Murphy's law - what is it, examples and how to use it in practice

[Teacher]

To understand what Murphy's Law is, imagine the following situation. In the morning before work, you dropped by the bakery to buy a fresh croissant for tea. And now you are standing near the cash register with the coveted breakfast in your hands, but time is running out, and the queue is barely moving. Frustrated, you run to the next one, but the cashier starts to work much slower, and when he finally takes up your purchase, the cash register breaks down.

What is this, evil rock? No, it's just that you are faced with another manifestation of Murphy's law. It reads: "If trouble can happen, it will happen." This is an empirical law, not devoid of dark humor, according to which everything will go awry at the most crucial moment. But in every joke, as you know, there is only a fraction of a joke.

An empirical law is a conclusion, a generalization that follows from practical observations. Such laws are derived empirically and have no evidence as such.

History of appearance
The phenomenon is named after the American Air Force engineer Edward Murphy, who served at Edwards AFB in 1949. His job was to prevent possible accidents.

It all happened during tests to determine the level of overload that the human body can withstand. The engineers incorrectly connected the sensors to the equipment, which caused the experiment to fail. The irony of what was happening was that for each sensor there were only two connection methods - correct and incorrect - and at the same time all the equipment was connected exactly by the wrong method.

Captain Murphy expressed everything he thinks about the technique responsible for connecting the mechanism (according to eyewitnesses, it was not without obscene vocabulary). At the end of his fiery speech, the military added: "If there's any way to do it wrong, he will find it." Another version of the phrase: "If there are two ways to do something, and one of those ways will result in disaster, he 'll do it that way).

This scene was witnessed by Colonel John Stapp, who took part in an unsuccessful test flight. He appreciated the humor of the situation and told reporters during his speech at the press conference that the safety of the test was excellent thanks to the knowledge of the team of engineers about Murphy's Law.

The first mentions of this phenomenon appeared in articles on aerospace technology in the 1950s, then they leaked into pop culture, and two decades later a book was published. Since then, the law has been supplemented with new examples in various fields of application, and in the classic version it sounds like this: "If a trouble can happen, it will happen."

In Russia, Murphy's law is called the law of meanness or the law of a butter-down sandwich.

Why is the phenomenon so popular?
Despite the fact that this empirical law is rather pessimistic, it quickly spread to the masses and is still actively used in various variations. There are several reasons for this.

• It teaches you to be on the alert and helps prevent possible mistakes. Knowing ahead of time where to place the straws will help you avoid problems when you are on a mission.
• Removes responsibility. When trouble does happen, it is always easier to believe in the fatalism of what is happening and shift responsibility from your shoulders to something that is not in your power.
• Helps treat problems with humor. If you sneer at the situation, it will not be so offensive because of the failure.

Soda law is prevalent in British culture. It originated long before Murphy's Law and states that the worst-case scenario will happen exactly when you are least prepared for it. For example, you will have to wait the longest for the bus if you are in a hurry, and a large discount on the goods you have purchased will appear shortly after the purchase.

Murphy's laws for all occasions
The universality of this phenomenon is that it works in all spheres of human life. It is up to you to be angry at such failures or to perceive them with humor.

Murphy's laws and public transportation

• If you are running late, the bus will go slower and stop at all traffic lights.
• As soon as you light a cigarette or realize that you cannot find the pass in your pockets, the bus will arrive right there.
• The person who was the last to enter the vehicle and stood at the door always drives to the end.
• If you came to the bus stop first and wait for the bus longer than others, it will stop further or closer than necessary, and people who came later than you will be the first to enter the cabin and take their seats.
• The person you sat next to will talk loudly on their mobile all the way.
• If you arrive at the stop early, the bus will be late, but if you are late, it will arrive on time.

Laws in everyday life

• If everything is going well, then you are missing something.
• If you have lost a household item (glasses, TV remote control, blender), you will find it only when you buy a new one.
• When you throw the check out of the store, you need it.
• According to Parkinson's Law, work takes up all the time allotted to it, but according to Murphy's Law, the first 90% of the work is done in 90% of the time allotted for it, and the remaining 10% of the work takes up another 90% of the time.
• The longer you put up with being badly treated, the more badly you will get.

For pet owners

• If you dreamed of an affectionate calm pet, your four-legged friend will turn out to be an independent fidget.
• If you want an energetic pet - get ready to cohabit with a phlegmatic bumpkin who will spend all day in the kingdom of Morpheus.
• Fans of gothic outfits will definitely like the snow-white pet, who will really like to “warm” black things with his fur.
• The more exquisite delicacies are in your friend's bowl, the more he will be interested in inedible harmful things: the contents of the trash bag or the owner's earplugs.
• The more expensive a special bed for a pet, the more likely it will be to ignore it and prefer to sleep on the couch, on your sweatshirt, or even in a cardboard box.
• If you recently made repairs and pasted stylish wallpapers, they will certainly appeal to your pet, especially its sharp claws.

Murphy's Office Laws

• If you are late for work, then be sure to meet face to face with your boss.
• The further until Friday, the longer the working day lasts.
• The closer the Friday evening, the higher the risk that 10 minutes before the end of the working day, an urgent voluminous work will fall on you.
• The printer runs out of paper and / or ink when you need to urgently print documents for an important meeting.
• The harder you work on the report, the more likely your boss won't even read it. But if you do a slipshod report, your mistakes and negligence will certainly be noticed.
• When one colleague has an urgent, time-consuming task for you, other colleagues will have the same - even those who have not needed anything from you all year.
• The computer will need to be updated exactly on the day when you need to finish important work in the morning.
• When an urgent need to write data, not a single pen is within reach, or they are all defective.
• Important documents are always in plain sight when they are not needed, but once they are really needed, you will not find them.
• A flash drive is never inserted into a USB port the first time, or even the second.
• If you are reading this article at work, your boss will be behind you and ask what you are doing.

Why does the law work?
Is any situation potentially doomed to fail? Actually this is not true. The main reason Murphy's Law works is because of the selectivity of human memory.

Consider the case of a bus that crashed on its way to work. When you get to the office for an important meeting without incident, you can hardly remember the road - rather, your attention will be focused on the upcoming meeting. But if at this moment the work of the transport stalls, the case will definitely remain in your memory, and you will subconsciously associate these two events: a meeting and a bus breakdown. And the fact that they superimposed on each other will acquire a pattern in your eyes, thanks to which it is easiest to explain what happened.