![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Done with jury duty
I have done my two days and been sent home without being picked for a jury. Given that I spent most of the time worrying that I would be on a jury for a case that was supposed to go well into July, this is definitely a good thing.
I got there at 10 this morning, and sat in the hallway for about 2 hours with a number of other potential jurors and no information: we would periodically see someone going into one of the other courtrooms on that floor, and we did briefly see one of the defendants in "our" case in the hallway, but that was it. And then around 12:15 a court officer came out, and said that she was going to read names and anyone she called was excused from this case and should return to the main jury room. I was one of the people called. Went back up to 11, put my slip in the box, and about 10 minutes later we were told we could go to lunch, come back by 2:00.
So I called![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cattitude and we had lunch at Excellent Dumpling. Then I went to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, in search of ginger ice cream. First I asked for a sample of pandan (helpfully glossed on a label as "a Malaysian leaf used to flavor desserts"). It seemed odd but I thought it might grow on me, so I asked for a cup of half that and half ginger. (I think this is the first time I've tasted pandan leaf.)
They were out of ginger. I thought a minute and then decided there was nothing else I especially wanted, so I wandered a bit, bought a pound of ginger root from a street vendor for a dollar (I won't use it all, of course), got iced tea, and went back to the jury room. A couple of fairly boring hours later, the woman who runs that jury room said that we were all excused, read off names, and handed us our "proof of service" forms. With that, I can be excused from state jury duty any time in the next six years (if they are well organized I won't be called before mid-2017), and federal for the next four. She advised us to make multiple copies, so we won't lose them. I definitely need a copy for my company's HR person, because we get leave for that but they want evidence that the person has actually been on jury duty. [They have not, in the past, asked for evidence on either sick time or bereavement.]
I walked about an extra two miles today, in order to spare my knees: the nearest A train station to the courts is Chambers, but the nearest one with an elevator is West 4th. It was a very pleasant walk this morning, at a pace fast enough to probably get my heart rate up a little, and a reasonable one this afternoon as long as I took it easy and walked on the shady side as much as possible. (It was about 30 C/mid-80s F, and sunny, when I left the court building. A pleasant low 20s/low 70s on my way in.) I had thought it was more walking, but Google A chunk of that walking wasn't extra—I'd have had to get from the train to the courthouse in any case—though it is a bit more walking than I do between Penn Station and my office.
Along the way, I had a chocolate mini-cheesecake as a snack; replaced my captive bead earring; and stopped in at Porto Rico Importing to get a cup of hot tea, after abandoning the tea I'd gotten with the cheesecake because, while the staff of Eileen's Special Cheesecake are nice people, they don't actually have boiling water.
I got there at 10 this morning, and sat in the hallway for about 2 hours with a number of other potential jurors and no information: we would periodically see someone going into one of the other courtrooms on that floor, and we did briefly see one of the defendants in "our" case in the hallway, but that was it. And then around 12:15 a court officer came out, and said that she was going to read names and anyone she called was excused from this case and should return to the main jury room. I was one of the people called. Went back up to 11, put my slip in the box, and about 10 minutes later we were told we could go to lunch, come back by 2:00.
So I called
cattitude and we had lunch at Excellent Dumpling. Then I went to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, in search of ginger ice cream. First I asked for a sample of pandan (helpfully glossed on a label as "a Malaysian leaf used to flavor desserts"). It seemed odd but I thought it might grow on me, so I asked for a cup of half that and half ginger. (I think this is the first time I've tasted pandan leaf.)They were out of ginger. I thought a minute and then decided there was nothing else I especially wanted, so I wandered a bit, bought a pound of ginger root from a street vendor for a dollar (I won't use it all, of course), got iced tea, and went back to the jury room. A couple of fairly boring hours later, the woman who runs that jury room said that we were all excused, read off names, and handed us our "proof of service" forms. With that, I can be excused from state jury duty any time in the next six years (if they are well organized I won't be called before mid-2017), and federal for the next four. She advised us to make multiple copies, so we won't lose them. I definitely need a copy for my company's HR person, because we get leave for that but they want evidence that the person has actually been on jury duty. [They have not, in the past, asked for evidence on either sick time or bereavement.]
I walked about an extra two miles today, in order to spare my knees: the nearest A train station to the courts is Chambers, but the nearest one with an elevator is West 4th. It was a very pleasant walk this morning, at a pace fast enough to probably get my heart rate up a little, and a reasonable one this afternoon as long as I took it easy and walked on the shady side as much as possible. (It was about 30 C/mid-80s F, and sunny, when I left the court building. A pleasant low 20s/low 70s on my way in.) I had thought it was more walking, but Google A chunk of that walking wasn't extra—I'd have had to get from the train to the courthouse in any case—though it is a bit more walking than I do between Penn Station and my office.
Along the way, I had a chocolate mini-cheesecake as a snack; replaced my captive bead earring; and stopped in at Porto Rico Importing to get a cup of hot tea, after abandoning the tea I'd gotten with the cheesecake because, while the staff of Eileen's Special Cheesecake are nice people, they don't actually have boiling water.
no subject
What would you compare pandan ice cream to?
I'm glad you're glad to be done with jury duty! I've never been called, to my dismay. I served on a mock jury for a personal injury lawyer, and managed to hold my own against the 11 others for a day.
no subject
I am surprised that Manhattan hasn't switched over to more of an automated system?? When I served in Queens, I was told to start calling on Day X to see if I would be needed the next day. Eventually, my section of that week's pool did come up, but the deal was that if you didn't get picked for a jury on that one day, you were done. I considered this a great improvement over my service during college, in Manhattan, where I had two very long days in a very hot room in August. (I already know I won't ever make it through voir dire, so I consider my jury duty a particularly inconvenient obligation.) But I suppose Chinatown is way better than hanging out in Kew Gardens. In the rain, if I recall correctly.
no subject
no subject
Being a kid from a law enforcement family (my father retired as a state police officer) is pretty much a get-out-of-voir-dire-free card. And now that my brother's in that field (not to mention a whole host of other relatives) I don't think I'll ever sit on a jury. I'd like to. As it stands, I invariably get called up when I vote somewhere new, and it's always a waste of everyone's time.
no subject