h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

(post-it again)

We didn't get so much as a free coffee. Oh, we did get our parking paid for the day of deliberation, up to a maximum of $9....

Our case was the sexual assault of a minor, so was a fairly harrowing thing to have to deal with. However, one becomes sort of detatched because you are listening and watching every nuance of all the participants' testimony and even just when they are listening to someone else's testimony. You don't have time to take it personally.

I was upset (read really, really burned) that after the case, I read a story that intimated that we (the jury) had "hurried the verdict" just to get out so we wouldn't have to be sequestered for the weekend. We worked really hard on the verdict and we went over and over and over everything that was said, and even asked to go back in to have something clarified for us before making the decision. It was simply a coincidence that we ended when we did.

We also expressed to the judge our concern over the defendant's well-being after the verdict (guilty on 7 ot 7 counts) as he had been suicidal in the past.

We were well aware that our verdict, whatever it would be, would permanently affect both the defendant and the victim. We certainly didn't make our decision "just to get it over with".

One other observation about the difference between jury duty in the US and in Canada.... here in Canada you cannot take notes, even during the trial up until you go into deliberation. Everything you hear has to be committed to memory or you have to depend on what your gut feelings were when hearing testimony.

Will the juror have to sign a statement explaining why they came to the conclusion they did? Cos who knows if it was because "He has shifty eyes" or some silly thing like that.

My husband did jury duty in Scotland a few years ago. It was a particularly nasty case involving the murder of a child. He was elected chairman by his fellow jurors - on the grounds that he was the only one wearing a suit!

I think the jury duty rules change from state to state in the US.

In Pennsylvania, I was paid the incredible sum of...

















$12 per day. (that's only about 8 pounds for those of you keeping score in the UK) Employers don't have to pay you any difference between that amount and your regular wage, a real problem for those trying to subsist on minimum wage to begin with, especially if they end up on a trial that goes on for weeks or months. Although there were probably close 200 people called for these three days of court, there were 17 people who didn't bother to show up for jury duty for one reason or another. When our time was done, the judge thanked us for our service (assuring us that he thought the ridiculously low pay was an insult and that there was legislation pending in the state capital to have it raised to $50/day - still not enough, but better than it is now), told us that those who were called but didn't feel the need to show up were at that very moment being rounded up and arrested for shirking jury duty, and he's not the least bit lenient with those who shirk their duty when their case comes to trial.

I was called for the "voir dire" for one trial, but was not chosen for the actual jury. I was just as glad for that, because as soon as I walked into the courtroom, I reccognized the defendant. Not that I knew him, but I remembered seeing his picture in the paper - even had the same deer caught in the headlights look on his face. At any rate, I would not have been a suitable juror, because as they began describing the charges against him, I began to remember the article about his arrest on drunk driving charges. The lawyers for both defense and prosecution choose jurors based on any pre-knowlege or prejudice the prospective jurors might have. For instance, since this was a drunk driving charge, and anyone who had ever been arrested for drunk driving was automatically eliminated.

So, essentially I sat in the waiting rooms at the courthouse for 2 days. Glad I took something to do while I waited.

They can call you for jury duty as often as once every 3 years, I think. (it might have been 5 or 6 years - I can't remember at this point)

Jurors here in our local courtrooms aren't allowed to take notes either - I don't know if that was a local law, or a Pennsylvania law. The judge said that in his experience, the jurors were very good at piecing the details back together while deliberating. I don't understand why they leave it to something as faulty as memory, like that.

I am sure that there would be those who would site "shifty eyes" or "fashion victim" as the reason for conviction or not the defendant... I know I have heard jurors on TV talking about how someone in the jury convinced them to vote a certain way because of a particular bias. I don't think it would be possible to find 12 completely unbiased people.

I just would hate to be having some of the people I have seen on 60 Minutes or some such show deciding my fate or the fate of the person on the other side of a case.

As for me, I couldn't face myself in the mirror if I did't approach the job with the utmost dedication.

Having said that, one of my favorite "Homers" from the Simpsons was when Homer was picked for jury duty and it was called to the attention of the judge that he had painted the lenses of his glasses to look like his eyes were open.... they took them away, but he had a couple more pairs...

He also told Bart the secret to getting off jury duty is to say you're prejudiced against all races.

Classic Simpsons!

I think I may purchase a pair of 'eye' glasses for some similar comedy this weekend!

That's the one where he decided to prolong the deliberation to get the benefit of the hotel room - all expenses paid - isn't it? He soon persuaded the rest of the jury!





And was it here people were talking about IT help desks?

