Jury Duty Excuse #8

I received a summons for petit jury duty a couple of weeks ago. Of course I grumbled about it. It is my civil duty and I have no excuse not to report to the court. I jokingly told my boss that it would be amusing if I contracted an illness on the day of jury duty or maybe he could write a note requesting that I be excused to our work load.

I estimated about 150 names had been drawn. Only 60 prospective jurors showed up. Then about 10 of them approached the bench and were dismissed for various reasons. The most original reason was a man who stated he is not a citizen of the United States of America. So how did his name get drawn?

After the formalities, we were seated in the order of our original summons number. The defense attorney didn't like what he saw so he requested a reshuffle. That took about 40 minutes and then we were re-seated in the new order. I was juror #20 out of 50. About 20 minutes after the shuffle, my stomach started doing flip-flops. I vaguely remember getting the baliff's attention to be excused and then power-walking down the stairs to the restroom. Needless to say, I ended up at home with the stomach flu.

I would've much rather had taken my chances on being a member of the jury panel as opposed to being sick. I think this lesson falls under the "be careful what you wish for" category.