I would like to approach the bench please!

I was called for Jury Duty this month. This means that I, along with tons of other people, had to go to the courthouse on September 1st and sit through an orientation. Then I was given a number to call each day after 4:30 pm to determine if my services would be needed the next day. It is September 23rd, and today was the first day my services were needed.

So I got up this morning, hung out at Starbucks for an hour, and then headed to the Justice Center. There was in fact a case today. When I walked in today, there were actual lawyers and a defendant sitting at their special tables. The court clerk called 32 names at random, of which I was not one, and directed them to sit in chairs at the front of the court. The lawyers then proceeded to questions these people to determine if any of them would have a strong bias against either side of the case, and if so, then excused them from the case. Sound thrilling? It wasn't.

Here are my thoughts on my hour and a half spent sitting in the courtroom today:

• lots of people have a bias when it comes to a child support case
• it annoys me to no end when crowds start murmuring when I feel like they should not be (for example when someone has 'approached the bench' to talk to the judge)
• some people will judge anyone, no matter if there is some kind of cause or not
• women are such talkers
• people in general are dumber than I gave them credit for
• you must be asked the same question three different ways before you answer honestly, apparently (how hard is it to say yes to the question 'do you know the lawyer?' if in fact you are involved in a lawsuit that involves said lawyer? why do you need to wait to say yes when two questions later you are asked if you are involved in any lawsuit and you indeed say yes and it happens to involve that lawyer... ugh)
• sitting in a courtroom is a great place to catch up on some reading
• judges have the best jobs ever- this is the first case all month... what have they been doing?