Did anyone read any of those links? The fact that these IT guys were ridiculing people for little mistakes only displays their arrogance.

For a start - if those comments were posted in say "dictionary.com" or the like, everyone would be laughing at those computer experts' English. Everyone is an expert in their own field. Ask some of those guys to translate a document into Greek or calculate the forces acting on a suspension bridge - things which are everyday jobs for some of the users they are ridiculing.

And don't think that none of them ever made a silly mistake themselves. It's not my job to know computers inside out, it's theirs. Why should everyone else be experts at their job? They aren't experts at mine?

I will admit that I would not ring the help desk before I've at least re-booted and asked my colleague to help me think through the process in case I've forgotten one of the million things you have to remember to do yourself because the IT people (it's all THEIR fault anyway) couldn't write a programme that does it all for you.

Many of the obvious things I agree, may cause a chuckle, but some of those comments really stink of arrogance. Many people just do not have a head for how a computer works, or simply never had the training.

The IT guys at work have asked me for help with English (I live in Germany, for those who don't know me) and I ring them for help when I really need them. We respect and use each other's knowledge. Sometimes it's a very obvious thing I've overlooked, but come on, I bet no one could ever admit to never ever having driven off with the handbrake on, (or something along those lines.) BUT If they have a very simple question with English I don't laugh my head off, tell everyone around me in a loud voice and then go and publish it on the web.

Sorry. Rant over.

Moral of the story is: Knowledge is not intelligence. If you don't know something, you can still learn it. No one is stupid simply because they didn't have access to a particular fact.

Another moral is - it's the IT people's fault that computers are open to so many silly mistakes anyway.

"Another moral is - it's the IT people's fault that computers are open to so many silly mistakes anyway."

Not really... if they were programmers/designers, they'd be doing that instead of working on IT help desks...

A lot of computer geeks feel somewhat resentful of the general level of computer competence... unfairly, really. The difference in knowledge between a and a is so large it really is comparable to trying to use a foreign language. But most s find computers so interesting that they can't imagine why someone wouldn't take the time to learn...

Personally I just think it's a shame... 99.9% of people using computers go through more hassle than they need to, sometimes much more... I wish I could offer advice to 'em all, but since that's impossible... you're right, the only way is to have better programs.

Unfortunately that's incredibly difficult to do, but at least it gives the software industry something to aim for...

In the same way, presumably, that it is the linguists fault that english is so open to mistakes?

I agree partly with you TC, there is a lot of sniggering in any supposedly skilled area which interfaces with thopse unskilled in that area. On the other hand, there are an awful lot of people out there who do some really stupid things and then expect the IT Support to fix *now*. Also, a lot of times the sniggering comes where people pretend to know and don't, or should know and haven't bothered to learn.

I have called the "Help" guys at my server when I run into problems and they have been nothing but professional, even thinking about something not obvious like pinpointing my having downloaded a particular program which was the culprit. I always make a point of laughing with them and thanking them even when the problem hasn't been solved. Respect breeds respect.

I actaully called once when I couldn't get the A: drive to read a floppy, only to realize, when he pointed it out, that I hadn't fully puished the floppy onto the slot.... DUH! When it was pointed out, I laughed at my stupidity.

I will admit, too, to having deleted about half my files on my hard drive, continuing to delete until I deleted a crucial file and my computer crashed and died..... The night before I was to return home to Canada for a month and my ex husband, who couldn't work the doorhandle to the apartment needed to use the computer to write a paper.

I called the tech support for my computer, but my support period had run out and they couldn't help me. It was my problem, I had caused it, and no one would be able to help me, and I recognised it. I eventually got it restored after 3 hours of sweat and tears.

And that is the difference. A lot of people don't bother reading up on the basics, they do fiddle in areas which they shouldn't, delete files when they shouldn't, and then call the IT guys and expect a miracle. When they don't get a miracle, they scream at them. When they do get a miracle, they often don't act like they appreciate the fact that the IT guy saved their butt.

They treat the IT guy the same way they treat their mechanic, the girl at the dry cleaner's, the mailman, the TV repair guy, etc., etc.

I often got people coming in, in a panic, asking me what was wrong with their computer. If it was something I could answer, I would, if it wasn't, I would suggest they contact the computer repair guy. On occasion, they would get mad at me. Didn't matter that 1) I was the clerk at a bookstore and 2) am not a computer repair person....

One decided it was because I was female and not his failure to understand that there was no answer to what he wanted to know. (I actually found that when people had techy questions, they would ask me, even when 2 male co-workers were with me. This surprised me....)

