2022, Travel, Uncategorized, work

Making Myself Scarce

54 Comments

I came back to work from New Orleans on Tuesday and found a message on my phone from a Sheriff’s Deputy letting me know he had a subpoena to serve me. I phoned him back and he said he would serve it to me sometime in the afternoon. He didn’t show up.

Yesterday I phoned him again about it, and he said had two subpoenas that had got mixed up and he served mine to the wrong person, but had retrieved it. I told him I would be in all afternoon. To me, that meant I would be at work from 1:00 pm until 5:00 pm. I went home for lunch.

The Deputy showed up at my work at 12:15, and was really honked off to hear I had gone home for lunch. He left in a huff, telling the receptionist that I could just track him down. Well, in my 30+ years of being served subpoenas, it doesn’t work like that. He is supposed to find me. Nevertheless, I tried phoning him to apologize for the mix-up but his voicemail was full. After some emails to my superiors, I phoned the Sheriff’s Office and told the receptionist that I would be in all afternoon and to please let him know. He never showed up.

I have no idea what case the subpoena is for. I have no idea when the hearing is. I will gone all next week. I really don’t want him to show up today to serve me a subpoena for a hearing next week, since I will be out of town If we don’t have sufficient time to prepare our schedules, our Human Service Department attorney from the Attorney General’s office will file a complaint and ask for the hearing to be rescheduled. Unfortunately, our attorney is gone until Monday! I plan to spend today laying low, not answering my phone, and hoping beyond hope that the Deputy doesn’t show up. I need to make myself scarce.

When have you wanted to hide? Have you ever been served a subpoena? How do you make yourself scarce?

54 thoughts on “Making Myself Scarce”

  1. 1. Don’t recall other than wanting to not be seen by some annoying person.
    2. Nope. I can’t even manage jury duty. Was tapped to do it in March & April, made sure I didn’t schedule anything during M-F business hours and postponed a trip. Then my start day got changed to March 28, then March 29, then they said, “We don’t need you.” All that anticipation for nothing. And YES, I wanted to be a juror. US district court. Might have gotten a conspiracy or racketeering or mail fraud or other white-collar crime cases. Good research for a future book.

    Chris in Owatonna

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    1. make up a story about how it went
      imagination can be a wonderful thing
      that annoying guy you sat net to in the waiting room the first day
      the cases others got the ones you got called in for and why they excused you
      how the attorneys do the other side dodd want you because of the way you answered the questions about if you could be fair they didn’t really want fair did they? and how about the guy in camouflage?

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  3. Currently, my folliculitis bothers me appearance-wise. I’m not contagious unless someone rubs my head which is highly unlikely as I have no girlfriend. But those commercials about various skin issues take me back to the youthful acne days. Hard to hide. Yesterday’s dermatology visit was encouraging. She says to be patient. The treatments and tea tree oil are working.
    Been served bad subs. Poenas give me gas.

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  4. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I was subpoenaed on the third day of a new job as a school social worker, by a lawyer facilitating a legal action at my old job. The school secretary and designated gossip greeted the deputy and came to get me. She said “a deputy is here with a subpoena.” Her eyes were practically bugging out. The subpoena concerned a very sad case that occurred in the job I had left. The weird part was that the attorney was not very capable, and if he had included me as a witness against my former employer, I could have helped him win his case. But he did not do his research. The people represented by this attorney finally settled with the liability insurance company for a paltry amount, given what occurred, then the entire thing disappeared.

    When I want to be scarce and hide, I just go dark. I don’t respond and don’t interact. I had to learn to be invisible within my mother’s extended family just to survive the ugly dynamics in that system. I have done that for years now with my brother who has been so difficult to understand and whose behavior makes little sense to me—just like the people in Mom’s family. This has recently exploded, and blessedly, he is not talking to me. I apologized for my part in the problem but I doubt that he will apologize to me because that is the way it works. Big sigh.

    I am soon headed out to have a pre-surgery COVID test. I must discontinue use of ibuprofen today, as well, which means that by tomorrow I won’t be able to move easily. Hip replacement is 11:15am Monday. They tell me the arthritis pain ceases immediately. Can’t wait.

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  5. I love to play hide and seek with little kids, so any time I’d be with Nephew (my sister’s son), even just walking down the street, I’d find a tree or a dumpster – anything – to jump behind. He loved it for a time… sigh.

    I’ve never been subpoenaed. Never been on jury duty, but I too think it would be interesting.

    I go for walks sometimes if I want to be alone, or just shut myself in my bedroom., but if it’s because I’m mad, I can’t be contained for long, and need to get outdoors.

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  6. I couldn’t stand the suspense and did my own sleuthing at a couple of law offices, found out who filed the subpoena and that the hearing is next week, told them I was not available at such short notice, and the attorney said they would proceed without me. I have not yet received the subpoena.

