I don't care if you smile or not. Go ahead and growl if you want. That's what makes you an American. You have the freedom to do so. And I sympathize with you on having a legitimate gripe as to how you have been notified to appear. I just think if we don't do what is expected of us with regard to the process, then the process suffers.

I've served jury duty twice now in two different states. One of the times I sat on a jury for almost two weeks of a trial. And just so you know I was payed $15 dollars a day for 10 days while I gave up about $3,200 in gross wages. There were 14 jurors during the trial and among us it was decided that I was to be foreman of the jury. Unfortunately, when the trial ended they only need 12 to deliberate, and they literally draw numbers from a bowl. I was drawn as an alternate and excused. The prosecutor and defense attorney took me in a back room and questioned me about how I thought it went. I told them it would end in a hung jury, and told him which juror it would be as the holdout. I told the prosecutor that he made the mistake with his opening statement and if it went to a retrial, he shouldn't make that mistake again. I was spot on with the jury hanging and the juror. Immedietely after declaring the mistrial, the defendant pleaded out instead of waiting for a retrial, as both attorneys knew the prosecution wouldn't loose the next go around. This is not to toot my horn but just so you can see how vested I was in it and that even after the fact my opinion made a difference.

I recommend it to anyone who is called. It really is an experience worth having. It gives you a little more insight as to how the system works or doesn't, and why. That doesn't mean to say you won't end up not getting on a trial or end up on a bummer of a case, but thats the way it goes. You won't be well compensated monitarily, I can promise you that, but it's still our civic duty and gives you the chance to give back to your community.