Today was the start of my jury duty that I mentioned a few weeks ago. I always thought it would be interesting to see the inner workings of a court room. Unfortunately that has yet to happen for me. I arrived at the courthouse this morning at 8:30, waited in line to check-in, and then went through orientation until around 10:30. From that point I sat with the other citizens (somewhere between 100 and 200 of us) in various rooms waiting for our names to be called in a juror pool. We were told that once in a pool we would be taken to any of a few dozen courtrooms for additional questioning and then finally jury selection.

However no names were ever called today. What a complete waste of time it was. I killed the three hours of waiting time by walking 21 laps around the courthouse’s fourth floor (I was told 7 laps was a mile), playing on the internet with my phone, and even closing my eyes for a few minutes. Around 12:30 an announcement told us all that we were dismissed for the day.

And guess what happened next? I went online to see if I have to report again tomorrow, and it must be my lucky day because I do. You can bet that I’m bringing my laptop and other entertainment items with me to help pass the time tomorrow. I really can’t believe how inefficient this system is, plus each person is given $19 per day so it isn’t a cheap process either. I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that tomorrow I at least get to see the inside of one of the courtrooms.