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Tuesday, October 16, 2007
murphy's law
The formula to the law does exist!
I have to say it is pretty close with what I experienced this evening...
I was running slightly late for my chiropractic appointment to start therapy on my middle back. The traffic wasn't too bad.. so I was less than 10 minutes late (the appointment was at 6pm, I left work at 5.35pm).
However once I got there, there was at least 3 people in front of me waiting for their appointment!!! So by the time it was my turn, it was already 6.30pm!
The therapy usually starts shortly after they take you to the room, but it felt like I waited for 5-10 minutes before the massage therapist came to give me a 10 minute back therapy. It wasn't the first time I had to wait but it didn't end there!
The next thing that happens is the chiropractioner comes in and gives me the treatment which takes about 3 minutes! but of course, that didn't happened until 7.10pm!!! which was a pretty long wait!!! (I know, because I fell asleep on the massage therapy bed dribbling!!!)
I paid the fee and left as usual and been Tuesday, I usually go fill up the car using those fuel dockets (today's was Coles Express lucky day to get my money) near my place of residence.
I waited like everybody else did on a Tuesday night (7.15pm) for about 5 minutes before it was my turn. I pulled up next to an E10 (10% ethanol mixed) pump and started to fill up the Aurion (max 70 litres) with only a quarter tank full.
The process usually takes about 3-5 minutes to complete at the pump, but it was my lucky day!!! The guy behind me which finished filling his car, started the same time as I and had already paid for his fuel and ready to leave... started to wonder how big (the tank is) / long is going to take me...
10 minutes later, I was still at the pump (merely 19-20 litres in), the guy behind me got impatient and started to signal the car behind him to reverse, so he could leave. The next guy started to fill his car and question me about the same thing. I said I got a dud pump!
Anyway these fuel pump usually clicks off when it's near full but mine didn't!!! So I reckon I must have spill-over at least a couple of litres onto the tarmac!! Incidently the next guy just finished his fillup as well. So that was a good 20 minutes to fill up just over 40 litres!!! GAH!
Walked over to pay for the fuel with the docket, a bar of Strawberry KitKat and Mars Rock because it was 2 bars for $3, the flybuy incentive card and my credit card and complained about the pump's capability to get the job done properly.
Upon signing the invoice, the flybuy card snapped in half at the black stripe! Just my luck! Great~ what else could possibly go wrong... I checked the receipt and realised the KitKat and Mars bar was $2.20 each!!! I pointed that out to the guy behind the counter and he said, "It's two of the same for $3, not just because they've got 2 for $3 on them" BAH!!!!! I so wanted the day to end! but I was too tired, so I decided to just take it on the chin and walk away.
Upon leaving the service station, a trolley trailer decides to enter the station.. the wrong way and decide to block my exit out!!! Usually I could have been my usual self and bleep the horn and tell him to move it, but I remained composed and signal for him to move in alittle so I could get out of this horror. I looked at the time as I waited for the lights to turn for me to go... 7.50pm.
So, back to the Murphy's law formula... ((U+C+I) x (10-S))/20 x A x 1/(1-sin(F/10)) was decided by a panel of experts.
In the calculation, five factors have to be assessed: urgency (U), complexity (C), importance (I), skill (S) and frequency (F) and each given a score between one and nine. A sixth, aggravation (A), was set at 0.7.
The equation has seven steps to forecasting a potential Murphy's Law moment, so you can work out which factors you need to change to avoid it.
I have to say it is pretty close with what I experienced this evening...
I was running slightly late for my chiropractic appointment to start therapy on my middle back. The traffic wasn't too bad.. so I was less than 10 minutes late (the appointment was at 6pm, I left work at 5.35pm).
However once I got there, there was at least 3 people in front of me waiting for their appointment!!! So by the time it was my turn, it was already 6.30pm!
The therapy usually starts shortly after they take you to the room, but it felt like I waited for 5-10 minutes before the massage therapist came to give me a 10 minute back therapy. It wasn't the first time I had to wait but it didn't end there!
The next thing that happens is the chiropractioner comes in and gives me the treatment which takes about 3 minutes! but of course, that didn't happened until 7.10pm!!! which was a pretty long wait!!! (I know, because I fell asleep on the massage therapy bed dribbling!!!)
I paid the fee and left as usual and been Tuesday, I usually go fill up the car using those fuel dockets (today's was Coles Express lucky day to get my money) near my place of residence.
I waited like everybody else did on a Tuesday night (7.15pm) for about 5 minutes before it was my turn. I pulled up next to an E10 (10% ethanol mixed) pump and started to fill up the Aurion (max 70 litres) with only a quarter tank full.
The process usually takes about 3-5 minutes to complete at the pump, but it was my lucky day!!! The guy behind me which finished filling his car, started the same time as I and had already paid for his fuel and ready to leave... started to wonder how big (the tank is) / long is going to take me...
10 minutes later, I was still at the pump (merely 19-20 litres in), the guy behind me got impatient and started to signal the car behind him to reverse, so he could leave. The next guy started to fill his car and question me about the same thing. I said I got a dud pump!
Anyway these fuel pump usually clicks off when it's near full but mine didn't!!! So I reckon I must have spill-over at least a couple of litres onto the tarmac!! Incidently the next guy just finished his fillup as well. So that was a good 20 minutes to fill up just over 40 litres!!! GAH!
Walked over to pay for the fuel with the docket, a bar of Strawberry KitKat and Mars Rock because it was 2 bars for $3, the flybuy incentive card and my credit card and complained about the pump's capability to get the job done properly.
Upon signing the invoice, the flybuy card snapped in half at the black stripe! Just my luck! Great~ what else could possibly go wrong... I checked the receipt and realised the KitKat and Mars bar was $2.20 each!!! I pointed that out to the guy behind the counter and he said, "It's two of the same for $3, not just because they've got 2 for $3 on them" BAH!!!!! I so wanted the day to end! but I was too tired, so I decided to just take it on the chin and walk away.
Upon leaving the service station, a trolley trailer decides to enter the station.. the wrong way and decide to block my exit out!!! Usually I could have been my usual self and bleep the horn and tell him to move it, but I remained composed and signal for him to move in alittle so I could get out of this horror. I looked at the time as I waited for the lights to turn for me to go... 7.50pm.
So, back to the Murphy's law formula... ((U+C+I) x (10-S))/20 x A x 1/(1-sin(F/10)) was decided by a panel of experts.
In the calculation, five factors have to be assessed: urgency (U), complexity (C), importance (I), skill (S) and frequency (F) and each given a score between one and nine. A sixth, aggravation (A), was set at 0.7.
The equation has seven steps to forecasting a potential Murphy's Law moment, so you can work out which factors you need to change to avoid it.
- Rate the urgency, importance and complexity on a scale of one to nine and add the three figures together.
- Rate from one to nine how skilled you are at the task, then subtract this from 10.
- Multiply answers to 1 and 2 and divide by 20.
- Rate from one to nine how frequently you perform the task and divide this by 10.
- Rate the sine (or sin) of your answer to step 4 and subtract this from 1.
- Divide 1 by your answer to step 5.
- Multiply your answer to step 3 by 0.7 and multiply this by your answer to step 6, and that's your Murphy’s Law rating.
The closer to 10 it is, the higher your risk of falling victim. Equation source
Why am I telling you this? Because I need to vent! and lick my wounds. But seriously... thanks for listening (reading). So you reckon you can top that? I like to hear from you.
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