Today, I honored my summons to goto jury duty. I’ve been called maybe 4 or 5 times in the past and have only come close to serving on a jury once (I was an alternate and the case was pleaded out after opening arguments). Now that San Diego uses the 1 day or 1 trial system, a lot less of my time is wasted. (OK, I say wasted, but others would say it is an honor and privilege to server.) For the 5.5 years prior to my current job, I just filled out the form saying it would be an extreme financial hardship as I was self employed. Fortunately for me, I have an EVDO modem, so waiting in the jury room simply meant that I didn’t have the comforts of my home office, but I was still able to work.
Luckily I wasn’t called to serve on a jury, so I’m excused for another year. It was a nice day downtown and I managed to spend a bit of it walking during our lunch break (they gave us 2 hours for lunch, that IS a waste).
Hopefully I won’t be called again anytime soon.