shemozzle (n.)

also schlimazel, etc., "born loser, unlucky person," 1948, from Yiddish phrase shlim mazel "rotten luck," from Middle High German slim "crooked" (see slim (adj.)) + Hebrew mazzal "luck" (as in mazel tov). British slang shemozzle "an unhappy plight" (1889) probably is from the same source. Compare schlemiel.

A shlemiel is the fellow who climbs to the top of a ladder with a bucket of paint and then drops it. A shimazl is the fellow on whose head the bucket falls. [Rep. Stephen J. Solarz, D.-N.Y., quoted 1986; there are many and older versions of the quip]