I will sheepishly admit to having accidentally deleted 2 History term-papers two years in a row, the night before they were due.

Luckily, I have a near-photographic memory for things I have written (unlike remembering anyone's name, birthday, or other crucial info) and was able to re-write them from memory...

Lesson? Back-up, back-up, back-up.....

One of my friends was called as a witness in a case that happened in Edinburgh, where he was a student, but unfortunately, it was in holidays time, so he had to travel 400 miles to get there, wait 2 hours in the waiting room until someone told him the defendant hadn't turned up and a warrent for his aarrest had been issued. The case of skipping bail being more serious than the original charge my friend was never called again.

The tech support thing is the same with me, I'm a techie type and friends/family constantly call me with their problems, mostly user created. Quite often they ask for something that can't be done, like "I've converted this picture of Yellowstone park into bluescale (all blue) and saved it on top of the original with no backups. How do I get the colour back?" To which I answer honestly "You don't."

This isn't what bothers me though. It's when my (quite computer literate and smart) dad says "Are you sure?" while the family member is still in the room.

"Of course I'm bloody sure!"

And this ensues with the "I brought you into the world" argument. And so on.

You just can't please some people.

I'll admit to being most proud of my father after he had called me to say the harddrive on his 'puter wasn;t spinning up sometimes when he booted. I was at uni and not back for a couple of wekks or so so I said to persevere and I'd have a look when i got back. By the time i had got back, he had worked out that if he removed the computer case, slid the hard disk out of its mounting (wasn;t screwed in anyway!) held it about an inch and a half above the desk and dropped, then put it back in the machine then everything would work fine!

I told him that from then on he didn;t need to call me as he was now an advanced student of computer repair!

We're all prone to stupid mistakes... I recently asked my IT guy for a screen glare guard cuz my screen glared too much... he told me to turn the brightness down...

We're all prone to stupid mistakes... I recently asked my IT guy for a screen glare guard cuz my screen glared too much... he told me to turn the brightness down...

There was a time when I was working in the customer retentions call center of a cable company. I know not quite retail, but funny story follows.

I received a call from an angry elderly woman who was upset that the company was still sending her bills after she no longer received cable TV for 8 months. Looking at her file she had never requested to have it canceled, so I asked her when and why she believed that she no longer received our service. She said when it stopped working 8 months ago. Did you call us to ask for the service to end? No. But you kept sending us checks for the bill? Yes, but you haven’t fixed it yet? Oh, so it’s broken? Yes. Did you call us to say it’s broken? No. At this point I asked her very nicely how we are suppose to fix her problem is she doesn’t tell us about it? She became very angry and, although I didn’t know this, it is the responsibility of all companies to know instantly when something is wrong, and fix it before the customer finds out. She also told me it is not the customers’ responsibility to complain about anything that bothers them because the company is responsible for already knowing that the product just doesn’t match the new paint scheme in her living room.

You learn something new every day. This kind but angry lady taught me that this is true in all service and retail, situations.

ebert

It's usually not the complete computer novice that does stupid things that require ridicule. It's the people who know just enough to be dangerous.

I'm a sysadmin for a very large enterprise. The people I help are mostly other IT people, usually system programmers. These are the guys writing the code that's supposed to make the end-user's life easy. They're supposed to know what they're doing. And they screw up in often spectacular ways.

Twice this week, I've had to terminate a print server so I could purge a 1M line print job that would have crippled it for hours and used about 12 boxes of paper. It was submitted by mistake by two different programmers, but within the same group.


As for programs supposed to be smart enough to do it for you... bad idea. Computers are stupid. You have to tell them everything. The more we try to let the computer think by itself, the more error and crash prone it becomes. It also becomes slower, more expensive, and more generally frustrating and useless.

Welcome to Microsoft's marketing strategy.

I know all about demanding customers.

I'm always getting questions like: "How long has my line been faulty?" I can only tell them when it was reported faulty. One irate woman demanded to know why BT couldn't detect faults and fix them before the customer noticed. I told her that if the network spent that much time continually testing itself, only 1 in every 10 calls would connect properly. She said "So?"

Another customer demanded to know why her line had come down in strong wind. I advised her it had a load limit, after which it would snap, was designed to snap, rather than risk bringing down the telegraph pole itself. Customer asked "Why can't you go out and prevent them snapping?"

I said: "1. We cannot predict which ones will snap, we're noy psychic and 2, our engineers have better things to do with their time than stand in the rain holding on to lines on the off chance they might snap."

Customers: They're never happy.

I've got a lot more stories in my journal.