Today is a bad day. A particularly consistent bad day. Not an awful day, mind you, but just bad enough to be laughably annoying. And this got me to thinking…
Why is it that bad luck seems to come in strings… chains… in groups… whatever?
My example today:
- Had bathroom conflicts with roomie and her guest.
- Left in a hurry, forgot both cell phone and Google security card.
- Shuttle on the way to work was cramped, couldn’t work effectively on laptop.
- Due to bridge being damaged *and* another accident, I was late to work and had to push back a 10am meeting.
- Pulling laptop out of backpack at work, I accidentally broke off the antenna on my broadband wireless card.
- Allergies are acting up. Blech :(.
- There were no communal coffee mugs left this morning.
- In a rush to grab my coffee-comfort (thank goodness for paper cups!), I spilled coffee grounds on myself.
Okay, so none of that is earth shattering. My dog didn’t die, my wife didn’t run away with my pickup truck and shotgun, and I didn’t get beer spilled on me (admittedly, not having a dog, a wife, a pickup truck, a shotgun, or an affinity for beer makes this example somewhat inapt, but no matter). Anyway, it’s still enough even-minorly-bad-stuff in a row (and by noon!) to make one wonder…
What is it about Mondays that causes so much misery? Why do so many bad things seem to happen in a row?
Perception
Maybe we’re made cranky by the first bad thing, and thus are more attuned to subsequent annoyances. Or, we subconsciously / culturally correlate Mondays with Trouble in our mind, and thus when bad things happen, this perception is simply reinforced.
Causation
Unpleasant incidences tend to directly cause other icky happenings (e.g., being late in the morning causes you to rush and be less careful and attentive, thus leading to forgetting important objects or procedures and/or causing you to move carelessly and stub various body parts). Or unhappy moments make one more stressed or preoccupied in such a way as to be mentally or physically unprepared for typical challenges and obstacles, thus causing subsequent mishaps.
Any other theories?
And how is your Monday going so far?
What do you think?