It Kind Of Sounds Like You Absolutely Should Definitely Worry About It

When I was in law school, I received a jury summons inquiry that instructed me to fill out some information on the court’s website using their new electronic jury registration software. I started to fill it out, but I ran into a problem almost immediately: the website wouldn’t let me proceed with entering my information until I entered at least three letters in the last name box. The problem is that my last name has only two letters. Well, I couldn’t enter three letters, so I called the helpline phone number on the summons and talked to someone at the court.

Employee #1: “Don’t worry about it. I’ll sign you in and put a note in your jury member profile about the problem.”

Great, problem solved, right?

Of course not.

About three weeks later, I got another notice in the mail. This one basically said, “You didn’t fill out the jury information like you were supposed to. Do it now.” I tried again but got the same error, so I called the court helpline again. The person I talked to looked up my name.

Employee #2: “Yep, I can see the note in your file. Don’t worry. You’re already taken care of, and I’ll cancel the notice.”

Great, problem solved, right?

Of course not.

A couple of weeks later, I got another notice in the mail, but this one basically said, “You still haven’t filled out your jury information, and a bench warrant is going to be issued for your arrest if you continue to refuse to sign up for jury duty.”

Of course, I freaked out, not knowing what to do. I talked to a couple of professors at the law school for advice and drove to the local courthouse. I went to the window, showed them the notice, and told them they needed to fix this. They looked me up and saw the problem, but even they couldn’t sign me up for jury duty because they used the same new system and it still required three letters for a last name.

Employee #3: “Don’t worry about it. We already have a note in the system explaining what is wrong.”

Me: “You guys already told me twice not to worry about it, but your stupid ‘Don’t worry about it’ system obviously doesn’t work because now I’m holding a piece of paper threatening me with arrest. I am a law student, and I can’t join the bar if my character and fitness report shows a bench warrant. I am not leaving until I have something signed by the clerk of court and by a judge acknowledging this problem and saying that I won’t be arrested.”

The folks at the window got mad, but I demanded to talk to the clerk of court and they relented. The clerk hadn’t seen this problem crop up before and was very nice. She typed up a letter saying that I was excused from jury duty, signed it, and had a judge sign it, as well. She also manually removed me from the rolls of eligible jurors. I don’t know if they ever fixed the system and added me back in, but I don’t live in that state anymore, so good riddance.