Monday, May 5, 2008

Called to Serve

I got my first ever Summons for Jury Duty today. I have to admit, I was a little excited. Weird, I know. And then I realized that you're supposed to be pissed when you get jury duty, so, quick change, I was pissed. And then I realized that it was a summons from my old Home State. Now, I miss and love Home State dearly, but I have not lived there for nearly 7 years. I spent 5 years in far down south at college, and then I moved to Big City, where I've been for nearly 2 years. Why HS does not realize this, I do not know. I have not had a HS license for nearly 2 years, I have not used a HS address for nearly 7 years, and I recently sent in my voter registration change form for Big City. Does HS not believe me? Do they not pay attention? Or are they just so desparate for competent jurors that they try to recruit people who live hundreds of miles away?

Another thing that royally pissed me off about my summons, is the form you have to return saying "Yes, I'll be there the date and time that you want and I'll take my $17 for the day and hopefully never have to come back but if I do I swear I'll really, truly pay attention at trial, just please oh please dont make me head juror," or, "No, I can't come the date and time you want me but please, please let me come this date and time instead because, I swear, I really, really do want to fulfill my civic duty and make my $17," or, and you hope for one of these, you get to check a reason for why you CAN NOT be a juror. Lucky for me, there was an appropriate "I am not a resident of said state, suckers!" option. So I fill out my form, with my address for Big City, and inform them, that, no, I will not help them, and I put it in the envelope and I realize as I affix my return address label (hopefully proving to them that the fact that I have address labels for Big City address that I've lived at for 2 years means that I do not, in fact, live in HS any longer), I realize that I have to put a stamp on the envelope. Why can't the government, which takes so much frieking money from us to begin with, pay for stamps for envelopes that they MAKE us return to them? I'm sorry, but that's just bullsh!t.

Ok, rant done.