The Waiting Room

From jury duty, that is.

I showed up at the courthouse, book and Ipod in hand. After filling out some paperwork, I, along with the other potential jurors, had to sit through a 20 minute film about the jury process. Now, I am quite sure it was very informative for most of the people in the room, but for someone like me who has a law degree and has a few trials under her belt, it was extremely painful. Honestly, I could make a better film that would take 10 minutes.

After the film, the waiting game began. There were two extremely slow computers available with Internet access. It took 10 minutes for me to access my email. I made a note to myself that if I was stuck there again tomorrow, I would bring my laptop as there is WI-FI in the courthouse.

There are a couple of TVs mounted in the jury room, all blasting CNN, which a little better than Jerry Springer. I decided to grab a cup of extremely hot vending machine coffee and cop a spot in the back of the room, put on my headphones and read.

Around 10:45, an announcement came that the following jurors were to report to the front of the room for assignment. About 40 people, including me. We were off to hear a case.

The case was a pedestrian motor vehicle accident. I was salivating because my first job as an attorney was in personal injury law, mainly motor vehicle cases. I thought to myself that there is NO WAY they are going to keep me.

The court called the first 17 people at random. This did not include me. Those of us remaining sat in the gallery, waiting to see if we would replace any of the 17 who were subject to questioning.

As I sat there, I decided to play along with the lawyers. I tried to guess which jurors each side would want and which ones would be excused. After about an hour, the attorneys finished with the group of 17 and went to chambers to discuss the seating with the judge. Five minutes later, the jury of six was picked. (I was right about all the excused except one. I guess I still got it.) The judge then thanked those of us who were not chosen and said our services was no longer needed.

I was home by 1 PM. Sweet.

Now let's see how long it takes before I am called in Target state!