Are certain people unlucky?
Discussion
I joined here to post a question about a BMW engine and after reading a few other posts I came across the strange things one. Now I class myself personally as very unlucky but I don't think its anything to do with the occult or anything as I don't really believe in any of that nonsense but it does seem strange how ofter stupid things go wrong for me, nothing of a serious nature, just constantly annoying things.
Even when I was yound my dad used to say I must be cursed and even today some of the people I work with reckon I must have been a nonce in a previous life and this is payback.
On example is relating to items going missing as in the other thread, practically everything I put down dissapears, sometimes for hours on end and then reapears in plain site later on, a recent example was a brand new screwdriver I was using on site, put it down, gone, made the other lads there look for it with me and no-one could find it anywhere, even tipped my toolbag upside down and it had just vanished into the ether. Yet at the end of the day one lad shouted "there's your screwdriver" and it ws right next to my toolbag on the carpet but there was no way it was there before.
Now it could be soemeone playing tricks on me but they swear blind they had nothing to do with it and similar stuff happens when I'm buy myself, I was taking a door off at home in a completely emty room, nothing in it, not even any carpet, no loose floorboard, just and empty shell, put a phillips screwdriver on the window sill, went to get it again and it had vanished, I've never seen it since.
Another one, I live on a small road that joins a main road at a t-junction, the main road is straight and you can see down it quite far, no matter what time of the day I decide to go out, I can look left and you can see nothing has drvien past the road recently, its clear as far as the eye can see, yet coming from my right is always a massive convoy of cars and I have to wait a good few minuted before I can turn. This may seem very trivial but in the 10 years I've lived there I've never had a clean exit and the same scenario has always played out, its just like the truman show.
There are many many examples I could list and strange stuff like this happens to me several times every day, some of it very bizzare, some of it very trivial but the "bad luck" always seems to be present.
So is it a real thing and do it seem to affect certain people more than others or is it all in my head, other people seems to breeze throug life having all the luck in the world without even trying and in some cases despite being really stupid and other people I know seem to think I'm very unlucky.
Even when I was yound my dad used to say I must be cursed and even today some of the people I work with reckon I must have been a nonce in a previous life and this is payback.
On example is relating to items going missing as in the other thread, practically everything I put down dissapears, sometimes for hours on end and then reapears in plain site later on, a recent example was a brand new screwdriver I was using on site, put it down, gone, made the other lads there look for it with me and no-one could find it anywhere, even tipped my toolbag upside down and it had just vanished into the ether. Yet at the end of the day one lad shouted "there's your screwdriver" and it ws right next to my toolbag on the carpet but there was no way it was there before.
Now it could be soemeone playing tricks on me but they swear blind they had nothing to do with it and similar stuff happens when I'm buy myself, I was taking a door off at home in a completely emty room, nothing in it, not even any carpet, no loose floorboard, just and empty shell, put a phillips screwdriver on the window sill, went to get it again and it had vanished, I've never seen it since.
Another one, I live on a small road that joins a main road at a t-junction, the main road is straight and you can see down it quite far, no matter what time of the day I decide to go out, I can look left and you can see nothing has drvien past the road recently, its clear as far as the eye can see, yet coming from my right is always a massive convoy of cars and I have to wait a good few minuted before I can turn. This may seem very trivial but in the 10 years I've lived there I've never had a clean exit and the same scenario has always played out, its just like the truman show.
There are many many examples I could list and strange stuff like this happens to me several times every day, some of it very bizzare, some of it very trivial but the "bad luck" always seems to be present.
So is it a real thing and do it seem to affect certain people more than others or is it all in my head, other people seems to breeze throug life having all the luck in the world without even trying and in some cases despite being really stupid and other people I know seem to think I'm very unlucky.
If you put enough effort in you can change much of what happens to you - like often losing things, there are plenty of techniques you can use to remember where you put things so you don't end up losing them.
I've known a few "unlucky" people in my life and the one thing they all have in common is that they are mostly to blame for their "bad" luck through repeated behaviours, constant bad decision making and generally not learning from previous mistakes.
