Honor and Duty

I was sent a jury summons in May to appear in court the week before my annual trip to Mexico and chose instead to postpone it - a necessity to my sanity. June 26th I called in and was told to report this morning. Up until last week I was excited about this. You really get to see such a different side of Las Vegas and the wonderful world of law (okay, more like the darkside of life) has intrigued me. But then there was a conflict. I was given the opportunity to be a camp counselor for a group of Jr. High girls in Prescott, AZ. I have so many great memories of that place, both as a counselor and as a camper. I was no longer excited about jury duty, in fact, I was really thinking they wouldn't need me to come in and I could jump in my car and drive to AZ late Sunday. [This was a little rediculous since my car had been over heating and my A/C is out of commision.] I knew it was futile so I decided to make the best out of the situation and again looked forward to jury duty. So Monday morning I'm sitting in a room with several hundred moaning people, listening to every excuse in the book as to why they shouldn't be there and any other complaint they could think of. Well a little after 10:30 they started calling groups. Then around 11 they are sending some to lunch. I'm still sitting there, hoping I make the cut and get to stay. Then it comes - I'm released! What, no Perry Mason, not even a step into the courtroom. I did get my parking ticket validated, but that seemed more like a slap in the face. Did you know, if you are seated on a jury, they pay you $40 a day. Okay, to the average Joe, that's not much, but for me, that would have been a nice chunck of change. I can't help wondering, why don't they find out who really doesn't mind being there and give those people a chance to serve?

To add insult to injury, I had my A/C unit looked at (the guy who took care of the overheating recommended I get it charged and see where it's at). Sadly, my compressor has gone out, which is a little over $1,000 to repair. Well, at least I had A/C last summer (the first time in 14 years). I'm not complaining, it's just the people I give rides too that won't be very happy.