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  8. That Sheriff’s Deputy really sounds like he’s on the ball! A public servant at his finest! How the heck do you get two subpoenas mixed up and serve one of them to the wrong person? I’d be willing to be the other person’s name wasn’t remotely similar to yours.

    I’ve been served subpoenas twice. One in connection with the inquest into the death of the old man who caught on fire in our basement and subsequently died; the other in connection with my divorce. Both pretty uneventful, but the whole idea of serving a subpoena on someone seems an odd and unnecessarily cumbersome practice; in some instances, a cat and mouse game, if you will.

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  9. Never been subpoenaed so far. Maybe soon. A recently added patient at my wife’s care facility has a thing about her room. He wanted her room when he moved in. He gets lost and ends up in her room. Now he is getting violent and daughter does not want him medicated. Last week he came in when I was there and tried to get her out of her chair. I had to restrain him physically. Yesterday he was out of control in his room in the morning then at 3:40 he was pushing or dragging four small attendants trying to get in her room. I stepped in. He was about to hit one of them when I grabbed his arm. I forced him out the door by gently pushing at him and using my teacher authority voice. They called the daughter and had to tell what I had done and she was angry about it. They are starting process to get him out and now have authority to sedate him. In the meantime my wife is locked in her room about which she cares not all. Such a sad story. I am glad he is a small man.

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    1. My mother experienced some similar things in Memory Care with some very confused patients who did not understand the impact of what they were doing. It was hard for her.

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      3. During one phase of my friend Ken’s stay in the Memory Care Unit where he eventually died, he had to be physically restrained, too. Not because he was violent, he never was, but he was so confused that he couldn’t tell one room from another. He’d randomly go into other residents’ rooms, sometimes lay down on their bed, which, of course, would make them upset though he was perfectly harmless. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to work in such a place. Besides having the patience of a saint, and an unending supply of kindness, you’d have to be constantly vigilant and ready to intercede without hurting anyone.

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  10. I have never received a subpoena. I do hide in my office once in a while. Because my office is back in the shop, it’s easy to leave the shop lights off and door shut, then work in my office. Sometimes just because I’m in a mood and want to be left alone.
    Occasionally to hide from a student who’s help I really didn’t need.

    On the farm, I can go out to the shop and it’s pretty easy to hide. Kelly and I share locations on our phones, so we can always find the other if we need to.

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  13. i’ve been subpoenaed a fist full of times but i live on the wild side . never unexpected but still anxiety producing
    bite the bullet and go do the response needed
    stop looking at your phone to make yourself scarce
    used to be phone or knock on the door today it’s certified mail email text and to not look is to be in hiding
    got certified mail for guy to trash my car the other day but he hasn’t paid yet
    he’s legal but not square with me yet
    no concern he’s my mechaniscs guy and won’t dare screw up that relationship but he’s a little shady

    when do i want to hide … i guess i prefer getting it over with lots of times when going into suspended animation would be nice but it kind of hangs over you

    if i could wish to be out of horrible never ending required stuff i guess hiding would be a possibility
    it never occurs to me
    i do leave early sometimes

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      1. yeah some guy is paying me 400 to thrash my car
        the catalytic converter alone brings 250 to 650 depending on model plus tires battery and 8 cants a pound for steel

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  14. As I often do, I’ve searched for songs about hiding and disappearance.
    So many are completely depressing.
    This one is maybe going halves-es as the Beatles are my favorite artists.

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  15. No subpoenas here. The one time I was supposed to testify (a car accident when I was a teenager), I didn’t get a subpoena because my dad was the attorney. Never did testify (the other side caved the day before the trail). Only got called for jury duty once but never got on an actual jury so got sent home at noon every day for a week.

    Hiding. Most of my hiding these days is metaphorical hiding and technology makes it pretty easy. Call from a client who is driving you out of your mind? Just don’t pick up. I love called id!

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  16. Sandy got called for jury duty twice in Cities for criminal court. About third question defense attorneys asked was if she had any relatives who were cops. Yes, she had four. She was dismissed on that answer every time.

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    1. I recall when Macalester College had such a horrific football team that they set a NCAA record of 50 consecutive losses. Some spectators actually cheered for them to lose, and were disappointed when the finally broke the streak.

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  18. I remember in my San Francisco days, coming home from some party after multiple glasses of wine. Next morning I vaguely remembered I’d given some guy my address. Later that day he came over to pick me up and I no longer wanted to see him – I remember hiding in the coat closet and making my roommates tell him I wasn’t home…

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      2. BiR, I’m sure that most, if not all, of us have stories to tell that we’re not proud of. I know I certainly do. In fact, I’ve told several of them on the trail already. Sometimes they make the most entertaining stories, embarrassing as they might be.

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