"Because that would make sense" is a phrase that is useful to have on hand at all times. Living in this exceedingly nonsensical world, you can't throw a metaphor without hitting a situation ripe with stupidity. Almost any Dilbert comic can be analyzed and summed up with this one sentence.

Anyone working for any large operation, whether it be a retail chain such as Best Buy, a supermarket chain like Meijer, a large corporation like Microsoft, or any Federal agency, will likely encounter moments when this phrase is indispensable. It is best used with a slight hint of sarcastic tone, but the majority of the flavor comes from dead-panning your delivery. You must be absolutely resolute in your seriousness.

Try as I might, I was unable to find the origin of this particular phrase. I do recall, however, the story of how it became ingrained in my vernacular.

Early in my employment with Best Buy, around early 1998, I had gained enough experience in my department to begin to move past blindly following orders, and questioning how things were done. I couldn't go a single shift without running into inefficiencies, nonsensical policies, and general absurdity. Slowly, unconsciously, a list of these things compiled in my head.

At one point or another, I was training a new employee, and he proceeded to ask me, "Why is the printing paper over 100 feet away from the printer aisle? Why don't they take the other office supplies, swap their positions, so the paper would be 10 feet away?"

And without thinking, I uttered the fateful words.

"Because that would make sense."

From that point on, anytime a person asked a question regarding the various inconsistencies of logic that were inseparable from the entity that was Best Buy, there were greeted with that simple response.

"Because that would make sense."

It became a mantra of sorts. Anytime you found yourself fed up with the blatant idiocy of the upper management, the poor placement of products, or your low rate of pay, and you began to ponder, "Why the hell haven't I quit yet?" there was only one valid response.

"Because that would make sense!"