Jury Duty.

I’ve only been here a little over 2 years, and I get called for Jury Duty?! At the criminal court?? C’mon… So originally I got the letter in the mail this past June, but I postponed as you’re allowed to do once. It was one of those things that I wished and hoped would just go away after I postponed it, but unfortunately at the end of August, I got the dang letter again! Today was the day. 9am call time. 100 Centre Street. No idea where that was. That’s why God invented HopStop and smart phones. Once I got to the building and went through security, I had to wait to get into the jury room with the other 80 people serving. At about 9:10am they let us in to start the exciting process…which include the jury clerk letting us know we would be serving at least two consecutive days. Bah!!!

If I could sum up the day it was really…loooong…but surprisingly not that bad. The jury clerk went through a long list of all the rules of the day. People asked their questions and then we waited to be called. And waited. and waited. I got to finish a book I’ve been reading, but was so mad at myself for not bringing my computer! I could have caught up on all the new fall shows! At 12:15pm the clerk dismissed us for lunch and said we had to be back in the room by 2pm. Almost a 2 hour lunch break! And with an 80 degree day here in NYC, I was excited to get outside and just enjoy. Went to a vendor and got a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich. yum. After lunch the waiting continued….I did however meet a great new friend  who was sitting next to me all day, who happened to be the Executive Editor of SELF magazine. Only in New York… we ended up talking about just about everything. Shared our love of country music, reality tv, the Upper West Side, and the awe of facebook changes  With the fun conversation, the afternoon went by a bit quicker than the morning. Then at about 4pm, the clerk came back to her microphone and said she was just waiting on a call with good news, then she would dismiss us.  A little after 4pm she came back to the microphone again and announce that the jury was dismissed. Like dunzo. Like we didn’t have to come back tomorrow. WAHOO!!! And now I don’t have to serve for another 6 years! Made.my.day.  Now don’t get me wrong, it would have been super cool to be on the jury for some big criminal case. But I can’t just not be at work for that long. They kinda need me….I was already freaking out about having to miss work tomorrow. So thank the Lord for that blessing. In all seriousness thank you God:)  I feel bad for those people that left to reschedule due to conflict, because now they’ll just be getting another letter 3 months down the road…

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