Meet Murphy, My New Best Friend

We’ve all heard of Murphy’s Law. We’ve all probably made reference to it at least once in our lifetime. If you’re not familiar with the expression, basically it means everything that can go wrong will go wrong. But I bet you didn’t know that time has distorted the law’s intended meaning entirely. It’s quite the opposite of the commonly used version.

There really was a Murphy – Air Force captain and reliability engineer, Edward A. Murphy, Jr. to be exact – and the law that bears his name is not an admission of defeat but rather a call to excellence. A call to excellence. Not failure. Hmmm.

Murphy’s Law originated at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California, the same place where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947. Around that time, a team of Edwards engineers were working on Project MX981, a mission to determine the amount of force a human body could sustain in a crash. They actually sought out volunteers to conduct their experiments on. Go figure. Human guinea pigs. People VOLUNTEERED to be part of an experiment to test how much force their body could withstand in a crash. Which meant . . . well . . . crashing. Probably really hard. Well, sign me up!

Anyway, the person who transformed Murphy’s Law from one of excellence to one of assured failure of some sort, was Dr. Stapp, the flight surgeon who put his life on the line to test the team’s theories. Yeah, something obviously went wrong there. When a reporter asked about the project’s inherent danger, Stapp allegedly replied that the team was guided by a principle he called “Murphy’s Law.”

As Stapp put it, errors and malfunctions were an inescapable reality of any undertaking. Instead of using that fact as reason to quit, the engineers used it as motivation to excel. The only way to avoid catastrophe was to envision every possible scenario and plan against it. 

Here’s a link if you want to read more about Murphy and the experiment. It’s fascinating. https://qz.com/984181/murphys-law-is-totally-misunderstood-and-is-in-fact-a-call-to-excellence/

Now, do I employ Murphy’s Law the way it was intended when I’m working on a project or planning a trip? Absolutely. I try to foresee what could go wrong and plan accordingly. I sometimes overpack because I want to be prepared for whatever I might encounter while on my journey. And because my traveling partner almost always forgets something. Thank goodness I’ve thought ahead and am super prepared.

But, this post is about the “other” Murphy’s Law, the one everyone knows about. The one where everything that can go wrong will go wrong. It seems like that’s been my life lately. I’m tired of things not working, or not working the way they’re supposed to work.

For instance, my range hood has the exhaust fan built into my microwave oven. It’s an all-in-one built in appliance that doesn’t vent outside but is somehow self-contained. Don’t ask me how it works. For that matter, don’t even ask me IF it works, because I honestly don’t know. Anyway, that appliance has a button on it that says “light.” When it’s working properly, it illuminates my stovetop beautifully, allowing me to make perfect golden-brown pancakes and such. Some days that light comes on when I hit the button. Some days it does not. Some days the light comes on, stays on for about five minutes then goes out. What the heck? There’s obviously some kind of short in the electrical system but why can’t it just work? It’s not something I’m going to call a repairman for or rush out and buy a new one. It’s just plain ‘ole annoying.

Another instance, I have a landline phone that comes into my house and I have 3 phone charging stations with cordless handheld phones that all connect to that landline. One of those phones is upstairs. Nine times out of ten when I try to use that phone there’s a message that says “no power at base” or “out of range.” Why does it work sometimes, but not always? And, why do the other two phones work just fine? I’ve replaced batteries, plugged it into another outlet, same dealio. Weird. Why?

Most days I’m on my computer and almost always I need the internet. After I finish my morning chores I sit down at my desk to work and I’ll be typing along for an hour or so, then head upstairs to put laundry from the washing machine into the dryer. It gives me a nice break from sitting, forces me to get some exercise as I must go up the stairs, and gives my brain a few minutes to recharge. When I sit back down to continue my typing – BOOM – no internet. Just like that. Nothing changed except me going upstairs for less than five minutes. What gives?

The other night I plugged my Kindle into the charger and plugged the charger into an electrical outlet close to my dresser in the bedroom. In the morning the Kindle was still at 4% battery. Say what now? It’s been plugged in all night. Is my cord bad? I plugged it into an outlet in the kitchen and within twenty minutes I had a fully-charged Kindle. Later, I plugged something else into the outlet that I thought was faulty, since my Kindle wouldn’t charge, and I got juice. It makes no sense? Why didn’t it work earlier? Is that plug prejudiced against my Kindle?

And, three times now I’ve been stranded because my car wouldn’t start. I was running errands. Stop, run in, start. Stop, run in, start. Stop, run in, nothing. No lights, no camera, no action. No bells, no whistles. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. One new battery later I’m up and running errands again. Stop, run in, start. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Stop, run in. nothing. No lights, no camera, no action. What. The. Hell? One new alternator later, same crap, different day. Three times I was towed, after waiting hours (yes hours) for a tow truck. Three times something was fixed. Three times the car still starts whenever it feels like it. It’s like spinning the roulette wheel every time I go somewhere. Will I get back home today or will I be visited by the ghosts of tow trucks past? Why so random? Why can’t they diagnose the problem correctly?

So, that’s how my days have been going. How about you guys, have you been visited by my new best friend Murphy as well? There’s plenty of him to go around. Did you know about the original meaning behind “Murphy’s law?”

Word of the Day: Koel

Fun fact about me: I’m on a first name basis with the tow truck driver here in Vicksburg. We’re pals.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, November 2020. Images by Google and giphy.com.

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