Nobody likes jury duty. I wonder why?

When I received my jury duty summons— part of me was curious— but I was mostly annoyed. Of course we are culturally conditioned to react to jury duty with disdain, but it being my first time, I did not really know what to expect. I spent time researching where I need to go, which would be the best mode of transit to get there, and what I should expect from my experience. I learn that I have to be at the county courthouse earlier than my 8:00AM workday requires, and I am informed that I am also expected to stay later than my workday lasts. Great. /s

The morning of arrives and my husband drives me to downtown San Diego and drops me off at the county courthouse. I enter the colossal 22-story concrete structure through the main entrance and proceed through security. This is pretty much the same song and dance as at the airport, but without taking off shoes. I continue past the congestion of people at security and I ride the escalators up to the third floor, which opens up to a large waiting room with signage reading, “JURY DUTY CANDIDATES.” There are about 30 people inside, but more are piling in with every passing second. After about an half-of-an-hour, I realize the room has swollen to well over 200 people. I am flabbergasted that there are enough cases going on today to warrant this many jury candidates.

Clerks started the day by showing the captive audience a 30-minute video describing what it means to be a juror. I got the distinct impression during the video that I was passenger to a guilt trip. There was about 15 minutes of silence after the video, and then they announced that we have a one hour break. “You are free to do whatever until it is time to be back.” The break room is somehow out-dated despite the building being new. The vending machines only take cash. Yes, that filthy green paper that nobody carries on them anymore. There is nowhere to swipe my card so I guess that snacking is out of the question. I did research on what to expect, so I ask myself why did I not bring something else to do besides fiddle with my phone? It may be because I was not expecting an hour break just after 9:00 AM.

About 10 minutes after resuming the duty experience, they assign two groups of candidates to other departments in the building. About 50 people leave the room then, and the rest of us are told to just hang around until we are called. An hour and a half goes by of this hanging around, and the clerks finally make another announcement: “Take a two hour lunch!” Now I am annoyed. I got myself all psyched-up and ready to play juror and instead all that I am getting is stuffed into a room with hundreds of agitated people, many of whom with sniffles and wet coughs. Why did they require us to be here so early?  Why is there 150 people just sitting around with nothing to do?  I figured there would be a more involved and systematic approach to this day.

So while on my long lunch break after my long snack breaks, I decide to walk around downtown San Diego. I came across a charming corner deli, aptly named, “Corner Bakery Cafe,” where I decided to go ahead and enjoy lunch. For the next 45 minutes, I sat at the high top counter with my legs dangling and I eat a club panini with no tomato and I watched my city move. After that I walked around a little more to churn my metabolism and mosey my way back to the courthouse. I go back through security and see I still have “free” time. I decide to head up the 22nd floor in search of a new vantage point of San Diego. I was not disappointed. Other than someone really needing to wash the exterior windows, the view is amazing! The coastline was my literal silver lining in an otherwise superfluous morning.

I make my way back down to the waiting room and I wait some more. After lunch is officially over, the clerks come back to make one more announcement— that they have no further need for the rest of us and that we may leave. I am both excited and frustrated at this point. On one hand, they just wasted my morning for no reason. Could they really have not dismissed us before the two-hour lunch? On the other hand, I do get to go home earlier than I anticipated and I do not have to come back tomorrow. I guess I will take it!

Nobody likes jury duty. I know why.