Burned a roll of Portra 400 on my friend's birthday because I left the lens cap on for half of it
I switched from my trusty Pentax K1000 to a Canon AE-1 last month and ended up shooting 36 frames with the lens cap on because I wasn't used to the viewfinder not showing me anything, so now I'm out $18 and have zero photos from the party, and I'm wondering if anyone else has made the switch and had this exact same problem or if I'm just cursed.
The AE-1 viewfinder isn't the problem. Your K1000 has a meter needle you can see through the lens, but the AE-1 shows you everything too, so blaming the camera swap doesn't hold up. What actually happened is you didn't check the cap before you started shooting, which is a habit thing, not a gear thing. I've run both bodies for years and the only time I lost a roll was when I rushed, not when I switched.