Jury Duty

Today, I went to Philadelphia for jury duty.  Boring!  I was one of 55 chosen as a tentative juror.  That field was winnowed down to 16.  I did not make the cut.  Now I'm exempt for the next two years.  Whoopee!

I spent the day from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, mostly sitting around.  I couldn't even get interested in any of the three books I took with me.  I learned that juries are now down to eight members from the twelve of my youth.  That is because it costs too much to use twelve jurors.  Don't you feel better now that your tax dollars are being saved?

Jurors get paid $40 per day for their efforts.  Wow!  We did get 55 cents per mile for the commute.  Since I live 58 miles away, that was a nice return.

Anyway, now I can proudly say that I have discharged my civic duty.