It seems like simple, obvious advice: Eat your vegetables, get some exercise, and — of course — floss.

Or not.

Turns out that despite being recommended by numerous scientists and universities, the effectiveness of flossing has never been researched, according to a new report from the Associated Press.

The US government has recommended flossing for nearly four decades. But according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a set of recommendations the agency sends out every five years, all of the recommendations have to be grounded in scientific evidence.

And flossing is, well, not.

In its report, published Tuesday, the Associated Press says that it used the Freedom of Information Act to request evidence for the benefits of flossing from the departments of Health and Human Services. AP never received that evidence. Instead, it got a letter from the government acknowledging that the effectiveness of flossing had never been studied.

So the AP took a look at more than 25 studies comparing conventional brushing alone against brushing plus flossing. They found little to no evidence in favor of flossing.

Read the full Associated Press report.

That comes in sharp contrast to recommendations from basically every major dental hygiene organization, including the American Dental Association and the American Academy of Periodontology. Flossing is still considered so crucial to health that it's included in one of the questions in the Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator, a tool that uses metrics like diet and exercise to determine your approximate life expectancy. 

Many experts say that not flossing lets plaque, the thin film of bacteria that clings to teeth and builds up during the day, become tartar, a hard deposit that can irritate gums. That tartar buildup can, in turn, cause the gums to recede. Worse, it could create a gap between the gum and the tooth, which could get infected and lead to gum disease.  

Numerous reports have linked gum disease to a host of other diseases, including kidney disease, diabetes, and heart disease. Still, no research has concluded that one causes the other — only that there is some kind of relationship between the two. 

A 2013 study, for example, found that people suffering from chronic kidney disease and gum disease were more likely to die of heart disease, a leading cause of death among those with kidney problems. The study was unable to pinpoint the precise role gum disease might play in deaths from heart disease, but the researchers nonetheless recommended taking steps to cut back on gum disease in these patients.

People with diabetes have also been found to be at a higher risk of developing gum disease, and people with gum disease have similarly been found to be more likely to develop diabetes. A 2012 study suggested that there was evidence supporting the existence of a two-way relationship between the two, but couldn't ultimately conclude that that was the case.

So for now, the topic remains heated. To floss, or not to floss? It remains a question.

READ MORE: 11 surprising things your physical appearance says about you

SEE ALSO: You've been breathing — yes, breathing — all wrong

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NOW WATCH: You've probably been flossing all wrong — here's the right way to do it

Attractiveness relies on much more than your physical appearance.

It's in the way you carry yourself, the folks you hang out with, and how you talk to people — plus a whole lot more.

Read on to find out what you can do to make yourself more appealing.

In that study, a psychologist asked three men to tell a joke to their friends at a bar while a woman sat at a nearby table. Then those men were instructed to approach the woman and ask for her number. After the man had left, an experimenter approached the woman and asked her to rate the man on attractiveness and intelligence and to indicate how much she would want to date the man long-term.

Results showed that the guys who told jokes were three times as likely to get the woman's number as the men who didn't. They were also rated more attractive and intelligent.

"The effect of a great sense of humor on women's attractions might be partially explained by the fact that funny people are considered to be more social and more intelligent, things that women seek in a mate," anthropologist Gil Greengross writes.

In one experiment featured in the study, 25 male and female undergrads looked at 300 photos of women's faces, once in a group photo and once in an isolated portrait. Another experiment repeated the same procedure with 18 undergrads looking at photos of men's faces. Results showed that participants rated both men and women significantly more attractive when they were pictured in a group.

"Having a few wingmen or wingwomen may indeed be a good dating strategy, particularly if their facial features complement and average out one's unattractive idiosyncrasies," study authors Drew Walker and Edward Vul write.

In a 1997 study, State University of New York psychologist Arthur Aron and colleagues separated two groups of undergrads and paired them off, giving each duo 45 minutes to answer a set of questions. 

One question set was small talk, and the other was increasingly probing. The people who asked deeper questions felt more connected. One couple even fell in love, an intriguing, though probably insignificant, result.

