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This wasn't anticipated six hours earlier, when several dozen citizens, stout and true, reported to the fourth-floor jury assembly room. We were greeted by Clerk of Court Dave Churchill, who acquainted us with the day's protocols. Important information included a rundown of the causes for disqualification, which include:

• You're not a resident of Guilford County or a U.S. citizen. If you live outside the county, you have to prove it, Churchill advised. He didn't say how you might prove you're not a citizen.

• Age. For people 72 and older, service is optional. "If you want to claim you're 72 or older, we usually take your word for it," Churchill offered.

• Criminal record, unless you've paid your debt to society and had your citizenship restored. (But good luck getting on a jury if the judge knows you by name.)

• You're hearing-impaired or don't speak English well.

Even then, you're still eligible to serve if you want; an interpreter will be provided.

• If you've served in the last two years.

Not sure? Apply Churchill's rule of thumb: "If you can't remember if you've served in the last two years, you probably haven't."

This is the one rule I'd change, at least for retired people. Let them be jurors as often as they like; they'd do a great job.

• "Other excuses you think you might have," in Churchill's words. The problem: You have to tell it to the judge, if you see the judge (and we never did).

You can ask to defer your service if today isn't good for you. Please come up with a reason, Churchill suggested: "Even if you fudge a little, tell us with a straight face and we'll defer you the first time."

Churchill, who's running for election to a third term as clerk, handles jury relations with good humor. Noting that his staff provides written verification of jury service upon request, he recalled a man "who needed it to prove to his wife that he was here."

He added that no one gets the note until the end of the day: "We have learned from our mistakes."

Concluding his presentation, he invited jurors to pass time by watching television but warned that there's only one remote for the room's two sets: "The TVs have been the source of the only trouble we've ever had in the jury assembly room" -- once requiring intervention by sheriff's deputies to quell a battle over what to watch.

No such hostilities ensued Monday. Maybe a little excitement would have been welcomed. We were told first thing that three Superior Courts, two of them hearing criminal matters, were operating -- creating good prospects for a jury trial. At 11, we were notified that some of us were likely to be called soon. At 12:30, still undisturbed, we were released for lunch until 2. Twenty minutes after returning, we were let go.

For me, it was a familiar experience.

I find it frustrating in light of constant courthouse complaints about the problems of getting enough jurors. Whenever I've been called, there have been jurors aplenty and nothing for them to do.

OK, cases are often settled at the last minute without going to trial. That's a good thing. But one time, I'd like to be an actual juror deciding guilt or innocence in a big case. Then I might really have a story to tell.

As for Monday: Honey, I did have jury duty. Honest.