shrift, in Natter:
I was called for jury duty once. My mother had to send the form back saying something along the lines of:
"Dear Mr. State Government,
My daughter will be unable to attend jury duty on Tuesday next as she has come down with a severe case of foreign study. Also, please note that she is currently employed by Mr. Federal Government, and Mr. Federal Government would consider it a hardship were my daughter unable to perform her duties at work as she is one of the few employees at her facility who actually report for her shifts, and none of the senior staff may assume her duties as despite the fact that they were hand-picked by a commissioner of some sort, they all suffer from the unfortunate inability to speak a language other than English and have demonstrated extreme incompetence when attempting to use one of those newfangled computers. Also, please note that the senior staff further require her presence and consider her essential despite the fact that they continually use her for riot control and bomb sweeps, and Mr. Federal Government shall most profusely apologize to Mr. State Government should they inadvertantly blow up or cause to be trampled their tax-paying resident.
Most sincerely,
shrift's mum"