Hitchhiking has become a preferred form of travel for photographer Alex Domenech.

This February, he visited Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan and spent five days hitchhiking through the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which has remained a frozen conflict zone for decades. Disputes over the mostly Armenian-speaking region led to a war between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces that lasted from 1988 until a ceasefire was signed in 1994. Despite the ceasefire, conflicts have continued there, with fierce clashes reoccurring this April.

Though Domenech didn't witness any violent conflict during his time there, he did see the effects the war has had on the region. We spoke to him about his trip, from the intriguing sights he saw to the people he met along the way. 

SEE ALSO: The 10 best European cities for foodies

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Domenech stayed with a local family during his trip. He told us he learned through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Nalbandian Poghots, a street in Stepanakert, Azerbaijan, is known for having multiple homestays for visitors.

Though he was staying in the guesthouse of the home, he would often have breakfast with the family that was hosting him. A typical breakfast included bread, butter, eggs, and homemade jam.

His host family would also recommend places to visit, like Renaissance Square in Stepanakert. Though the city suffered damage during the Nagorno-Karabakh War in the late 1980s, Domenech told us it stood significantly recovered and rebuilt during his visit.

As long as monogamy has existed, so has cheating. What makes people stray from the ones they love? We wanted to find out specifically what drives men to be unfaithful.

We talked to a leading expert on the topic, M. Gary Neuman, a psychotherapist and the author of "The Neuman Method" and "The Truth About Cheating." Through his research, Neuman found that the main reason men cheat has little to do with sex or physical attraction.

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Rolex is one of the most secretive companies in the world.

Luckily, their secrets are mostly not of a nefarious sort, such as this one just recently revealed by watch journalist Alan Downing writing for Watch Around magazine, as found by Hodinkee.

It turns out that founder Hans Wilsdorf left some very specific instructions concerning a tiny church in Geneva, Switzerland before he died.

The church in question, the English Church of the Holy Trinity, has a clock that has been ticking for 147 years.

Downing discovered through the church's secretary that it was Rolex that maintained the clock; a representative from the company comes to wind it every Wednesday morning.

Downing tried to ask the Rolex technician who performed the service — one Antonio Garcia — what the deal was. But Garcia could only reveal that it was a free and exclusive service provided by the legendary watch brand — a service started way before his time.

Church records stated that they stopped paying for a watch winder in 1940. Wilsdorf died in 1960, so it must have been around that time that he decreed the clock be kept in good order by his company.

Wilsdorf was a member of the congregation of the church while he lived in Geneva. He likely adopted his faith during his time in London in his early years of watchmaking.

Downing tried to ask Rolex why exactly why the church clock was still on Rolex's to-do list, but he was completely stonewalled. No surprise there. However, reaching out to the charity that owns Rolex, The Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, was learned a bit.

Here's the response Downing got: "It is in keeping with Hans Wilsdorf’s personal wishes that the English church clock is maintained by Rolex," said the foundation representative.

"For how long?" asked downing.

"Forever, I suppose," came the reply.

Read the rest of the story in Watch Around.

SEE ALSO: Why luxury watches cost so much money

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NOW WATCH: MALCOLM GLADWELL: ‘Anyone who gives a single dollar to Princeton has completely lost their mind'

Urban Outfitters may sell trendy clothes, but the company's former CEO has an eye for design that doesn't stop at the checkout counter.

According to Curbed NY, Urban Outfitters' former CEO Glen Senk and husband Keith Johnson, a onetime Anthropologie buyer-at-large, are listing their Greenwich Village townhome for $17 million. 

The couple purchased the home for $8 million in 2012 and spent a year renovating it. In 2014, Harper's Bazaar published a photo tour of the stunning home, which Senk described as "kind of the gay couple's ultimate fantasy town house."

You'll find Italian-inspired elements throughout the home, as well as a welcoming outdoor space. Although Senk said the couple was "planning on being here for quite some time," it seems that that is no longer the case. The unit spans five stories and has four bedrooms and 4.5 baths. 

