Now that our pal Stella is around, along with Granny Orne, failing by one becomes even better. If you have the Ankh, or even better, someone else on your team is wearing it so you can keep your rabbits foot, once return you can succeed automatically. Not just some of the time, not just if nobody draws the tentacles, but automatically with an Orne/Ankh combo.
But it’s probably not worth doing an entire side mission for that. So now consider other things you can do when you fail by just a little: use oops, which lets you auto hit, even better if you are using your chainsaw. In that case, deal three damage and get another supply on the chainsaw, or deal four damage. Or use live and learn for a similar effect, resolving a failure for the supply then immediately attacking again without taking another action.
Maybe you’re holding down the fort on clues, you can use look what I found! with your Ankh, to get two clues for two bucks. And if you’re drawing thin, you can make sure you fail the test the first time, get paid for it or draw cards, then pass. Booyah.