Confessions of A Working Girl

Many people talk on the phone and drive at the same time. Even though I do it too, I know you’re not really supposed to. But at least I’m driving automatic. Currently, my dad drives my nana’s saab, which is a stick shift. I was with him in the car the other day (Sunday) and we were driving home when he said that he should make a phone call. I asked if I should…while on the phone with my dad in the past, he’s hung up before he started driving the saab. But that day, he said no, he would make the call, and that he’d done it before.

The reasons that talking on the phone while driving is dangerous include that all your attention isn’t on the road, and the fact that you’re more or less driving one handed. On Sunday, my dad was basically driving no handed. That was a little scary.

Monday was my first time being called to jury duty ever. It was a little boring at first, since all we did was sit there and wait to see if there would be a trial or not. Then we went into one courtroom, and six people were chosen to be on that jury. The rest of us went back to the waiting room. For the second jury, again six people were picked, and then the rest of them went home.

I was one of the ones picked to be picked for that second jury. Probably because it was a juvenile case, and my age was closest to the defendants (even though there was still a four year difference.) On the jury itself, I was the youngest by six years.

Listening to the trial was interesting, as this is the stuff I’ve been learning in class. It was also a little boring. That particular trial ended up going into Tuesday as well. So, I had to go back for the second day. Once all the “evidence” had been presented, the jurors went to deliberate. Within about 5 minutes, we realized that we all had the same opinions (well, with slight variations) on the case. On the whole, this trial sounded like a really childish argument that had somehow made it to the court level. The whole thing consisted of “he said” and “she said”.  Our verdict quickly reached, we were out of the courthouse by 11:25 a.m. So total, this trial took about 7 hours. (about 11-4:30 on Monday with an hour break for lunch, and about 9-11:25 on Tuesday)

On Monday, I hadn’t realized that the courthouse had a parking lot (for free!) or that there was a parking lot behind that for only $5, so I went to the parking garage across the street and payed $10. On Tuesday, I made sure to get there early enough to get into the free parking lot.

Jury duty was interesting, but I’m glad that I don’t have to go back for another three years.

A side note: The internet at my house still isn’t working!