jury duty here is such a mess

for those of you who crave efficiency, manifest that you won't ever be summoned for jury duty. yesterday, i went for a summons and it was the most disorganized and chaotic experience ever.

getting past security and finding the right room was fairly quick, but then the waiting began. i found myself in a line with ~200 other summoned montréalais, all trying to get into the same courtroom. one by one (as in only one clerk signing in every single person), letters were validated and minute by minute, the line moved. after almost an hour, i was surrounded by hoards of people who were finally let into the room. then, after being in the courtroom for another ~30 minutes, the judge started the introduction of what it means to be a juror, and a blurb about the trial taking place.

after the judge was done, they called out a first batch of numbers assigned to prospective jurors, and lucky me was one of those unlucky folk. so i, along with about 20 other people, were lead down a bunch of hallways, and steps outside of the room where we'd testify as jurors in voir dire. the process was delayed for some reason, and all of us waited outside of the room for half an hour before we could finally start the questioning process.

after my interview, i was put into a pool of potential, maybe-so, jurors and told to wait at the same room i was in before (where they called out this first batch of numbers). for the next 5-6 hours, they called out other batches of numbers, went on short breaks, and so on. everyone involved disappeared for ~2 hours towards the end of the day. people rightfully started to get frustrated and confused. we were told to wait, but nobody ever explained what was going on.

an hour after the supposed end time, they finally tell us that we aren't prospective jurors anymore and that we can go home. great, so basically i spent my entire day and afternoon waiting around and doing absolutely nothing at the courthouse, and paid a whopping $25 for my troubles! what a waste of time and energy. i did make a friend whom i went insane with though, so that was a silver lining.

has anyone else had a similar experience with jury duty here, or was i just unlucky with the disorganization? either way, i hope i don't get summoned again anytime soon.