Mestee Blogger

Yesterday, I was scheduled to appear as juror number 50 at Lowell District Court. As Irfan might say, "Big day for Brian". It was unusual for me to be getting up at 7:00 AM, but the threat of a fine "of no more than $2000" can get you out of bed with surprising efficiency. I was a little nervous about finding the place, as I am directionally challenged (I prefer "masterfully disoriented"). I checked out the little map included on my informational sheet, and it seemed easy enough to get to the court house, assuming I could get to Lowell. My initial plan was foiled by some one-way streets that took me slightly off course and, more frighteningly, off of the small map that was included. It was getting late and I thought that I would get more lost driving around, so I parked and decided to find it by foot. It was 8:29 AM and I was scheduled to show up at 8:30, so it looked like that wasn't happening. I stopped a few people on the street for directions and they managed to point me in the right direction. I was getting nervous that I was late, but thought "What's the worst that could happen? They can't fire me!" Then I realized that they probably could call me back for another session. After thinking about it for a minute, I realized that the people in charge of gathering jurors probably don't trust your average Joe to be on time. By stating 8:30, they're probably aiming to get you there by 9:00.

I approached the court house and quickly noticed that there was a line of at least 100 people waiting to get into the front door. I was wondering if any of these people were waiting for jury duty, too. I was trying to avoid this--

Me: Excuse me, sir. Are you a law-abiding citizen looking to fulfill your civic duty, or are you a common street criminal?
Man: Common street criminal.
Me: I see. Excuse me ma'am...

-- so I just stood there for a few minutes, wondering if the line would ever move. At this point in time, a young security guard came out through the front doors and shouted "Is anyone here for jury duty? Are there any jurors in line?" I waved my hand to get his attention, quickly realizing that I was the only juror in line. The guard escorted me to the front of the line like a VIP, alerting the woman running the metal detector "This is a juror, we need to get him in here ASAP." Yeah, that's right! I'm a juror! Let me through! This was getting easier by the minute. I ran my bag through the metal detector and went up the stairs to meet my fellow partners in civic responsibility. To be continued...
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