Dear State of Illinois,
It may be somewhat hard for me to serve on jury duty on this coming March 13th. I'm currently an intern in New York working on a project with a major release in less than a month, and while my parents would be thrilled to see my face again, my getting a last-minute plane ticket out to Chicago right now would (1) render me completely bankrupt and (2) force myself and several other people to not sleep for several days to make up for the testing I wouldn't be able to do while sitting in a waiting room purchasing snacks from vending machines to keep myself somewhat half-sane and occupied.
Can I request a raincheck date for June?
Love,
-Mel
(The actual letter was somewhat more formally worded, of course.)