You Got Served!
Jury duty. We're all entitled to a trial by jury, so somebody has got to do it. I, apparently, am on a short list of the only potential jurors in Los Angeles county. I have received four summons in as many months and I'm beginning to feel harrassed. The first one came in the form of a threatening post card informing me that I'd failed to register for jury duty when they supposedly sent my summons some time prior. I'm pretty diligent when it comes to my responsibilities and keeping myself from breaking the law, paying fines, or spending time in jail. So I called and spoke to a pleasant woman who went through the registration process with me, and my subsequent request for an excuse because I'm a full time mother to 3 small children between the hours of 8am and 5pm. She gave me simple instructions: to fill out my children's names and ages in the area she so helpfully highlighted for me. Because I'm not a total idiot, I was able to do this with no trouble whatsoever.
At the end of the following month I received an actual notice to appear summons. Once again I called, only to find out that my request for an excuse was under review and would be decided in 30 t 60 days. My dilemma was that my date to appear was before that 30 day timeframe. When I called again a week later I was told that my request for an excuse had been denied and waited for an additional 27 minutes before I could speak to an actual human being to plead my case. When I finally reached an oh-so-helpful employee she asked if I had indicated that my youngest child was under the age of 5; to which I answered, yep. She postponed my date for 60 days while she sent me yet another registration form to request my excuse, which I promptly completed and returned the same day I received it.
TWO days later I opened my mailbox to find ANOTHER request to register for jury duty! Good grief! And once again I had to go through the automated process and hold for several minutes to request my excuse. Apparently I'm holding up the entire legal system because I must be the only potential juror out there.
The kicker is, if I were to serve, it would cost me $15 dollars an hour to hire a babysitter for my children, for as much as a week (maybe more). I'm also stymied by their estimation that only children under the age of 5 are worthy enough for their parents to be excused from jury duty. Even if they're in school, they will still need a ride home and supervision afterwards, and it will still cost me $15 dollars an hour for that necessity. Even if I'm not the sole caregiver between the hours of 8am and 5pm in that case, I certainly am between the hours of 12pm and 5pm, what with all three of my children dismissed from school at noon, 2pm, and 3pm respectively.
I'm a tax paying, law abiding citizen who's just trying to live her life and it seems as if they're just trying to get me into trouble! Give me five years, please! I promise I'll happily serve my time when all 3 of my children are able to care for themselves while I'm away temporarily. There has got to be someone else on that damn list!
At the end of the following month I received an actual notice to appear summons. Once again I called, only to find out that my request for an excuse was under review and would be decided in 30 t 60 days. My dilemma was that my date to appear was before that 30 day timeframe. When I called again a week later I was told that my request for an excuse had been denied and waited for an additional 27 minutes before I could speak to an actual human being to plead my case. When I finally reached an oh-so-helpful employee she asked if I had indicated that my youngest child was under the age of 5; to which I answered, yep. She postponed my date for 60 days while she sent me yet another registration form to request my excuse, which I promptly completed and returned the same day I received it.
TWO days later I opened my mailbox to find ANOTHER request to register for jury duty! Good grief! And once again I had to go through the automated process and hold for several minutes to request my excuse. Apparently I'm holding up the entire legal system because I must be the only potential juror out there.
The kicker is, if I were to serve, it would cost me $15 dollars an hour to hire a babysitter for my children, for as much as a week (maybe more). I'm also stymied by their estimation that only children under the age of 5 are worthy enough for their parents to be excused from jury duty. Even if they're in school, they will still need a ride home and supervision afterwards, and it will still cost me $15 dollars an hour for that necessity. Even if I'm not the sole caregiver between the hours of 8am and 5pm in that case, I certainly am between the hours of 12pm and 5pm, what with all three of my children dismissed from school at noon, 2pm, and 3pm respectively.
I'm a tax paying, law abiding citizen who's just trying to live her life and it seems as if they're just trying to get me into trouble! Give me five years, please! I promise I'll happily serve my time when all 3 of my children are able to care for themselves while I'm away temporarily. There has got to be someone else on that damn list!
posted by Tootsie Farklepants at 11:16 PM
5 Comments:
Yeah, me!
I'm in the same boat as you. I've got two kids, 8 and 6. I received my summons about a week ago. Seeing no way out of it, and knowing others who had not been able to get out of it either, I am assigned to the week of March 26th. At least I can bargain with friends to do the same should they get called.
What I have been trying to determine is how much I am really going to have to be at the courthouse. Apparently, not everyone is there all five days and some don't even get called in at all.
I have no idea what to expect, so if anyone has done this before, please fill me in!
A friend of mine suggested it would be a good time to become a racist homophobe - LOL!
Yep. I'll have to bargain with my friends someday too, and I hate to do it because with the three kids all getting out of school at different times (and different schools by that time) it will be a major inconvenience for them. I hate to do that to people.
I've yet to serve because of course when I was single and childless I never got called. My husband served a couple of years ago (and he's also sceduled to serve the same week as you!) he served all 5 days, all day.
My brother, OTOH, served half of one day. So it's a crap shoot...unfortunately you have to plan (because of the kids) to have the whole week covered.
Frustrating is an understatement. LOL!
Oh, I also wanted to say that when I first discovered they denied my request initially, I toyed with the idea of showing up for jury duty and bringing my kids with me. LOL! But I'd probably get fined or charged with contempt of court or something.
;-)
I kind of figured it was my time. I can't believe I have made it this far (I'm 44) and still haven't had to do it.
When I was single & childless, I still got out of it somehow.
So, hopefully I won't have to be there much. I'm not looking forward to it!
Actually, if someone was there for 5 days, it meant that they were on a trial. The new system is a one-day thing, yes, you call in for a full week, but if you actually have to go to the courthouse, you'll either be picked for a trial (which you might later be excused from)or released from service after that one appearance in court. These days, no one is going and sitting at the courthouse for jury duty for a full 5 days without being on a trial. Maybe they wanted time off work?
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