Jury Duty

I can't say that I've ever really been a fan of jury duty, and yesterday did not change my opinion. On the summons, they give directions to the only parking garage that they will validate and then the courthouse is about 5 blocks away. While walking these 5 blocks, in one of the worst areas of downtown Vegas, I had to walk by several people still asleep on the sidewalk, many ladies-of-the-night and several drug dealers. Of course it was also about 100 degrees outside, too. When I finally got to the courthouse, they scanned me in and then everybody just sat around waiting for about 2 hours. When they finally needed jurors, I was one of the lucky 40 chosen to be questioned in the courtroom on the 11th floor. Being up on the 11th floor we had a nice view of the surrounding area, or "cracktown" as the bailiff called it. After about 2 hours of questioning potential jurors, they finally sent the rejected back to wait for another trial. I, of course, was rejected because I am a teacher and the case was a criminal case involving children (Convicted felon in possession of a weapon). After another half hour in the waiting room, again, they finally sent some of us home. I feel bad for those who were never called and just stuck in the waiting room for 5 hours!