Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Every day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the twenty-first day of the month is "Safety."
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On the forms that came with the instructions I received for jury duty, it repeatedly said that parking was limited and that if we parked in a limited time spot, we'd be towed. It turns out that this parking warning is mostly because half of the parking lot is under construction.
The main entrance to the courthouse is behind that fence and I found myself wondering how to actually get in the building. A guy holding his own potential juror paperwork was similarly staring around and we had started a discussion that was going nowhere when a guy in a hard hat directed us to these giant ENTRANCE signs that both of us had completely ignored. LOL.
Okay, to answer some questions about jury duty. I received a summons that my jury term of service was from September 1 - September 30. Basically, I have to call or check the website every day after 5:30pm to see if I will be needed in court the next day. The first week was a bit weird because of Labor Day, but basically I checked on August 31 (which was a Thursday) and the website said I wasn't needed and didn't need to check back until Friday, September 8 for service on September 11. I checked back and wasn't needed and had to check back that Wednesday and then that Friday and so on and then I got a text message earlier this week on Tuesday that I did need to appear on Wednesday.
Yes, this has been quite stressful because every appointment I make I have to caveat "as long as I don't have jury duty." LOL. But things would be so much worse for me if I were an hourly worker or had elder or childcare to deal with. I honestly don't know how people do it because they're really only giving you 12-14 hours notice.
The jury instructions also say that a term of juror's service will not exceed five days (and I've already had one), so the most I'd have to go in for is another four days. So that's how it works here. When I served before, it was for an entire week, but I had to go in Monday - Thursday and that was it.
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This was the first time in a long time I'd been in a cramped room with strangers. I will admit that I while I had fleeting thoughts of COVID (the guy next to me kept coughing and sneezing into a handkerchief), it wasn't really freaking me out. What was?
It was terrible being in a room with so many men. I had sweaty palms and shortness of breath and I think I need to deal with this. I mean, not all men are bad. I'm married to a lovely man! Nevertheless, I felt distinctly unsafe and was not made to feel better when a sheriff's deputy (male) with a gun and a taser appeared in the room.
In the end, there were 10 men and 6 women in the room. While the county demographics do indicate slightly more men than women (51% men, 49% women), this 37.5% of women in the jury pool (only one woman made the jury - 16.7%) made me incredibly uneasy.
If I could have brought Hannah along, she would have kept those strange men away from me!
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Could you make it work if you were only given 12-14 hours notice about jury duty the next day?
Well... this all sounds very unpleasant for you! I'm glad more women showed up. And, I guess if I had to, I could show up for jury duty with 12 hours notice. But it would mean me notifying my work, and then they would have to cancel all the clients I had scheduled for that day. AND, I wouldn't get paid, because I get paid per massage. So I would be pretty upset! I'll bet you'll be happy when this month is over.
ReplyDeleteI called in on Friday and they don't need me next week, so I'm all done! It is definitely a financial burden for people when they have to miss work for jury duty. I don't know how people who it would cause a real financial hardship do it!
DeleteI hate being in a room with a bunch of strangers, especially when one is sick. And I'm very VERY skittish about getting sick, even with a cold. I have a lousy immune system and end up with whatever's going around.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you felt truly uncomfortable, and I'm sorry you were in that position.
Because I'm retired, I'd be able to deal with jury duty pretty seamlessly unless I had care of my mother that week or one of her doctor appointments. But even then, those can be rescheduled.
As you saw in the text, there were a lot of people of retirement age in that room. It probably is easier for them to rearrange their schedules, but I wonder about "jury of your peers" if you're not in that age range!
DeleteI'd forgotten about this until reading your post, but yes I had a long jury service term once. It was exactly like yours where we just had to check in once a week. I was never called.
ReplyDeleteToday I could serve with 12-14 hours notice and still get paid, though I would have to catch up on work at night. But in the past it would have been unpaid. Funny story, when I started my first job I found a letter in my desk from the previous person who had the job asking to be excused from jury duty b/c the unpaid time would be a financial hardship. Every time that I got called for jury duty in my 20s I sent in the exact same letter and was always excused. But seriously it's a huge issue that jury duty time can be unpaid.
We get paid $20 for half a day and $40 for an entire day. It's hardly enough to make up for people missing an entire day of work! I don't know how people do it, honestly. The jury paperwork I was sent made it seem like financial hardship was not reason enough for you to be excused from jury service in our jurisdiction!
DeleteI'm sorry you had such a stressful experience. I do find it strange that they would expect people to just drop everything to serve on the jury with so little notice. I mean, I could make it work because what am I doing? But I think most people have jobs that really don't allow that to happen.
ReplyDeleteI mean, I got the notice in the beginning of August, so I had lots of time to make plans, but I think it's one thing to know that at any day in September you might have to go to the courthouse and another thing to have to tell every appointment you have in September "with the caveat that I don't have to go to jury duty." I have a job interview next week and I had to tell them that I could do a certain time as long as I wasn't called to the courthouse and it was awkward as hell.
DeleteUgh, what a stressful situation... while I agree that there are tons of lovely men, I would probably also felt uncomfortable in the room with so many men. And some can ruin it for everybody.
ReplyDeleteSo many men AND an armed one. It seemed like a recipe for disaster to me.
DeleteUgh--this sounds super stressful. On your question, yes--I think I could make my classes asynchronous for a couple of weeks, if necessary.
ReplyDeleteYeah, but you'd be at the courthouse all day and then doing your work all night! It's hardly fair, but I guess I don't see another option.
DeleteI'm sorry that you felt so unsafe! What an awful feeling when you had to be there.
ReplyDeleteI think right now, if I got called, I would be able to say it would be a hardship because of helping with my mother. Hopefully she'll be back on her feet soon, though, and then I would pull out my "traumatic jury duty on a murder trial at age 18" story and hope that got me out of it. If I had to serve now, my work would flex, I'm sure. I wonder if I would get paid? Back then, you served three days with no pay and then it was $50 a day, quite a lot in 1987. But even with $250 in my pocket, It wasn't worth it for how upsetting it was.
Right. It's $20 for half a day and $40 for a whole day. It's hardly enough for gas and meals, let alone to make up for an entire day of lost wages! It would definitely create a financial hardship for a number of people.
DeleteI always think about how difficult jury duty is for people who have lots of responsibilities, like taking care of young kids, elderly parents, etc. Or those who work jobs where they don't get paid for jury duty. The one time I got called, I was working at a job that didn't pay for jury duty. Thankfully, I was able to take PTO but if I didn't have that, it would have been quite the hardship!
ReplyDeleteIf I had 12-14 hours notice for jury duty, I could make that work. My job is very flexible now and it wouldn't be a big deal to miss a day or two.
Yeah, I could make it work, but I think there were a lot of stressed out people there because of losing money. It's tough out there these days!
DeleteThis stresses me out just thinking about it since the last of notice would be very hard for me to navigate! I don't think our jury duty is as long as yours, though. I don't think you are on call for a month. That would be very very hard!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was called in Hennepin County, jury duty was for an entire week and I had to be at the courthouse Monday - Thursday and they didn't need us to come in on Friday. It was a long week!
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