In my experience, explaining that situation to the court would have excused you from lengthy service without having to concoct artful answers during voir dire. You did your duty anyway. Good!
The judge for the drunk redneck case explained at the beginning that nobody would be excused for any business or personal reason.
I've lived in my house for over eleven years, and I'm on all of the lists that are typically harvested for potential jurors (I'm a licensed driver, a registered voter, and I pay property taxes). I've only been called once.