dimondites

Oakland was so kind as to send me my one year anniversary greetings with a jury duty notice. It has been about four years since my last jury duty notice, and that was for San Francisco.

I was surprised to find myself enjoying watching the activities at Oakland’s Rene C Davidson Alameda County Courthouse. (By the way, entrance is on 12th Street, not Fallon.)  Two miracles happened to me yesterday. I remembered my notebook and pen. And by coincidence, my friend Adam happened to be there for duty as well.

 8:30 am arrival means 9:00 am start here. I am not kidding you. I was 15 minutes late, and I was taken aback by the line outside the building to pass security. I’m thinking to myself, “The 9:00 group?” Nope, that would be the 8:30 am arrivals, just like me. Arriving at 8:45 am though. Get this, another 20 people lined up behind me at 8:55 am.

If you are a frequent flyer, be prepared to bring with you your patience. It was almost humorous watching the people get through the metal detector. I don’t think some travel via air too often. I think it took me 15 minutes to get through security, which is a long time for a line of 10. The first girl was stopped because she tried to walk through with fully studded boots. I ain’t talking about slightly studded either. We are talking about some serious metal here.

The next three or four were stopped because they kept their cell phone in their hands or in their pockets. (I would think it is obvious cell phones have metal parts?) The gentleman in front of me tried to negotiate allowing his change to go through with him (Don’t ask me…). As for me? I tried to throw away my water and lighter, hide my lip gloss and take off my shoes. Guess what? It’s not the airport. You can bring in lighters, liquids and keep non-studded shoes on.

My tip for today. Come 15 minutes early if you insist on being on time.

To be continued…
 

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