I feel a CSB coming on...

So my girlfriend and I visited Toronto last April, and I decided to drive from Columbus, OH with a stop in Erie, PA to get a little sleep so we can get to the city bright and early. On getting everything packed into the car in Erie, I discover that I left my passport at home. GF has a newly minted passport card, so she's good. I decide to take the risk and BS my way through instead of driving a total of 11 hours straight just to get it and come back. Canadian Customs had some questions, the normal stuff like "where are you going/why, have you ever been convicted of a crime in the US", stuff like that. 2-3 minutes at the crossing and he waves us through. Immediately after getting to the hotel I hit up the US consulate office who assures me that since I drove, I'll be OK. Might have to go through secondary screening as an idiot tax (a HUGE PITA), but I'll make it. I had my passport number saved on my phone, I'm convinced that helped in proving I was who I said I was.

Skipping to the end, I gave the US customs guy my info and passport number, and it felt like he was running my stuff for 15-20 minutes. Eventually waved me through after explaining that my passport has now been "marked", and that if I didn't provide proper paperwork again I'd definitely have to go through secondary screening.