I've known a few "unlucky" people in my life and the one thing they all have in common is that they are mostly to blame for their "bad" luck through repeated behaviours, constant bad decision making and generally not learning from previous mistakes.
simon_harris said:
I've known a few "unlucky" people in my life and the one thing they all have in common is that they are mostly to blame for their "bad" luck through repeated behaviours, constant bad decision making and generally not learning from previous mistakes.
I feel attacked 
I jest but generally my luck has improved with age and as you have pointed out, this is mostly due to decision making, neurodivergence was definitely a part of this (impulse control for example) but generally as I have "grown up" I have found myself making better decisions than when I was younger.
simon_harris said:
If you put enough effort in you can change much of what happens to you - like often losing things, there are plenty of techniques you can use to remember where you put things so you don't end up losing them.
I've known a few "unlucky" people in my life and the one thing they all have in common is that they are mostly to blame for their "bad" luck through repeated behaviours, constant bad decision making and generally not learning from previous mistakes.
The thing is I do remember where I put things, I put the screwdriver on the windowsill, I never left the room and when I needed it again it was gone. I've known a few "unlucky" people in my life and the one thing they all have in common is that they are mostly to blame for their "bad" luck through repeated behaviours, constant bad decision making and generally not learning from previous mistakes.
Other examples are if I buy something off a shelf, it doesn't matter which box I choose out of the 20 on the shelf, when I get home it will be faulty and another one I just thought of is choosing a place to get fuel or food in different areas, most places I choose at random have an issue, the fuel station will be shut due to a delivery, the sandwich shop will be closed due to renovations or a wholesalers will have shut down the day before, this one happens with astonishing frequency, this is despite google maps saying they are open and running.
Frane Selak said:
The thing is I do remember where I put things, I put the screwdriver on the windowsill, I never left the room and when I needed it again it was gone.
doubtful. you'll have done something else with it on autopilot. i do this a lot. i will put something down and at the time think 'i'll put it here so that it's obvious' and then i'm still looking for it hours later.
in any case it's absent mindedness not luck. the others are pure chance and you only remember the times where the shop is shut, not the umpteen times when it wasn't.
Well it happens with alarming regularity, I can even predict how some things are going to turn out, last week I drove over 100 miles to a job and the way we get access is usally a key in a key safe, the job had to be done that day and as I approached the house I thought "I'll bet the key isn't in the safe and the person that has took the key won't answer his phone". The chances of this happening were remote as the keys have always been in the various safes in the past. Sure enough, no key in the safe and no-one answered their phone. I knew this with certainty that this would happen.
Don't get me wrong, this isnt a "why me" post its not my entire life thats unlucky, house and money wise and social aspects,there fine and dandy, its just these constant annoying things keep happening, almost predictably and quite a few people do say to me "wow, you are so unlucky" when something stupid regualy happens.
Don't get me wrong, this isnt a "why me" post its not my entire life thats unlucky, house and money wise and social aspects,there fine and dandy, its just these constant annoying things keep happening, almost predictably and quite a few people do say to me "wow, you are so unlucky" when something stupid regualy happens.
Frane Selak said:
Well it happens with alarming regularity, I can even predict how some things are going to turn out, last week I drove over 100 miles to a job and the way we get access is usally a key in a key safe, the job had to be done that day and as I approached the house I thought "I'll bet the key isn't in the safe and the person that has took the key won't answer his phone". The chances of this happening were remote as the keys have always been in the various safes in the past. Sure enough, no key in the safe and no-one answered their phone. I knew this with certainty that this would happen.
Don't get me wrong, this isnt a "why me" post its not my entire life thats unlucky, house and money wise and social aspects,there fine and dandy, its just these constant annoying things keep happening, almost predictably and quite a few people do say to me "wow, you are so unlucky" when something stupid regualy happens.
so you knew with certainty, yet didn't plan ahead. Don't get me wrong, this isnt a "why me" post its not my entire life thats unlucky, house and money wise and social aspects,there fine and dandy, its just these constant annoying things keep happening, almost predictably and quite a few people do say to me "wow, you are so unlucky" when something stupid regualy happens.
either stupid things happen to you regularly, or else you are regularly stupid.
