Thursday, November 1, 2007

Jury Duty Irony

So, a couple of weeks ago, I received an invitation from the US District Court in Portland. There was--as many of you are familiar with--a "Juror Qualification Questionnaire" for me to complete and submit. I did this, except that I missed one particular question; that is, out of 15 questions, I simply failed to fill in either the "Yes" or the "No" oval for question number 4. So, in today's mail, I received my nearly-complete questionnaire returned to me with a note saying
Answer Q #4
Before I tell you what Q #4 is, let me add that there is a large space available on the back for "Remarks," and I had used this space for some of my most articulate and persuasive prose (in an effort to be excused from missing work and making the journey to Portland for jury duty). Looking over my answer, I can see that my grammar, spelling, syntax, and penmanship were impeccable, and the content of my answer coherent and lucid. Nonetheless, your tax dollars (well, cents, actually) were used to mail my questionnaire back to me (and a postage-paid return envelope was included) to ensure that I could personally pencil in the correct answer to question number 4...
Do you read, write, speak, and understand the English language?

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