Last year I "was on jury duty." I was sent (by mail) a phone number to call after 4:30 the day before the trial began to see if I was to show up at the courthouse the next morning. That first day, the call said it was postponed and I was to try again another day (about a week later). Next time, apparently the case had been settled out of court because the message was that we didn't need to appear at all.

I did not get a pen, though. :-(

My mom was on jury duty once, and her story was more like yours. Sit around, get asked questions, sit around some more, then go home.