Lots of life's minor irritations and mishaps can be circumvented with more careful planning, timekeeping and housekeeping. Having said that, the actions of others cannot be controlled and those can, and do, lead to things going wrong.
In the case of the OP, it's likely that he (or she) has developed something of a complex regarding the described series of unfortunate events and now views them as connected, perhaps even evidence of a higher power. They aren't - someone without said complex will simply take them as the random machinations of the universe and won't ascribe them any undue significance.
Despite the above, I've only once managed to cleanly traverse a level crossing in the town I live in. On every other occasion, seemingly regardless of time of day or mode of transport (foot or car), I've had to wait for a train to go past.
In the case of the OP, it's likely that he (or she) has developed something of a complex regarding the described series of unfortunate events and now views them as connected, perhaps even evidence of a higher power. They aren't - someone without said complex will simply take them as the random machinations of the universe and won't ascribe them any undue significance.
Despite the above, I've only once managed to cleanly traverse a level crossing in the town I live in. On every other occasion, seemingly regardless of time of day or mode of transport (foot or car), I've had to wait for a train to go past.
shirt said:
so you knew with certainty, yet didn't plan ahead.
either stupid things happen to you regularly, or else you are regularly stupid.
There isn't much planning ahead I could have done when I didn't even guess the key wouldn't have been there until I was about 100 yards away. It should have been there and the person who had the key last knew I would turn up so its not like I should have to tell them how to do their job in advance, it simply should have been there like it has been on every other job.either stupid things happen to you regularly, or else you are regularly stupid.
I just thought when I was round the corner that it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest that this job miles from home will be the one where it all goes wrong, and it was.
Missy Charm said:
Lots of life's minor irritations and mishaps can be circumvented with more careful planning, timekeeping and housekeeping. Having said that, the actions of others cannot be controlled and those can, and do, lead to things going wrong.
In the case of the OP, it's likely that he (or she) has developed something of a complex regarding the described series of unfortunate events and now views them as connected, perhaps even evidence of a higher power. They aren't - someone without said complex will simply take them as the random machinations of the universe and won't ascribe them any undue significance.
Despite the above, I've only once managed to cleanly traverse a level crossing in the town I live in. On every other occasion, seemingly regardless of time of day or mode of transport (foot or car), I've had to wait for a train to go past.
Its not things that go wrong due to bad planning though, its totally random events, bad planning would be not setting the alarm clock when you have an early meeting, thats not bad luck, that just daftness. In my scenario I would set the alarm clock but there would be a power cut on the only day that I've needed it.In the case of the OP, it's likely that he (or she) has developed something of a complex regarding the described series of unfortunate events and now views them as connected, perhaps even evidence of a higher power. They aren't - someone without said complex will simply take them as the random machinations of the universe and won't ascribe them any undue significance.
Despite the above, I've only once managed to cleanly traverse a level crossing in the town I live in. On every other occasion, seemingly regardless of time of day or mode of transport (foot or car), I've had to wait for a train to go past.
Frane Selak said:
Well it happens with alarming regularity, I can even predict how some things are going to turn out, last week I drove over 100 miles to a job and the way we get access is usally a key in a key safe, the job had to be done that day and as I approached the house I thought "I'll bet the key isn't in the safe and the person that has took the key won't answer his phone". The chances of this happening were remote as the keys have always been in the various safes in the past. Sure enough, no key in the safe and no-one answered their phone. I knew this with certainty that this would happen.
Errr, you are complaining as it happened once. Even in your post you state the keys have always been there in the various safes in the past.It's a mindset, you are focusing on the occasional item that will go wrong and not the 99% that have no issues.
You’re unbelievably lucky. We all are.
Firstly, you happen to exist on the only planet for light years that can sustain life.
Out of a billion sperm, you were the one that made it.
You were (I’m guessing here) born in the UK in the latter part of the 20th century, not in Ethiopia, not in 1930s Poland, not during the Black Death or as a slave in ancient Egypt. This alone marks you out as one of the luckiest human beings ever to exist.
