CHICAGO (MCT) — Medical sales representative Scott Enke says he has been asked virtually every day — by everyone from lunch ladies to close friends — for an explanation after it became public recently that he bolted from town for a business trip in the midst of serving on a federal jury in Chicago.

“It’s usually starts with, ‘Why are you skipping out on jury duty?’” Enke explained Tuesday to a federal judge who was about to sentence him for his violation of court rules. “‘It doesn’t seem like something you’d do. What happened?’”