In mid 2017, I was called up for Federal Grand Jury duty. This wouldn't be such a bad thing, save that I had to be up by 5:30 am to make it to Lower Manhattan (Pearl Street) by 8:30 am. If I lived in Putnam, Dutchess, or Orange counties, I'd have served only in White Plains - a much easier trip for me. But this option wasn't available. So I traveled into NYC, and was lucky not to be called on to serve. Given that they expected this jury to meet 2-3 times per week and to serve for 18-24 months, I was very lucky indeed.
This should have exempted me from serving for 2 years. Sure enough, 2 years later, I was called to serve again - this time on a "regular" jury. Since I was starting work at the census bureau, I didn't want to lose any money by taking the lower paid service on the court. So I asked for a deferment and got it. Then, the pandemic struck, and all jury calls were deferred until the pandemic eased off (or when government could figure out how to have people serve in the middle of a pandemic). This gave me another year that I was able to avoid jury service. And then, I got the above summons that called me in to serve in early July.
I applied for my second deferment and got it. Now, I'm hoping that I get called on to serve during the winter, as the subways will be much more comfortable than in the summer. If the summons comes as expected (6 months after a deferment is requested), I should get a call for service in late December to serve in January. And then, I'll be glad to serve - especially, given that I'll be in Marian Mode throughout my service.
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