Nearly five hours had passed before my name was called to report to Department Nine, which was lacated on the sixth floor of the Compton courthouse.

Most of us have experienced the joys of jury duty, the time-wasting process of waiting around in some large room with a bunch of strangers for most of the day just to hear “thank you for spending the day with us, juror, but your services will not be required for another year.”

It’s pointless in going to work because you told your employer that you wouldn’t be in, which means that you don’t get paid for the day.

Don’t dare try to explain your situation to the city worker, who looks less than enthused to see you anyway because he or she will not sympathize with you.

After all, you probably make more money than he or she does.

You’re one of the lucky people if you can be done before lunch, but that occurrence is a rarity.

To you, the room seems to be more crowded after lunch than it had been when you arrived earlier that morning.

Still, you are one of the lucky people if you’re fortunate enough not to get selected to a trial case.

For the thousands of suckers like me, being selected to a trial case causes our stress level to rise.

Consider being selected to a misdemeanor trial where the main charges are possessing and concealing an unregistered weapon.

Also take into consideration that the prosecuting attorney’s only witness and only evidence was a police officer, who claimed to have seen the defendant toss a gun into a trashcan.

As soon as the prosecuting attorney starts to present his evidence, you realize that the case is going to be quick because there is no fingerprints or anything linking the defendant to the gun other than what the police officer said he saw his partner do.

In addition, the bumbling prosecuting attorney seems to be proving the innocence rather than the guilt of the defandent.

A few hours and three witnesses later, the trial comes to an end and the deliberation process starts.

You might be wondering to yourself that everyone must think that the defendant is innocent based on the lack of evidence that was presented, but wait a minute.

Three people are adament about the defendant’s guilt because they believe the officer’s word over the defendant’s.

For the next two and a half days, you argue hopelessly over the case, trying to reach a verdict, but everyone is set in his or her frame of thinking.

It’s pretty clear that you’re not going to reach a unanimous and it had been clear all along.

So, the case ends up in a mistrial, and all you get is a check worth $50, half of which is going toward gas you had to use up to travel back and forth for three days.

For a lousy $15.34 a day, jury duty isn’t worth it.