Bad Luck vs. Curses

[El Sapo]

I am pretty sure I am cursed but I am trying to decide what constitutes an actual curse and what is just bad luck.

I tend to think that bad luck is just a run of undesirable results that balance out statistically over time. A curse, on the other hand, requires deliberate action against another person's will by either another human or some deity.

I am hoping the sages of Horn Fans can help unravel this dark mystery.

This curse / string of bad luck I have had goes back almost a decade. It pertains to one thing and one thing only : the checkout line at the grocery store. Almost without fail I end up in the slowest line.

Everyone ends up in a slow line now and again but what I am talking about is when I choose between two lines and all things appear to be exactly equal. An example is 2 lines , each with one shopper in them, and each shopper has about the same amount of groceries.

In order to be as objective as possible I started keeping track of how many times I picked what ended up being the slowest line. It has been 15 out of the last 20 times and I am confident that this lopsided total is on par with my experience over the last 10 years.

Just a few of my last trips to the store:

A computer crash - ONLY- on that terminal
A shopper who grabbed the wrong item for their coupon and had to go back and get the right one
A person whose Lone Star card wasn't working and it required a phone call -while in line- to address the issue
A shift change right before I got checked out and the new clerk couldn't log in.

Now, all of this is normal stuff that anyone might experience at any time in a grocery store but it happens to me more than anyone I know. When I go to the store with a friend I make them choose the line. The one time I tried to intervene ( I saw a much shorter line my friend missed) it ended up being the slowest line.

I've tried all kinds of things to fool the bad mojo :
positive thinking - "I am in the fastest line. I repeat, I am in the fastest line"
zenlike indifference - "I don't care whether I am in the fast line or the slow line"
the switcheroo - choosing one line and then going to the other line intentionally to 'fool' the bad mojo

Nothing works.

I really feel I have exceeded the time frame for bad luck to balance itself out so I have started pondering the notion that there might be a curse upon me at the grocery store.

So what is the difference between bad luck and a curse?

 

[SubliminalHorn]

That happens to me a lot.

What human and/or deity do you believe has cursed you?

 

[Kwisatz]

The only way to break the curse is use the self checkout line.

 

[iamtigerwoods]

No difference. Both are ways to blame something/someone else. Status quo for our beloved country these days.

This message courtesy of Modelo Especial.

 

[BayouCityOrange]

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[ptownhorn]

the only way to break the curse is to sacrifice a chicken or some other small farm animal. pig or cow is overkill

 

[OldHippie]

Get in the line with the most attractive person right in front of you. That way any delay will only increase the time you can feast your eyes on beauty.

 

[TX-EX_98]

Same thing with me, except for bank lines in the drive thru. I mean, like you, its EVERY time.

Now, I go at lunch and just go inside to do banking.

 

[LdyLnghrn]

I also hate the lines at the bank drive-thru. So, the last time I needed to make a deposit, I went inside. Lo and behold!, they had done it! The f-ing bank no longer had live tellers inside. Instead, there were three walk-up stations just like in the drive-thru. Camera, little monitor thing, and the tube thing you put your money in! I'm thinking about changing banks.

 

[Coelacanth]

Maybe you're just bad a picking checkout lines. Stop blaming your own inadequacies on others.

Seriously, though, picking the right checker is a valuable skill. As a high school teacher in a relatively small town, most of the checkers at our local HEB are my current or former students. I know which ones to avoid.

 

[OrangeChipper]

Go by the competency of the checker, not the length of the line.

I have a curse with fast-food restaurants.

I can't think of one fast-food restaurant that hasn't ran out of THAT item I really wanted at one time or another. Shoot, even Dairy Queen has ran out of ice cream on me 3 times!!!

 

[Statalyzer]

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