It's a nice system, with free parking, collecting a couple hundred dollars for the time, and my employer calls it a paid vacation, but not taken out of my accrued vacation time). Columbus OH has a good fistful of courts, including supreme, appellate, small claims, municipal and common pleas, with a 50~75 person jury pool. On duty is a 2-week tour, with extension if selected. Not many are pulled from the pool, though. We had one group go in for selection and they went through the whole process, but it seems that when you get 12 people, instead of just the one (judge) waiting to hear the tale of how and why, a plea is quickly copped and the jury is dismissed. No selected jury sat through a trial during my time in.

But anyway, the two weeks are filled with courthouse and detention center tours, lectures by elected and appointed judges, visits from law enforcement, as well as a selection of movies to watch. Not bad at all. The Martian was among the films and I caught half of it one morning, then the other half about three afternoons later. Good flick.

My mother told me, "You know, you could get out of that..."

I stared at her for a while, until she yelled, "Yes, you did the right thing! Go home!"
;^)