Jury Duty Stinks

Don't get me wrong. I understand my duties as a citizen of the United States of America. I understand the critical role trial by jury has in our judicial system. I'll gladly participate in a trial if chosen! Well...I might grumble a bit at the time commitment...

But honestly, does the process have to be so inefficient? We were requested to arrive at the courthouse at 7:45am. Like many others, I overestimated the amount of traffic so I actually arrived downtown at 7:20am. At 8am, we had a brief orientation and watched an inspirational video about how wonderful it is to serve as a juror. Yippee. It wasn't until after 9 that they began calling names. The rest of the day was spent twiddling my fingers and praying I wouldn't be called. I read Wired and Gourmet and started on Harpers after the lunch break, but found myself dozing off. Finally, the remaining jurors (still about 50 of us!) were dismissed at 2:30pm. I ran out of the courthouse like a rabid animal that had just escaped captivity and raced to my car. It wasn't until I had been on the freeway a good 15 minutes did I breathe easy again.

Thank god I don't have to go through that again for another year.