and I explained to him the following:

1) The communication was addressed to an address my mother never lived at.

2) The address is a Suffolk County address, so it automatically negates the summons, as the address is not in Nassau County.

3) My mother cannot serve, anyway, because she is--

DECEASED.

Yes, I had a little fun with this, because it is so idiotic, that you almost have to play with it to make it worth your while--and time.

I honestly thought I was going to be asked for proof of her passing, which I would refuse to provide because we don't live in Nassau County.

(As an aside, for my son, I had to provide documentation that we lived in Suffolk County and also that he was handicapped, precluding him from serving on a jury with the type of malady he has--and again, it was for serving on a Nassau County jury, not one in Suffolk County.)

After I told him my mother was no longer with us, Mike told me that he would take care of it after I provided him with verbal proof that she was deceased, and that was the end of that.

I find it beyond belief that government offices actually believe we live in Nassau County when we live in Suffolk County.

You would think they would know one county address from another, and as I have told you in the past, my family has had numerous problems with several agencies related to the fact that we live in Suffolk and not Nassau.

Heck, the police don't even know what county we live in, so why should these agencies?

And suffice it to say, I have not yet been served for jury duty, from Nassau nor from Suffolk.

I once read that there is a house in New York State that actually sits directly on the border of the United States and Canada--

One part of it is in the U.S., and the other part is in our friends to the north.

The house has had numerous owners over the years, and the homeowners have always been able to work out something so everything is copacetic between the U.S., Canada, New York State and whatever province they are in in Canada.

I almost feel the same way ...

And now, my deceased mother has become part of this craziness, which I am not too happy about.

But what more can I do about this?

My family and I are certainly not the only ones to experience this situation, as we are a community of more than 200 apartments here, so I would assume all of us have experienced this stupidity.

But when government agencies don't even know where you live ...

You really have to wonder.

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday--

From Suffolk County, New York.