Learn From My Mistakes

Short story of how I break life chaos into small, solvable problems - 3 min read.

The story goes like this:

Back in the 2010s, Wells Fargo gave its employees aggressive sales targets and rewarded them for cross-selling new accounts.

But management forgot one important thing: people are crazy, but not stupid. Especially the ones who’ve survived multiple interviews and background checks.

What went wrong?

Employees began opening fake accounts under real customers’ names just to hit their KPIs.

The impact?

3.5 million unauthorized accounts, lawsuits, and one hell of a PR disaster.

I love stories like this. They’re everywhere.

Take one of my former employers. They rolled out the infamous Meeting-Free Fridays. The goal? Give people some focus time and maintain “burnout”.

What actually happened?

Everyone just stuffed even more meetings into Monday through Thursday. Meetings got denser, longer, and with less space to breathe in between than ever.

This is a textbook example of The Cobra Effect - when solving a problem makes it worse.

Why “Cobra”?

The legend says that the government of British colonial India had a cobra infestation, so they offered a cash reward for every dead cobra. Locals, being resourceful, started breeding cobras.

The government eventually caught on and pulled the reward. Suddenly, those cobra breeders had no incentive to keep them - and released their breeds into the wild.

Net result? Even more cobras.

Why am I telling you all this?

Well, aside from bragging about how much I know, I collect stories with interesting loopholes and unexpected backfires.

And here’s one I stumbled into myself.

When we moved to North Carolina, I noticed something odd: cars here don’t have front plates - only rear ones (yes, it’s legal!).

Since we’re avid bikers, we installed a hitch and mounted a bike rack. 

But once you mount a bike on the rack, the frame ends up covering the only license plate. It's pretty much unreadable.

How unreadable?

Well, the one toll road in our area failed to read it and couldn’t mail us the bill when we drove through with bikes loaded up.

Before you rush to report me - breathe in, count to 30, breathe out, and remember: snitches don't get toll discounts.

We bought a transponder and pay our tolls (with a 30% discount, thank you very much). Are we cool now?

Anyway.

My curiosity kept itching.

Then came an opportunity.

I got pulled over in a 35 mph zone for going close to 50 (from above, obviously). Since I didn't protest, the officer generously marked it as 44 to help me avoid a bump in my insurance.

At the end, he offered a Q&A session: “Any questions for me, sir?”

“Just one, officer.”

“Go ahead.”

“Is it legal to have a bike on a hitch rack if it blocks the plate?”

“Yes. It’s not illegal.”

“Then how do toll road cameras read the plate if it’s covered?”

He paused. You could see the system loading behind his eyes.

Then: “I’d recommend reaching out to the toll authority to let them know you used it, and provide your details.”

We both knew that was never going to happen.

To spare him the existential crisis, I told him it was just a curiosity question and pointed to the transponder glued to my windshield.

I bet that was the moment he regretted being so nice to me.

Okay, forget the free toll rides for a second - this setup legally defeats the entire purpose of a license plate. What's the point if it can be “not-illegally” hidden in plain sight?

It's like wearing a name tag… under your hoodie. "Still counts, right? You just have to believe hard enough."

And that's the real Cobra Effect in action - not some grand act of sabotage, but a well-meaning setup that slowly unravels its own logic, one pedal stroke at a time.

But hey, what could be the solution in my story?

Simple. In the country I'm from, you're required to order a duplicate plate and attach it behind the mounted bike rack so it's clearly visible.

Problem solved before it becomes a philosophical debate.

Till next time.

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Behind the Persona

A deep dive into the quirks, habits, and backstories that shape icons.

Cool Facts About Coco

She Sang Herself into “Coco”. Gabrielle Chanel didn’t come up with the name “Coco” in a branding meeting. She picked it up singing in cabarets, where soldiers would shout for an encore of a silly song about a girl named Coco. Later, she claimed it was short for cocotte - French slang for a kept woman. Just casually reclaiming terms, before it was cool.

Her Fortune? Sewn from Men’s Underwear Fabric. It was cold in Deauville. She had nothing to wear. So she grabbed some leftover jersey (yep, the stuff used for men’s undergarments) and made herself a dress. People went nuts for it. She sold it, then sold more, and later said, “My fortune is built on that old jersey.” That’s the fashion equivalent of a garage startup.

Invented the Tan. Totally by Accident. Before Chanel, tans were for farmers. But in 1923, she returned from a Riviera cruise looking sunburnt and radiant, and society women instantly decided this was the new beauty standard. And just like that, the “oops, I fell asleep in the sun” look became chic.

Chanel No. F-7124. Here’s the plot twist. During WWII, Chanel didn’t just retreat from fashion - she allegedly worked for German intelligence under the codename Agent F-7124. Yep. There’s declassified proof. She somehow walked away from all this with no charges… likely because Winston Churchill had her back. That, or she knew everyone’s secrets.

Too Chic for Hollywood. In the ‘30s, Hollywood paid her big money to style movie stars. But she found Tinseltown “infantile” and “vulgar.” Her classy designs didn’t exactly scream “studio glam.” As someone put it: Chanel made a lady look like a lady. Hollywood preferred a lady to look like two.

Ropes and Ropes of Pearls. She stacked fake pearls with real ones, mixed diamonds with glass beads, and called it style. “A woman needs ropes and ropes of pearls,” she said. Translation: elegance isn’t about price tags - it’s about attitude (and maybe quantity)

Always Smelled Like Her Brand. Every day before entering her atelier, assistants would spray Chanel No. 5 along the staircase to announce her arrival. Imagine your presence being so iconic, it gets a scent trail before you even walk in.

Last Words Were… Very Chanel. On her final day in 1971, 87-year-old Chanel wasn’t feeling well. She turned to her maid and said, “You see, this is how you die.” Then she went to sleep and never woke up. That’s not just an exit. That’s a mic drop.

Watch-worthy clips

One video that got us thinking, and we think you'll like it too

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