I take jury duty seriously and never try to get out of service. Someone has to do this. The judge said it take four mailings of jury summons to get one person to show up. IMO, that's disgraceful.
During the questioning by the attorneys, during the jury selection process, the whack job sitting next to me replied she couldn't answer a question asked by the attorney immediately and would have to ponder it. She told the attorney she'd get back to him, that she had to wait for guidance from, none other than, KING SOLOMON. She said this in all seriousness.
The blatant attempts to get out of serving were really embarassing. It made me want to serve all the more. However, no dice.
I hear it said that only idiots serve on juries, that everyone else is smart enough to get out of serving. I shudder to think that only idiots are making decisions as to which predators will be allowed to continue to walk the streets.
Bill, I remember the first time I served Jury Duty, my employer was areal A__hole about it, although I would not give in to his arrogance and lack of since of duty. The number one complaint that I heard from other potential Jurors was work related problems. I think the rules concerning employers and jury duty should be strenghtened and enforced in order to ensure that more people don't have to endure the sometimes long lasting affects on a citizen who is willing to serve and do their duty as a citzen. Also if more people would realize the importance of serving and actually serve then we all as a whole would have to serve less often making it easier on everybody. As it is I believe that the individuals who do choose to serve without resistance wind up taking up a lot of slack for those who are unwilling to serve.
Nobody enjoys the inconvinience, however I felt like the rewards and knowledge I received from the experience was worth the inconvinience. I'm also glad to say that my current employer has excellent rules concerning jury duty which allow me to serve with lossing pay or respect. That is the way every employer should be.