Leighton Candler and Jennifer Reardon of The Corcoran Group have the listing.

SEE ALSO: Matt Lauer just put this gorgeous Hamptons mansion on the market for $18 million

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The five-story home in Greenwich Village features a balcony with prewar details.

The living room boasts high ceilings and lets in plenty of natural light.

Take note of the Italian details decorating the chef's kitchen, complete with Art Deco elements and rustic charm.

A grilled cheese is easy to make and even easier to mess up. You need the bread toasted just the right amount, the cheese melted to gooey perfection, and one very special secret ingredient.

Sydney Kramer of The Crepes of Wrath takes us through a simple method to make the perfect grilled cheese with a modern twist on this classic sandwich. You can follow The Crepes of Wrath on Instagram.

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Millennials are a competitive bunch.

So much so that they would reportedly rather spend their time advancing their careers or surfing the internet than have sex.

Even as dating apps like Tinder neatly package potential partners behind a screen, a study published Tuesday in the Archives of Sexual Behavior journal found that those born in the 1990s are more than twice as likely to abstain from sex in their early 20s, when compared with the previous generation.

"I'd rather be watching YouTube videos and making money," Noah Patterson, an 18-year-old who has never had sex, told The Washington Post. Sex is "not going to be something people ask you for on your résumé."

Besides looking to get ahead, Patterson and other '90s babies interviewed by The Post cited a lack of interest in romantic relationships or sex itself.

"For an average date you're going to spend at least two hours," Patterson said. "And in that two hours I won't be doing something I enjoy."

To read more on the factors contributing to the decline of sexual activity among millennials, see the original article on The Post.

SEE ALSO: There's a huge problem with Apple's plan to combat gun violence by changing an emoji

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NOW WATCH: How to find Pokémon in 'Pokémon Go'

Housing prices in the San Francisco Bay Area are so insane, we have tech workers living in vehicles in company parking lots, people building "pods" in living rooms so they can live there with some privacy, and microscopic apartments selling for $425,000.

Despite the slowing of the tech boom, there's no end in sight. As this chart from Statista shows, home prices in the area are at an all time high, passing their housing bubble peak of $665,000, which was set in summer 2007. In addition to high tech salaries paid by companies like Apple, Alphabet (Google), and Facebook, Bay Area home prices are driven by foreign investment, regulations and market forces that discourage new housing, and the simple fact that lots of people want to live here. 

SEE ALSO: Here's how Amazon just passed Exxon to become the fourth-most valuable company

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NOW WATCH: We tried the 'Uber-killer' that offers flat fares and no surge pricing

Glamping takes regular old camping to a whole new level and now you can do it on top of the W Hotel in New York City. This is what you get if you decide to try it. 

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Rainmakers are betting on tourists to bring in some serious profits.

The Carlyle Group, the private-equity giant with $178 billion in assets, recently invested in Inca Rail, which provides a scenic ride to Machu Picchu in Peru.

Apollo Global Management announced its $2.2 billion purchase of Diamond Resorts, a timeshare operator based in Las Vegas, and KKR is set to open a new hotel in Waikiki Beach with partners CoastWood Capital Group and Chartres Lodging Group this winter.

So far this year, the value of global private-equity deals in the dining and lodging sectors reached $4.6 billion, according to Dealogic data, surpassing the $4.4 billion invested in all of 2015.

"Global travel continues to be an attractive investment area," Sandra Horbach, cohead of Carlyle Group's US buyout team, told Business Insider. "Consumers are increasingly shifting their spending from things to experiences. Travel will also benefit from rising discretionary incomes in many emerging markets."

The tourism industry saw steady growth over the past five years, helped by the explosion of a global middle class and a decline in unemployment rates around the world. Inbound and outbound trips are especially high in emerging economies like Asia and South America, where tourism spending has outpaced that of developed economies, according to research firm IBISWorld.

