Harrisburg Home of Inefficiency

I made a resolution about the time I retired that I wasn’t going to leave my house if I was grumpy, because no one wants to deal with a grumpy old man. Because of my open heart surgery, I have been relegated to living inside my house for nearly four weeks and having to sever my ties of independence. The forced isolation has caused an increase in my grumpiness. I don’t know how much the isolation fuels the grumpiness, but smaller things lately will set me off more than they would have when I was able to gallivant the around countryside when I deemed it necessary.

One example, for many years, I’ve erroneously received jury duty summons from Westmoreland County Courthouse. And for years I’ve written a note explaining that I wasn’t a resident of Westmoreland County. I am living in Fayette County.

This time when I received their request that I join them for a “courtship,” I bristled. What is wrong with these people? Westmoreland Community College can figure it out, why can’t they? I was miffed and filled out the questionnaire listing all the reasons I wasn’t eligible for their draft, but because I was exceedingly GRUMPY I decided to show them I was upset. The outside of the summons said “Do not staple or glue.” I didn’t. I encased the entire form with cellophane tape. It became a paper mummy in a cellophane sarcophagus..

Tuesday I received another letter from Westmoreland County saying, “If I wished to be excused, I needed to produce and submit a note from my physician.” ARGH !!! I planned to call and rip someone up one side and down the other, but I bit my tongue, took a deep breath, and dialed the number. I was connected to a very courteous and helpful lady. I explained my dilemma and my frustration at receiving these unnecessary summonses. I further explained because of my advanced age and the aggravation of my sciatica nerve problem from sitting on the oak benches and chairs at the Fayette County Courthouse, I’ve been permanently excused in Fayette County.

She understood and when I said, “WCCC can tell if I’m a resident of Westmoreland or Fayette, surely the government should be able to do so.” She explained further that the list for jurors emanated from Harrisburg. The light went on. No wonder things were so messed up. Bureaucracy has again  raised its ugly head. The clerk said she would take care of the problem and remove me from the list. It’s strange when I returned my other summons stating that I wasn’t a resident of Westmoreland County that someone wouldn’t have removed my name earlier, but what can we expect from a bureaucracy?