Heard in the Line of (Jury) Duty

Random thoughts upon the completion of a morning of jury duty (where, it should go without saying, considering the time stamp of this post, that I didn't get picked):

• The big flood in the basement of the Dallas County Records Building knocked out computer service to all of county government, which means we had to submit new forms by hand. Despite everything having to be done manually, it didn't really take that much longer than usual to get the jury pools assigned.


• As always, there was a lot of waiting in the hall. We noticed that a police officer was standing in the hall at the same time, and somebody said that it must be awful to have to stand out there doing nothing for so long. Imagine our surprise when he turned out to be a member of the jury pool! (There were some lawyers in there, too; I guess the only people who you don't see on a regular basis would be doctors.)


• Before our voir dire process began, there were many people who came in and out to submit pleas and do other non-trial business with the court, with friends and family waiting outside for them. Perhaps the most poignant moment was when a toddler started crying for his mother, who was obviously in one of the courtrooms, and he was inconsolable when the friend/relative who was watching him said that he couldn't go see Mama right now. (On the other hand, it was somewhat amusing that said toddler had a little Mohawk haircut.)


• Call me old-school, but it was amazing (and disappointing) to me how many people showed up for non-trial appearances in what I'd consider to be overly casual attire. I know it's summer, but you'd think that people would consider a courtroom appearance important enough to leave the shorts, flip-flops, baggy pants, etc. at home.


• I realize the importance of doing one's civic duty, but, as I've noted in the past, jury duty is always a bit scary to those of us who are sole proprietors, because, while most people will continue to be paid by their employers during their terms of service, that's impossible when employer and employee are the same and the business cannot open when the whole "company" is away. I deferred to this week for a reason--the college is out and the public schools are in exams--but it would have been bad for me if any trial I was hearing had lasted for longer than this week.

Some people have noted that it seems like I'm always being called for jury duty, and, while it does feel like that, part of the reason is because things have been postponed a few times. My federal on-call session that I served over Christmas break was delayed because of my knee surgery and the illness of a colleague at school, and this county service was also postponed because the original summons date ran concurrently with the federal service. So this is the first time in over a year that I haven't had the specter of upcoming jury service hanging over my head, and I hope that this situation will continue for a while.

So now it truly is summer for a few days; I can relax, work on the summer schedule, and get a few other things done.