"Primary Caregiver"

Let's face it, not many of us like to serve on a jury. It feels like such a waste of time. I myself am torn on the subject. While I know it's my civic duty to serve as a juror for my peers, it's such a hassle if I have to turn down weeks of work for the possibility of one week of jury duty. Does not help with paying my bills.

I originally got the summons for jury duty last October. Unfortunately for them, I was out on what could have been my last tour so I had to postpone my service. I wanted to back it up until November, but when I called in to postpone, the computerized answering service said, "The first available date is... May... 10th." So without thinking, I took the "first available".

We later found out that the week of May 10th was a bad week for jury duty. When I accepted the dates, we didn't know that Nicole had to go out of town for a couple of events that week and part of the next. Which meant I was to do the single parent thing for 10 days, trying to find activities for my son. There was nothing I could do, you only get one chance at postponing your service.

With the one day, one trial system here, I am "on call" for the week. So I called in Monday through Wednesday without having to report. Today (Thursday), I rolled the dice again and this time, had to show up. I called our sitter, arranged for her to come in early, and drove to the courthouse at the crack of dawn.

The first thing that happens is orientation, a nice lady stood in front of the crowd and welcomed us to our "civic duty". She then began to rattle off reasons we could be excused from service. "You are over 70 and have a medical condition, you are under 70 with a medical condition and have a doctors note, you are primary caregiver for an elderly parent, you are a primary care giver to a child under the age of 5..."

Hold the phone, I have a child that is under the age of 5 and I am currently the primary caregiver! I got up from my chair, reported to the clerk, who sent me to the "hall of records" to plead my case.

Once there, I had to fill out another form with the reason why I wanted to be excused from jury duty, "Primary caregiver to 19 month old son, spouse is on business trip." I wrote in bold black letters.

The clerk didn't buy it, "Just because your wife is on a business trip doesn't get you excused, only postponement."

"But I already postponed once."

"I know, but I can postpone you again from my computer. Pick a date you want to start."

I hurriedly looked at my calendar and chose the middle of August.

So far, august is wide open. Hopefully I can fill in some dates around my "one day, one trial".

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