Every 7 years we have a duty. A duty to our country. Well I reported for duty last week for 2 days. Jury Duty!!!
Since I have been a voting adult I have managed to avoid the summons to the call of duty. I have only voted in the great state of Louisiana but have used an absent ballot to vote. When I would get my summons sent in the mail to my parents house I of course had to let them down due to the fact that I lived in the Music City that is Nashville. 3 years ago I registered in NYC by accident. I was out shopping and someone stopped me on the street and asked if I was resisted in New York. I said, "why no, I'm not" and since I wanted to fit in as much as possible in the Big Apple I decided to sign my name. 3 years later they found me. In a city of 8 million people how in the heck did they choose me???
Thursday I made my way to 100 Centre St at 8:45 AM. An hour and 15 minutes before I even need to be at work. I come to realize that the building I am reporting to happens to be the Building that they film for Law and Order in (insert music here). I go up to my assigned room and quickly feel like I am in drivers ed or summer school, you know the feeling of walking into a class room setting with all new people that you have never seen before, all of different ages and the strange teacher in the front that tries to make jokes but you can tell is really hating his life.
I was told to wait, and wait, and wait. So I chose to wait in the room that i was allowed to talk, eat, drink, and computerize myself in. It wasn't so bad. I had my own cubical and my own little space set up to my liking.
An hour or two we were told to come into the main room for the calling of the jurors. I didn't think at all that my name would be called, as my name is never called out of a hat for anything. I stood there with mixed feelings. A- I didn't want to be called for the chance of getting picked to sit on a week long trial; B- i wanted to be called just for the lucky fact of finally being pick for something.
He got to juror 20, still not picked. 21, nothing. Then on my lucky number 22 i hear "Jamie Chitty (pronounced correctly)". Out of excitement and entertainment purposes I scream "BINGO". Anything for a laugh sometimes.
We all eventually go in to the court room with the judge. I was a little nervous as i didn't know what to expect. My judge was a mix between Harry from Night Court and the man who played Alf's adopted father in ALf. Does that make any sense? Regardless, he was entertaining and explained everything with such detail and humor. He picked 20 people to sit in the jury seats and interview each one. Now most people would get nervous about this and not want to do it, but when i saw there was a cordless mic involved I was biting at the chance to get up there. Turns out the attorneys pick the people who were first up there so i didn't get my chance to preform. I thought about busting out a song or two from Chicago.
With humming the Law and Order theme song ALL DAY LONG my day one was over.
Day two, still humming the song, was a piece of cake. I was a pro at this point. I walked right in, "Hi Larry. Good Morning!" Larry was the man that picked the names and explained all about jury duty. "Morning Sunshine", apparently the nickname that Larry made up for me in a day. After greeting the rest of my jury crew i sat in my cubicle and did my thing. Come lunch break we were ready to go home and my jury duty was complete. I am good for the next 7 years. At age 38 I will be put in the hat again to get called in. Keeping my fingers crossed that I get to do my bit for the judge with the microphone.
While saying good bye to security downstairs and exiting 100 Centre St in NYC I was, again, humming the Law and Order theme song. As I walked out the front doors and down the stairs, still humming, i look across the street. There, 30 steps away, they were filming none other than Law and Order. The perfect end to my duty as an American Citizen. DUN DUN!!!
