Why is it usually: Try to insert USB cord; turn it over. Try to insert USB cord; turn it over. Insert USB cord?

Right? I just had this conversation with a coworker yesterday. I’m starting to think USB stands for Unlucky Son of a Bitch.

I found out that the side of the USB connector that has a seam in it should almost always face down. I take the time to look before I plug in and it is a sure thing every time.

I cannot believe most of our electronics have standardized on that shitty, fragile micro USB connection.

Pretty sure it tends to be (for me, anyway):

Try #1: It isn’t going in. I’ve probably got it wrong, so I’ll try the other way.
Try #2: It isn’t going in. I’ll try harder. Huh, really seems not to work this way, so I’ll go back.
Try #3: Using more attention and determination, it goes in.

Try #1 often turns out to be the right way due to the cord having just been yanked out and left still in the right orientation, or muscle memory, or actually glancing at the keyed plug and remembering rightly which way the socket is. It’s just that the initial difficulty of lining a rectangle up exactly in several dimensions without being able to see (usually hand blocks view) and wanting to use minimal energy to do it, it doesn’t seem to work at first and flipping the plug feels like a good low investment of energy for possible easy payoff, compared to doing it all very deliberately.

As for criticizing USB plugs, there have been many far more annoying plug designs.

I paint the top side with a little patch of nail polish and usually get it right the first time.

USB plugs are four-dimensional.

@ARE_you_kidding_me I love my old Samsung MP3 player. It uses the headphone jack for charging and data transfer; the cord and plug are the same four-conductor ones used by earbuds with mics. Pretty solid even after a decade when the battery finally stopped holding a charge.

Seems to happen to me every time. I wish I was as organised as @Jeruba.

That’s not being organized, @Earthbound_Misfit. Not at all. That’s supplying myself with one of many little aids to help me get along better in a world of exasperating inanimate objects. You should see the things I have to do when I need to remember something.