What it means
If you draw the short straw, you're the one who gets lumped with the worst job, the grim shift, or the thankless bit nobody wanted. It usually comes after some supposedly fair pick, so you can't even argue, you just got stitched up by luck and now the misery's got your name on it.
Usage examples
"Who’s on loo duty? Of course I’ve drawn the short straw again. Everyone’s legged it, and I’m left with Dettol, rubber gloves, and a face like thunder."
"I drew the short straw and got stuck doing the night shift over the holidays while everyone else was off."
"Someone has to tell the boss the bad news, and guess who drew the short straw, yours truly."
"We all stood there pretending not to care, then I drew the short straw and ended up driving everyone to the airport at 4 a.m."
"Soon as the client started kicking off, I knew I'd drawn the short straw and would be the poor mug stuck on that call."
Where it comes from
This one comes from literally drawing straws to pick who had to do something, often the grim job nobody wanted. One straw was cut shorter than the others, and whoever pulled it got landed with the bad luck. The old physical draw stuck around and became the idiom.
