Work is a real world factor - if you're self employed, or your employer (like most) doesn't pay you while you're on jury duty, guess what - the $9 per day or whatever your local government pays while you're on a jury will NOT meet the financial obligations of most Americans. That's why they seem to recognize financial concerns as a valid excuse, most places at least.
Years ago, I was working one place that actually DID pay when an employee was on jury duty - and ended up serving for almost 2 months on a civil case. The court knew up front that it was going to be tough to find jurors, so they started with a pool of 100 people. I was number 98 or 99, and thought, "they'll find all of the jurors/alternates before they get to me". Nope; even though my questionnaire answers were definitely not ideal (I had personal or professional knowledge of a couple of subjects involved), they picked me as the last juror/alternate - in part because I don't think they wanted to call up a second pool. By the time I finished that trial and got back to work, I felt like a stranger/new hire.
I'm not sure anybody enjoys jury duty. I just always figured, serving on a jury is an old-school "republican virtue" (as I think Thomas Jefferson described it), just like voting and militia/military service, so I served when I could...
;>)
That is all true-and I always dreaded being picked for a federal jury. I heard rumors like that, people being out for months, etc. So, you lived that kind of thing on a civil case...ugh.
If I ever get called again, I won’t enjoy it, but one thing is certain-at this point in my life, I have a good handle on right and wrong, and don’t care if I am the turd in the punch bowl when it comes to either convicting or freeing someone who doesn’t deserve one or the other.
Getting older can make one calmer, but it can surely make one more stubborn, and I believe I have that as well.