After nearly a decade of being incognito they finally caught up with me and I was given a jury duty notice. I get there and its the usual mind numbing chaos but since I was bored I noticed the guy in front of me trying to get the attendants to help him with his grandmother's case. She was given a summons for jury duty but is over 80 years old, does not speak english and can barely walk, she was with him. He finally gave up his attempts to reason with them and had her sit while he waited on line. I spoke to him about it for a bit and totally empathized. After waiting on a mile long line we finally get to the court house and at the door they say only she can go in. I went in and sat beside her then searched for my google translator...like an idiot I assumed she spoke chinese so wrote in mandarin "Do you speak chinese?" she tried to read it then laughed and said "I Korean" so I laughed back and motioned for her to wait a sec. I found the korean tab and told her I would find out if they had translators for her. She read it and smiled and nodded in thanks. I spoke to one of the officers and found out all the info she needed and communicated with her via my phones translator lol. While she had looked scared and apprehensive when we first walked in, she now smiled and patted my arm in thanks. She must have gotten even more comfortable because she pulled her pants up and showed me her wounded legs that were paining her and pointed at them. I nodded and "told" her she could go ahead of me and that we'd be out of there in no time, which we were.
Although this could have been an annoying experience I'm glad I was able to connect with a stranger in such a positive fashion...we all need that every now and then...a genuine smile from a stranger and a totally unexpected helping hand from somone with nothing to gain...
Very cool use of technology
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