Pretending to be an adult for a day

About four weeks ago I received a tiny red envelope in the mail that summoned me to jury duty. I was excited. I felt important, needed, and grown up.

Today was my day to show up for duty and I joyfully woke up, showered, ate breakfast, packed snacks, grabbed a book, and went downtown to the courthouse. I made it through security with only 1 snafoo with my belt and I proceeded to the fourth floor where I was given a sticker with my juror number.

I sat. and sat. and sat some more until they decided to begin 30 minutes late. We watched a snazzy video that I suspect was shown via VCR and created in the 80's (based on clothes and hair) about the importance of being a juror and the difference between a plaintiff and a defendant. (Hello Florida, we have Judge Judy now and we know these things...)

Then the honorable so and so came in, we were sworn in, and the process began to select jurors. The judge said he would first talk to anyone individually who felt they had a hardship and would be unable to serve on a jury. No one stood. He then informed us that they were only creating 1 jury and the case was expected to last 2 weeks. TWO FREAKING WEEKS! The judge then asked again if there were any hardships and 50% of the courtroom stood and started to form a line to speak with him. I debated my situation: stay in the courtroom and take my chance of being selected and miss out on two weeks of pay form nannying or talk to the judge and tell him I am a full time student working full time to pay tuition and I can't afford to serve for two weeks. I went with option B. The judge excused me from jury duty today, but I was warned that I will be summoned again in 8 to 12 weeks.

Moral of the Story: I don't think I like being an adult that much. Bring me finals, internships, and transcripts. You can keep your bills, jury duty, and taxes.