I was a good citizen, one of only 5% of the population in the city that voted in the recent primary. Dutifully, I walked over to my polling place with my kids and voted. I hate politics. It's a dirty business. But, I sure don't want my freedoms taken away, so I slogged over and voted.
A few days ago I got a SUMMONS, what an ominous and officious word, for JURY DUTY.
It seems like a bunch of people I know have gotten jury duty lately. It's an epidemic.
It's my duty to be part of the process, yada yada, I get that, but why NOW. I didn't have kids until I was in my late thirties, but the system doesn't pick me until I start homeschooling my kids. What if I was still nursing? That would really be difficult since they only let you request to postpone your duty for nine months. A lot of moms nurse for much longer than that...I wonder if you could get a doctor's note to get out of it then?
You can't bring a cell phone or any electronic device. How in the world can a mother of little ones be expected to sit in a room from 8am-4:30pm and not have a cell phone in case of emergency? Oh yeah, there's a contact number folks can call in case of emergency. Let's just say, in case of emergency I want my freakin' phone on me, not risking things to a disinterested civil servant to pass along a message. Good grief.
Another rub is that it seems folks can vote if they are citizens but don't speak English (some who aren't even citizens may vote, but we'll leave that to the ACORN folks to sort out), however, if you can't communicate in ENGLISH you can get out of jury duty. HUH? You can't read the ballot well enough to vote, but that isn't a problem, but it gets you out of jury duty?
And, they pay you a whole $10 a day to sit there in silence.
Did you ever feel like the Israelites after they asked for a king?
3 comments:
I've awarded you.
I must admit since dh did his jury duty I live in fear of being called up. I have NO IDEA how I would cope with it all; wheelchairs, little kids at home; home education...the list goes on.
I hope you find a way to get out of this. You are doing your duty to the country by bringing up your child and homeschooling so he turns out like a decent human being.
I was nursing the first time I received my first summons, I told them I was nursing and got out of it. I got it again last year and told them I was homeschooling and the lady let me out of it again - so go for it, and try it worked for me. If it doesn't let me know if I can help out!
As many times as I've voted (only ever missed one election and it was a primary), I've never been summoned. Now, I'm unemployed so it seems as good a time as any-course I also need to job hunt.
The odds are good that you may not even be called up.
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