It also helps that millennials are craving adventure and are more willing to spend on experiences over material objects.

Emerging markets

For Carlyle, the bet on travel and leisure in Latin America has paid off.

The firm bought a majority stake in late 2009 in CVC Brasil Operadora e Agencia de Viagens, Brazil's biggest travel-tour operator by revenue. CVC said that it expects Brazil's tourism market to benefit from hosting events like the 2016 Olympic Games.

The company had booked sales of $43.8 million in the second quarter this year, compared to $40.9 million a year earlier. Its shares have jumped about 40% since it went public in 2013.

"It's an asset-light model, which we like, and an opportunity for us to benefit from favorable secular trends in Latin America," Horbach said. "Despite a slowdown in emerging markets, CVC has performed very well as people still want to travel and explore new places."

"Asset light" refers to businesses that aren't capital intensive or have high overhead to deliver their services. This approach is generally perceived as nimbler and able to scale more quickly.

Online push

KKR, which manages $131 billion in assets, is also bullish on the digital-travel boom. Stephen Shanley, principal at the firm's technology, media, and telecommunications team, sees the opportunity in travel tours and activities booking platforms, which he said is very under-penetrated compared to hotels and flights.

"Online booking rates for hotels and flights are above 40% across most Western European and North American countries," he told Business Insider.

That has prompted Shanley's team to look into Berlin-based GetYourGuide, which aims to be a one-stop shop for vacationers to find and book activities online. KKR led a $50 million investment into the startup last November to help it scale, joining backers such as Kees Koolen, former CEO of Booking.com, and Fritz Demopoulos, founder of Qunar.com.

GetYourGuide covers more than 27,800 activities in over 2,500 destinations around the world, according to the company's statement.

"We see strong demand [for Get Your Guide] in Europe, the company's core market, and we are seeing outsized demand in its newer markets, which include Asia, North America, and South America — it's a highly diversified user base," Shanley said.

Carlyle's investment in luxury-tour operator Bonotel Exclusive Travel is another example of buyout shops' broader push into online-travel platforms.

"Some of our investments are about finding places where we can leverage Carlyle's strengths to these tourism and travel-related businesses," Adam Glucksman, managing director in Carlyle's equity-opportunity fund, told Business Insider.

That includes helping companies gain access to other regions where Carlyle has a local presence, or providing contacts in hotels or other travel-related industries to help the investment drive growth, he added.

SEE ALSO: Goldman Sachs is getting back into the corporate-buyout game

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NOW WATCH: 4 major issues for any American who wants to visit Cuba

Europeans know how to throw a good party.

But, when it comes to world-renowned clubs, live music, and scenic venues, some places on the continent have more to offer partygoers than others.

That's why we've compiled a ranking of the European destinations with the best nightlife, from club-heavy islands like Ibiza to cities like Budapest, where locals spend the night partying in historic spas.

Here are our top 15 places to party in Europe:

15. The city of Thessaloniki in Greece is full of students, so there's always a party going on somewhere — take your pick from live music concerts to trendy cocktail bars and clubs.

14. Paris may be an elegant city but it's also a great place for a night out, with plenty of hip bars and clubs as well as festivals like Rock en Seine — a three-day event that takes place every summer in the picturesque Château de Saint-Cloud's park.

13. Munich is home to the world's largest beer festival each autumn. But there's more to the Bavarian city than Oktoberfest, with a plethora of lively beer halls, cabaret clubs, and cocktails bars to please partygoers year-round.

With the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro fast approaching, you may find yourself craving some top-notch Brazilian food. 

Luckily, popular city-guide app Foursquare is here to help: using ratings and comments that touch on everything from food, to service, to atmosphere, Foursquare has compiled a list of 25 of America's best Brazilian restaurants.

This means that even if you haven't secured tickets to see the games in person, you can dine just like a true spectator.

Read on to find out where you can enjoy authentic feijoada, churrasco, and caipirinha without boarding a plane to South America. 

