and they wonder why....

I received that infamous jury summons letter in the mail a few weeks ago. The call was made to see if I needed to appear for the selection process. My group was told that "No" they were not needed alternately on the SAME message that said "Yes" you are needed. So with another brief & un-friendly phone call, I in fact had to report. 

Which is totally fine because I don't find fulfilling my civic duty & actually find the whole process very interesting. However, this go around was not the best. 

The courthouse I had to report to was 55+ miles away from our house! Yes, you read correctly 55+ miles away. I don't even want to tell you how many other courthouses are between that one & me. So, since the drive would take approximately 1 hour & 15 min. I had to be up a little earlier then I prefer, which again is not that bad, annoying but whatever.

I don't drive in traffic or across Phoenix especially during morning rush hour because honestly I would probably either a.) have a heart attack or b.) have to pull over to the shoulder get out of my car & lay on the road curled up in the fetal position crying. I was scared for life 3 years ago when I was in a horrible accident & have had a super hard time dealing with driving ever since. I really need serious counseling over it lol! So, I had to then force Clint to drive me up there taking him away from his work. 

We get there, I check in & I W-A-I-T. Let me just tell you, if you haven't ever gone to a juror selection before, you just wait! The people, oh the people! When they say they are looking for diversity boy do they mean it. You see all kinds! Finally, this nice lady at the check-in desk stands up & tells us she is going to read a list of names & we need to answer here if our name is read. She goes through the 2 page list & then starts the whole "recorded message" about jury selection. When she finishes that, she says, "You guys are going to be really ticked off when I say this, but please don't shoot the messenger, this had nothing to do with me. If I just read your name, you are released from your duties today, however you must RE-APPEAR on Friday morning by 8:30am, the judge is to "busy" to attend jury selection today." 

Are you kidding me?! Talk about some pretty hot people, I tell ya! Most people try to get out of jury duty, & they wonder why! This was incredibly inconsiderate if you ask me. It's not just the time, it's the loss of income, the expense of gas & in cases like mine or similar if you don't drive or don't have a car in some cases it's the burden you have to put on someone else. The judge should be well aware of his/her schedule earlier then the morning of jury selection. Especially when our county is so large & people have to drive far to get to this particular location on the very edge of town. 

So, we make the trek again on Friday. Wish me luck!