similar situations occur all the time when you're in a hurry to open the door and you try several keys on the key ring the last remaining key is usually the one that works when get in a line at the supremarket you find you're chosen the slowest one and it just doesn't move is this bad luck or coincidence according to british physicist robert mathews it's neither one nor the other he explains that our selective memories tend to remember the bad episodes more rs eadily than yhings that usually work out Also the law of probability is more against us than in our favor in many situations for example in the supermarket with five cashiers the chances of getting the fastest lane are 20 percent and 80 percent and 80 percent for a slower lane