SEE ALSO: The best steakhouse in every state

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25. Moqueca Brazilian Cuisine

Location: Oxnard, California 

Foursquare rating: 8.7

Moqueca, a traditional Brazilian fish stew, is clearly the main attraction at this Californian locale — and with their multiple varieties (including a vegetarian option that features plantains) there's little reason to order anything else. If you're looking to try something else, though, you can't go wrong with some picanha. 

24. Brazilian Bowl Grill

Location: Chicago, Illinois 

Foursquare rating: 8.8

From their signature Brazilian Bowl (the restaurant's namesake), to the burgers, beef, sausages, and smoothies, customers' rave reviews prove that this joint does everything well. Most importantly, though, the Brazilian Bowl Grill passes the authenticity test with flying colors: "Tastes like home!" said a Foursquare user who apparently hails from Brazil himself. 

23. Favela Grill

Location: Astoria, New York 

Foursquare rating: 8.8

Native Brazilians and native New Yorkers alike can't seem to get enough of the variety of beef dishes, rice and beans, and caipirinha. Live music on weekends makes for a fun atmosphere, and notoriously big portions means you can take home plenty of leftovers. 

Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen are in an empire state of mind.

The power couple joins a slew of celebrities, including Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lawrence, and Bradley Cooper, who all have residences in Manhattan's chic Tribeca neighborhood.

Page Six reports that the New England Patriots QB and his supermodel wife are in the process of purchasing a $20 million apartment overlooking the Hudson River. The couple is reportedly in contract to buy a 5,000-square-foot apartment inside 70 Vestry, a luxurious new building designed by Robert A.M. Stern.

According to Page Six, the apartment includes five bedrooms and a spacious terrace, and its high elevation offers fantastic views of the city. And while the couple currently resides at an apartment in One Madison in the Flatiron District, they will likely move out in 2018, when 70 Vestry is completed. 

A spokesperson for 70 Vestry declined to comment.

SEE ALSO: Look inside the beautiful townhouse Urban Outfitters' former CEO is selling for $17 million

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Odds are Tom and Gisele were attracted to this very private entry. The cobblestone driveway is a rare find in the city, and there's no better way to make a grand entrance.

Inside the 14-story building, the couple can make use of the 82-foot lap pool and cycling, yoga, and pilates studios. There's also a squash court, sauna, and steam room.

70 Vestry will feature 47 units, although it's not clear which one the couple has selected. Sources told Page Six the apartment is on a high floor.

Source: Page Six

Facebook CEO and all-around wunderkind Mark Zuckerberg can do a lot of things.

But Zuck can't use the steel-cutting, 60,000 PSI waterjets in Area 404 — Facebook's brand new, 22,000 square foot hardware laboratory — because he's not one of the ten or so Facebook employees authorized to even get in the room with them, for safety reasons.

The big idea behind Area 404 is to provide one big space for all of the social network's various teams, including the still-very-mysterious denizens of Building 8, to apply the "Move Fast and Break Things" philosophy to making real physical objects, not just software. 

Rather than rely on outside contractors and far-off factories to build their stuff, with Area 404, Facebook now has the facilities, including those serious-business waterjets, to prototype and build that hardware in-house. Better yet, it's tucked into a concrete-reinforced bunker nestled right in Facebook's main Silicon Valley campus.

That's important, as Facebook moves beyond its ongoing efforts to build better servers for itself and into making 3D virtual reality cameras, flying internet-laser drones, and the experimental Terragraph high-speed wireless internet system.

It also means that Area 404 is going to be the place where the first versions of Facebook's coolest, craziest, and most world-changing inventions will be made. Once fully operational, the stuff that goes on in Area 404 will be above top secret.

Luckily for us, Facebook let us tour Area 404 ahead of its official grand opening. Here's a look at the high-tech lab Facebook is using to design its engines of world domination.

SEE ALSO: The incredible story of Elon Musk, from getting bullied in school to the most interesting man in tech

Facebook's main business may be social networking space, but it's long since been designing custom hardware in-house. Since the early 2010's, Facebook has been designing its own custom servers just to keep up with demand...

