This review may cement my status as The Certifiably Insane Yelper, but so be it.
This review is about how I enjoyed jury duty in the City of St. Louis.
Yeah, you read that right.
The two days I recently spent serving jury duty were not what i expected from the horror stories St. Louisans (The City kind, not County folks) like to tell. It all started a few months ago when I received a summons. The date I was ordered to appear didn't work for me, so I wrote a letter to the Jury Supervisor as instructed. A few days later I called to check on my status, and the staff could not have been nicer. They didn't question my request and even let me pick a more convenient time to serve.
A week before jury duty, I started hunkering down for the worst. A trip to the library for multiple books, a special trip to Schnucks for trashy magazines and snacks, etc. When the day arrived, I parked at the Kiel Center garage and, although a free shuttle is provided, I walked the short distance to the courthouse. Bring your parking ticket to court with you; they will validate it in the jury office and parking will be free. You can also use your summons to ride the Metrolink or bus for free. Once at the Civil Courthouse (the big tall one), you have to go through a metal detector to get in, but let the bailiffs know you're a juror and they'll treat you very nicely.
Once you arrive in the jury duty room, head upstairs to the mezzanine level. Yes, St Louis has so many jurors at one time that the jury duty room is two levels high. But it's all good. There is plenty of comfortable seating (I heard more than one person snoring during those two days), multiple lounges with vending machines, TVs and FREE WIFI! You can bring your laptop/tablet/cell phone into the courthouse and, if need be, work. Or watch movies. Or write yelp reviews. Whatever your heart desires. Just look for the flyers on the walls explaining how to log on to the network.
When your number finally gets called (oh, and it will get called..and you won't have to wait long), the jury staff does a good job of hustling you together quickly and moving you to the courtroom. The bailiffs who lead you around like a line of kindergarteners will be very helpful.
When lunchtime hits, you've got Downtown at your disposal. You'll be reimbursed $12/day ($18 if you make it on a jury), so that's enough for a good lunch. Oh, and here's a random tidbit: During my second day of jury duty, I was sitting on the first floor of the jury room (I know I said sit upstairs, but I wanted to mix it up a little) when I saw someone I recognized out of the corner of my eye. Who was it? One of the owners of Sauce on the Side, surreptitiously posting menus on bulletin boards. Conspicuously lacking on Mr. SoTS was a jury badge. BUSTED! But anyway.
By the middle of the second afternoon, after I was kicked off of two jury panels, we were released. There were literally hundreds of us simultaneously gunning to turn in our badges and get the hell out of Dodge. The staff was well organized and processed us out very quickly.
Overall, jury duty in St Louis City was a relatively pain-free and, dare I say, pleasant experience. Don't think of it as a "duty" as much as it's two days off of work where you get to watch daytime TV with strangers and eat lunch downtown. And if you'd like to know how I got kicked off two juries and didn't have to serve a whole trial...well, that's an entirely different story. read more