get the short end of the stick

To receive a burden or disadvantage as a result of an unequal or unfair outcome or treatment. You have to stay vigilant during business negotiations or else you may end up getting the short end of the stick. I think Tom felt like he got the short end of the stick growing up, since his older brother received most of the attention and praise for his athletic skills. Considering the amount of extra time and effort I had to put into this project, I didn't expect to get the short end of the stick!

get the short end of the stick

mainly AMERICAN

If you get the short end of the stick, you are in a worse position than other people in a particular situation, although this is not your fault. Kids and young families get the short end of the stick because they don't get the kind of support that they need. As usual it's the consumer who gets the short end of the stick.

short end of the stick, to get/have the

To lose out; to get less than one is entitled to. Exactly what kind of stick is being referred to is no longer known, but possibly it is one used in fighting or in a tug-of-war, in which the person holding the longer end has the advantage. “He having gotten (as we say) the better end of the staffs, did wrest our wills at his pleasure,” wrote Thomas Jackson in 1626 (Commentaries upon the Apostles Creed). Around the turn of the twentieth century in America, “the short end” of anything came to mean the inferior part, and soon this was combined with “stick” to yield the current cliché. See also wrong end of the stick.