Today was the first time in a long time I actually got summoned to jury duty for San Francisco. I’m old enough to remember when there weren’t a $6 travel stipend. You can even get financial assistance if your employer doesn’t pay you for taking time off for jury service. It seems the City really wants to incentivize participation as much as possible.
Fortunate for me, I am an employee of California, so there’s absolutely zero issues with taking time off for public service. Because I’m already a public servant.
The Hall of Justice in San Francisco is a really old building. Though since it withstood the 1989 earthquake, citizens inside the building should be safe for the next “big one” that’s supposedly coming soon for the past two decades. I’m old enough to also remember when the jury reporting room had tiny CRT televisions showing a VHS copy of the narrated jury duty guide. It’s good to see it’s now large LCD units with an updated digital copy.
I wonder: the fact they make potential jurors sit through half an hour of seminar before anything fun begins, there’s no reason to show up on time, is there? The punctuality stickler like me can afford to be leisurely with the bus schedule when deciding on a departure time. A tacit accommodation for unforeseen commute issues? Again, the City really wants to maximize the number of people for jury selection.
More fortune for me: I didn’t even get selected to go into the court room. The clerk called the names of about 50 people, leaving about a dozen behind to be dismissed. I was amongst that dozen. Some of us even cheered as we heard the new that we’re done with this civic duty for at least one calendar year. I really wouldn't mind serving on a trial, though getting to the Hall of Justice, when I live on the other side of the city, is indeed a pain.
Until next year?
Jesus taking the wheel.