Jury Duty

I have been lucky enough to avoid Jury Duty for the past... oh... 5 years.

Every time I received my summons in Orange County, I would reply telling them I lived in L.A. County.

Every time I received my summons in Castaic, I told them I was in Irvine for school.

I also happened to avoid it while I was abroad.

And yet, after 5 years, Jury Duty has finally caught up, and I no longer can escape the wrath of early morning commutes to serve as a judger for some poor hapless soul(s).

I was initially supposed to serve a week in April. But I postponed it thinking I was going to Kern County that week to train to be a white water raft guide. (I unfortunately didn't, but I had no jury duty so it was okay.)

I postponed it to only a few weeks later, thinking I should just get it out of the way.

The week arrives. I call that Sunday night to see if I have to come in the morning.

"You do not have to report for service tomorrow morning," the nice automated lady told me, God bless her.

I did this until Wednesday night. Didn't have to come in Monday-Thursday. I end up going out Thursday night, most likely getting a little toasty, and passed out without calling.

I wake up and for whatever reason, am reminded of jury duty. It's 9 a.m. and I call to check if I had to come in, wishfully thinking I probably didn't have to since I didn't have to all week.

"You were supposed to report for duty this morning at 8:30 a.m."

Fuck.

"Please stay on the line as we connect you so you can reschedule your service."

I tell the dude to just give me jury duty for the following week. Again. I just want to get this out of the way.

Sunday rolls around and I totally forget to call until Monday morning.

"You were supposed to report for duty this morning at 8:30 a.m."

Fuck! On a Monday!

Again I reschedule for the following week. I want to get it out of the way. At this point, jury duty is such a pain in the ass, robbing me of my weeks of being a delinquent and drinking my liver away.

I remember to call Sunday and Monday, but forget to call Tuesday night.

I think you know where this is going...

"You were supposed to report for duty this morning at 8:30 a.m."

Fuck. My. Ass. Sideways.

I'm on the phone with the dude trying to reschedule, and I tell him that I'm super cluster-fucked with school and work in the evening that I continuously forget to call. I ask if I can postpone my service to mid-June, after school is out and life is a little less hectic.

He complied with no problems and told me he would send me a new form with the date and everything, blah blah blah.

To make a short story long (as I just did), I have jury duty this week, and so far, I haven't had to report. That leaves Friday.

I was good this time. I set an alarm on my phone everyday for 5 p.m., prompting me to call and check if I have to report the following morning.

Clearly, it worked.

I hope that I don't have to report on Friday, and that I will have this Jury Duty hell over with.

At the same time, I do want to experience the whole jury duty aspect and see what it's all about.

Then again, if I land a murder case where I have to serve for months at a time, I will be a sad panda.

Anyway, I'm going out to Springbok tomorrow night. Karaoke night.

I hope my alarm works, that I am sober enough to hear my phone, and coordinated enough to call and check.

Reminders are welcome, and greatly appreciated.