As someone who’s currently a part-timer in a supplement store, this hits fucking hard. I know it to be true. But I also know, from colleagues’ stories, that customers do come back happier. Sometimes their ailments have improved partly thanks to what they bought from us. So I don’t know where to stand.

If taking that multivitamin and before-bed gummies feels like it’s helping, it makes you “feel” stronger, or it “feels” like you’re having better sleep. Then who am I to tell you to stop, to reveal that maybe, only maybe, it’s something other than what you’re taking that’s helping. But then again, money rules the game, and people deserve transparency… It’s a hard one to answer.