I got a jury duty notice about a month and yes, my initial reaction was like everyone else's and sheer and utter disappointment. I decided not to pursue a postponement even though I am still nursing and/or pumping because I just wanted to get it over with.
In any case, Colorado has a one-day, one-trial system and on the day before your date of service you call or check a website to see if your number is on there. If your number is there, you show up at 8am and hope for the best.
On the morning of, I was exhausted as my infant daughter has not been sleeping well through the night and in honesty, has her days and nights confused. She will sleep through the days and play at approximately 3-6am, it is quite annoying. In any case, I left bright-eyed and bushy tailed, expecting the worse. I arrived and it was relatively painless to go through security except I had a lot of bags- a laptop bag, my pump and its case and accouterments, and of course, my purse. It was a cold Colorado morning so I had a big jacket too. Besides all the stuff I had, I had to ask about the nursing room which obviously was of concern to me.
The jury assembly was a large room with chairs everywhere and not many tables or outlets so I am glad I had battery power in my laptop- I found a place I could sit against the wall so no one would see what I was doing. I was surprised to look around the room and see people just staring off into space with nothing to do - not even so much as a piece of paper to read. I found that very odd. In any case, I took out my laptop and started my day. After I saw people getting snacks and drinking their coffees, I also took my Starbucks Frappucino out and granola bars. A lady came out and told us that some of us would go upstairs and depending on how many trials go forward, they would seat some of us and not others. She said they would draw numbers from a hat basically - high tech world, this jury duty, I thought.
The worst part of the morning was when, as we were waiting to find out if we had to serve, we had a watch video about jury duty. It was so pedantic for me- so basic. All about the jury process, voir dire, and selection, and how things operate in a court room. I did not feel above or better than anyone but I certainly felt like this was a waste of my time. The video was a feel good, hug your neighbor, and kiss the Constitution-type of movie. In short, it was annoying to watch but then the even worst part came after this video. For entertainment, presumably for those who did not have anything to read or do, they played a HOT DOG video. This video was the travel channel or food channel review of hot dog places across America. For 200 hungry people sitting there with nothing to do but wait, showing a video on hot dogs and food was just not the way to go. I was aggravated and some people even left the room and sat in the hallway because they wanted to read or do their work in peace - with no background HOT DOG noise.
I was happy to have my cricket wireless card with me so I could connect to the world, post updates on facebook and communicate in general. I think others wondered what I was doing but I was so excited to have my laptop with me. If they made us any longer, I was going to watch a movie but fortunately, after a short period of time, we got notified that we were all released because all the cases were either continued or settled out. This was right after I had to use the "lactation room." It was not a lactation room but rather, a jury break room for a particular judge and anyone from the jury assembly room could have walked in but fortunately for me, no one did. The room was nice and private and certainly provided me some comfort. The fridge was the fridge that the clerks used so I am glad I brought a bag to put the milk in. In any case, it was a good experience. In 18 years, this was the first time I was called to jury duty or even had to report - I gotta say, I escaped for 18 years so I cannot complain much - I guess it is time to do my civic duty now.
