Me again...

Yeah, I'm here. Still. I just don't seem to find the time to write about much anymore. Perhaps because I'm spending a lot more time writing other stuff (consults, progress notes, 10-page evaluations, etc...) over the course of the week.

This week's 'excitement' was the dreaded JURY DUTY...

Sorry if I just caused shivers down your spine.

I don't recall when exactly I was inflicted with the Jury Duty summons but at the time I had obviously decided that the date they wanted me to appear was not going to work out for me. So, I thought ahead and decided that icy, snowy January would be the perfect month! And I picked a Wednesday because I knew it would not be a work day for me since my girls only have a half-day of school each Wednesday. In November, I got the reminder that Jury Duty was fast approaching and I immediately called in the reinforcements to be sure I would have all my kids covered for the day.

All was under control.

That was, until I realized that since we are on a 1-day, 1-trial system I might actually be impaneled on a case that lasts more than just one day. Uh-oh. Thursday is our "evaluation" day at work and originally I had not been on the schedule to do an evaluation for this Thursday...however, we had some change of plans at last week's staff meeting and I offered to take on the evaluation. In doing so I had forgotten about that day's proximity to my Jury Duty day - and perhaps I just had my head in the sand refusing to believe that I could be unlucky enough to be impaneled, let alone be stuck dealing with trial that extended beyond the day I was asked to serve. So, I didn't even bother to worry my little head about it until Tuesday night when, in a sudden panic, I sent off an email to my coworkers telling them that I was hopeful that I would be able to do the evaluation but that I would be at the mercy of the courts on Wednesday. Eek!

I arrived at the courthouse at 8:00am to check-in and made it through the metal detectors without issue. I had decided it was the better part of valor to leave my knitting needles at home in case I were accused of bringing potential weapons into the courthouse. When I walked into the lobby I scanned the room to size up my potential fellow jurors and I couldn't believe my eyes! I actually recognized one of the people in the room - a former coworker from my days working as a secretary in the Psychology Department at UMass! Small world, indeed. Tom and I got caught up on each others' lives and I found out that he continues to work at the university (but in a different department) and that he still has co-ownership of a bunch of sheep, goats and bunnies. He and his friends raise the animals for their fiber and they spin their own yarn and use it for different kinds of fiber art. You can probably guess why Tom and I were good friend when we worked together! I still have a great little snowman he made for me one year for Christmas - it's body is made of raw wool, he has a little black felted wool hat and his 'coal' eyes and mouth and 'carrot' nose are made of polymer clay. I think of Tom every year when that snowman comes out of storage for the Christmas season. :-) (Side note: Tom informed me that my plan to leave my knitting at home was a good one - apparently, the last time he had jury duty they made him return his knitting needles to his car!)

Shortly after I arrived and started to chat with Tom a woman came into the courthouse and she and Tom seemed to know each other and she joined our conversation. We chatted for a while before I finally introduced myself and found out that she is actually the friend who owns the farm where Tom's menagerie lives! I had heard many things about her in the past but had never actually met her. Not knowing just how long we might be stuck in the small, windowless jury room, I was more than thrilled to have a friendly face (or two!) to suffer with. At least I wouldn't have to suffer in silence!

As it turns out we were in that small room for only about 25 minutes - and 15 of those minutes we got to watch the horrible, low-budget Jury Duty Service Informational Video. Once the video ended the bailiff and judge came into the room to give us some information about what the day looked like. The judge reported that there was a trial that was continued from yesterday and that there were also negotiations going on between lawyers and their clients which might result in scheduled cases not actually making it to the courtroom. She did not know if we were going to be needed at all but she wouldn't have more information until later in the morning so she allowed us to leave the building until 10:30. The bailiff released us with a warning not to loiter in the lobby or outside the building because, as he pointed out, "we don't want you mixing with the kinds of people that are out there...and I mean that in the best way possible." LOL That bailiff was actually pretty funny.

Tom, his friend Kathy, and I decided to hightail it to the nearest Dunkin' Donuts for a cup of coffee. We hung out and chatted for the next hour and a half. They filled me in on the latest happenings in their departments (Kathy actually works for the Linguistics department from which I received my undergrad degree) and it really just seems like not much changes when it comes to office politics and "The Way the University Operates" (or doesn't, as the case may be). They grumbled and groused about this and that encouraged me to "come back to UMass!" so I could join in the fun. ;-) I said "thanks, but no thanks" and told them that in many ways I work for an equally dysFUNctional company and had my share of office politics to try to avoid.

We headed back to the courthouse to settled ourselves back in that small, windowless room. I was tense and had called to give my coworker an update on the situation. I promised to let her know by 4:30 if I was going to be out of work on Thursday. She made some phone calls to let people know that the evaluation was "on hold" pending more information about my jury service.
I was really hoping that I wasn't going to have to cancel. The families who employ our services usually wait a good number of months for an evaluation date and I would not want to make them wait another few weeks or possibly a month or more!

About five minutes after we got back to the jury room the bailiff returned and gave us the status report. The case that was continued from yesterday was the "court case from hell" (His exact words! I told you he was funny.) and it was taking a lot longer than anticipated. Apparently, it related to a fight that broke out among some frat boys and there were approximately 15 witnesses who needed to give testimony. Boy, am I glad I didn't get impaneled for that case! In addition, there were a few cases that were negotiated outside of the courtroom (guess some of the parties got cold feet once they arrived and realized what might happen next?). Finally, the bailiff said "that's just my long way of telling you that you are free to go home and we thank you for your willingness to serve. And by the way, just a piece of information I'd like to pass along...the card that I told you about that you will be receiving in the mail and serves as proof of your service today? Well, let's just say that your employer will know what day you served but it will not state the time that you were released. For all intents and purposes you could have been here until 4:30pm. Ahem. So, that's all I want to say about that. Have a nice day." (see! funny AND nice!)

And there endeth my Jury Duty story for 2009.

Just for showing up today and being so 'willing' to serve (ha) I am relieved of any Jury Duty for the next three years...so long as I keep the card that shows my proof of service. If I lose the card the bailiff was nice enough to point out that my "punishment" would be that I would have no choice but to serve if my name happened to randomly come up again within the next three years. Yeah, well...that precious piece of paper is going directly in my fire box as soon as it's in my hot little hands.

Oh, and all was well for the evaluation, thankfully. I was able to call my coworker back about 20 minutes after my first call to her to let her know that I was good to go. I did the evaluation with another coworker today and it all went well. Now, we just have to finish writing up the report!

Time for me to sign off and get Youngest girl to bed. It's been a long day and I still have some work to do before tomorrow. Not to mention lunches to pack and laundry to do - it never ends, does it?