Why don't named pipes respect the order at which readers were attached?

I have this test script: #!/usr/bin/env bash fif="foooz"; rm "$fif" ; mkfifo "$fif" ( cat "$fif" | cat && echo "1") & sleep 0.1 ( cat "$fif" | cat && echo "2") & sleep 0.1 ( cat "$fif" | cat && echo "3") & echo "first" > "$fif" wait; the output I get is varied, I these varieties: first 1 ---- first 2 ---- first 1 2 ---- first 3 my question is - why doesn't the order at which readers are attached to the named pipe matter/respected? Seems lame that it's almost random?