You haven’t yet died, despite the large number of ways people can die at ages younger than yours through no fault of their own.
If losing your screwdriver or not being able to pull out of a side turning as quickly as you’d like are the prime evidence for your unluckiness, I’d say you don’t understand just how unbelievably lucky you are.
Firstly, you happen to exist on the only planet for light years that can sustain life.
Out of a billion sperm, you were the one that made it.
You were (I’m guessing here) born in the UK in the latter part of the 20th century, not in Ethiopia, not in 1930s Poland, not during the Black Death or as a slave in ancient Egypt. This alone marks you out as one of the luckiest human beings ever to exist.
You haven’t yet died, despite the large number of ways people can die at ages younger than yours through no fault of their own.
If losing your screwdriver or not being able to pull out of a side turning as quickly as you’d like are the prime evidence for your unluckiness, I’d say you don’t understand just how unbelievably lucky you are.
Frane Selak said:
shirt said:
so you knew with certainty, yet didn't plan ahead.
either stupid things happen to you regularly, or else you are regularly stupid.
There isn't much planning ahead I could have done when I didn't even guess the key wouldn't have been there until I was about 100 yards away. It should have been there and the person who had the key last knew I would turn up so its not like I should have to tell them how to do their job in advance, it simply should have been there like it has been on every other job.either stupid things happen to you regularly, or else you are regularly stupid.
I just thought when I was round the corner that it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest that this job miles from home will be the one where it all goes wrong, and it was.
if it was just this one time then it doesn't happen regularly.
if it happens regularly and you don't check in advance then my previous point stands.
IME it's hapless folk who complain about their bad luck when it comes to preventable issues.
Well here is todays "bad luck". I've got my mates car stuck on my drive that I'm trying to fix, I think I know what is wrong with it and have ordered the part, the part has been delivered and I've seen a picture of the delivery, the box is sat outside my front door on the picture.
So My mate has come back with me and if it works he can drive the car car away and I can have my drive back. Gets home and no parcel. Look at my phone and the neighbour from down the road has texed me to say he saw a parcel outside my door so has taken it home mwith him, this is depsite me telling him previously not to bother with them. Now he's not answering the phone or his door. FFS.
So now I've got to drive my mate home in rush hour where as the plan was to spend an hour or so tinkering and if it didn't work then drive hime home when the roads were quieter. If this was anybody else they would just arive home and pick up the package like millions of other people do every day.
It must be a curse.
So My mate has come back with me and if it works he can drive the car car away and I can have my drive back. Gets home and no parcel. Look at my phone and the neighbour from down the road has texed me to say he saw a parcel outside my door so has taken it home mwith him, this is depsite me telling him previously not to bother with them. Now he's not answering the phone or his door. FFS.
So now I've got to drive my mate home in rush hour where as the plan was to spend an hour or so tinkering and if it didn't work then drive hime home when the roads were quieter. If this was anybody else they would just arive home and pick up the package like millions of other people do every day.
It must be a curse.
I think you are putting a lot of things down to bad luck when in reality most people wouldn't consider it luck at all, the misplacing items I would suggest has nothing to do with luck.
The traffic at the end of your road, same. I could say the same thing because I live on a relatively quiet cul-de-sac but when I want to pull out of my road there are usually car's coming one way or another.
Your neighbour taking your parcel for you isn't really luck, it's maybe a perspective viewpoint, maybe it's lucky because if your neighbour didn't help it would have been stolen by someone else? I hate it when parcels are left on my front doorstep.
As a poster said above if you consider overall your circumstances you are very lucky indeed.
The traffic at the end of your road, same. I could say the same thing because I live on a relatively quiet cul-de-sac but when I want to pull out of my road there are usually car's coming one way or another.
Your neighbour taking your parcel for you isn't really luck, it's maybe a perspective viewpoint, maybe it's lucky because if your neighbour didn't help it would have been stolen by someone else? I hate it when parcels are left on my front doorstep.
As a poster said above if you consider overall your circumstances you are very lucky indeed.
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff