Jury Duty: Isn’t it Time to Revamp the System?

I have jury duty tomorrow. Wait, that's not completely accurate. I MAY have jury tomorrow. I'm writing this at 4:33 pm on Wednesday and I won't know until 6 o'clock tonight whether or not I have to report Thursday (tomorrow) morning.

Seriously?

Don't get me wrong, I understand that serving on a jury is something that has to be done, and I'm not even complaining about having to. It's our civic duty. I'll sit on a jury. I may even volunteer to be the foreman.

But I do take issue with Genesee County holding my schedule hostage until just 15 hours before I'd have to report. I have a job with an organization that is fairly short-staffed. (What business isn't these days?) Not letting me know whether or not I'll have to report until the 11th hour is ridiculous.

It's an antiquated system.

I don't have a solution. That's not my area of expertise. But couldn't someone who works in the industry come up with a better way? Even if those of us who may be in the pool would get 24 or 36 hours notice, that would certainly be better than knowing after COB the night before.

End of rant.