There’s nothing quite like walking into a pharmacy and seeing a bright, cheerful sign welcoming you to the “Healthcare Essentials”—only to find a bowl of cookies sitting smugly between vitamins and painkillers. You came in expecting Band-Aids and electrolyte powders, but instead, there’s a display of Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies promising emotional stability in every bite. It’s as if the pharmacy knows that, no matter how many probiotics or fish oil pills you pop, sometimes all you really need is a good dose of sugar-coated denial.
The irony isn’t lost on anyone. Here we are, in the land of blood pressure monitors and anti-cholesterol meds, with a bucket of treats designed to undo the very progress you’re hoping to make. It’s like the cookies are whispering, “Sure, kale is great, but have you tried not being miserable?” To make matters worse, they’re often on sale right next to the multivitamins, as if to say, “Go ahead, balance it out.” You’ll walk out with both a bag of cookies and a sense of existential confusion, wondering whether modern healthcare is really just a battle between willpower and double-stuffed Oreos.
