My tape measure lies and I finally caught it red handed

Last Tuesday I was framing a closet in my own basement in Green Bay and kept coming up 3/8 of an inch short no matter how many times I measured. I blamed the lumber, blamed the saw, even blamed my helper for breathing wrong. Then I noticed the little metal tab on the end of my tape measure was bent from dropping it off a ladder two weeks back. I grabbed an old square and checked it against the hook, sure enough it was off by that exact amount. So I fixed it with a pair of pliers and suddenly all my cuts lined up perfect. Now I check my tape against a ruler before any big job, but I'm wondering how many past projects got messed up from a bent hook and I never knew. Anyone else ever trust a beat up tape measure longer than they should have?