The Missing Piece

My worst nightmare has come true.

I could not finish a puzzle a few days ago because there was a piece missing in the puzzle set.

See the missing piece?

This is what I have dreaded all my life. For some reason whenever I bought a jigsaw puzzle I got the feeling that it would have a piece missing. For so many years, however, this never happened, and my fear was overpowered by the manufacturer's superb quality checks.

But it happened. Two days ago, and now my fear has resurfaced. I will never be able to finish a jigsaw puzzle with full confidence. There will always be an element of suspense. There will always be tension.

The only soultion that comes to my mind is to count the number of pieces in the puzzle first, and if there are any pieces missing, repack the puzzle, send it back to the manufacturer and ask for a refund. But what if I am about to solve a one thousand piece puzzle? Is counting the number of pieces before starting to solve the puzzle really feasible? I don't think so. What if while counting I get bitten by an ant on the floor? I will lose count of all the pieces and will have to start all over again. So I guess I should just keep my finger crossed and hope for the best everytime.