More recently, Facebook has been working on projects like the Aquila drone, designed to shoot lasers that bring internet access to rural areas...

...and the Facebook Surround 360 camera, designed to shoot super-high-resolution video for virtual reality.

At Bark & Co, it's all about the dogs. 

Founded in 2012 by Carly Strife, Matt Meeker, and Henrik Werdelin, Bark & Co takes aim at the dog parent niche, building all-natural toys, producing dog-centric content, and planning events that, yes, you should bring your dog to. The ultimate goal? To become the "Disney for dogs." 

Known for its flagship brand BarkBox, a subscription service that caters to dogs and their owners, Bark & Co now oversees three additional brands — ecommerce site BarkShop, media outlet BarkPost, and dog-friendly event service BarkLive  — and has surpassed a $100 million revenue run rate. 

The company secured $60 million in funding in May, adding to the $17 million raised previously, and expects to double its year-over-year revenue in 2016. 

Business Insider recently toured the company's New York City headquarters to see how Bark & Co lives its brand, from massive piles of dog toys to sneaky canine treats to a regular rotation of furry coworkers. Check out what a day in the Bark & Co life is like below.

SEE ALSO: Step inside Spotify's New York City office, where you'll find an airy roof deck, cold brew coffee, and a secret recording studio

DON'T MISS: Take a tour of the New York City subscription startup where you'll find swings, sneakers, and gnomes

Welcome to Bark & Co's headquarters in New York City's Chinatown, home to 102 of the company's 160 employees and their pups. The dog-centric brand fills two floors of the building with an open office layout that features rows of clean white desks, two kitchens, doggie play areas, and a secret room.

Noodle, a laid-back pug, and his owner, Jonathan Graziano, one of Bark & Co's Facebook Live hosts, served as two of our tour guides for the day. "I like some of my dog coworkers more than my human coworkers," Graziano joked.

Follow Noodle on Instagram @showmenoodz. 

Banjo, another office regular, joined our tour. Though dogs roam around the office all day, employees abide by set "off-leash" hours and keep their pooches in sight the rest of the time to prevent the office from becoming a free-for-all.

Follow Banjo on Instagram @garlandharwood. 

Greek life is a unique part of American college culture, so when European photographer Philip Holt saw his son off to school at Clarkson University, he had little idea of what his son's new brotherhood within the Delta Upsilon fraternity would be like.

"My reference [to frat houses] was the film 'Animal House' with John Belushi, and yes, I was surprised to see how accurate the frat lifestyle was depicted," Holt, who is currently based in New York but has lived in various European countries, told Business Insider. But "I can honestly say they were some of the finest young men I have met. They were so cordial, helpful, and smart."

Upon his first visit, Holt knew he needed to document the house and the young men who lived there. The project inspired him to visit other Greek-life establishments, including some sororities.

Here's a selection of Holt's best frat-house coverage:

SEE ALSO: 17 photos of the most bizarre conventions in America

Holt's knowledge of American and fraternity culture stemmed mostly from movies. "Once you land, it just feels like being part of a big American movie set," Holt said.

He arrived early in the morning after a big house party the frat had hosted. "Everyone was still sleeping, so my son gave me the grand tour," he said.

The scene was classic: There were "interesting odors going from room to room. The basement, where they had held their party, was damp with a sticky carpet of beer, overfull ashtrays, and empty beer cans scattered around the room," he said.

LL Bean shoppers know.

But those who haven't heard the store's name since their elementary school backpack may not. The brand has one of the best return policies in America.

As part of their "100% satisfaction guarantee," LL Bean fully empowers its customers to decide what "satisfaction" means to them.

Any LL Bean-made item can be returned with no time limit or proof of purchase, as long as you make it clear you are somehow dissatisfied with how the product has held up.

"We’re the only company I know of that completely empowers the customer to determine what satisfaction means to them," LL Bean spokesperson Mac McKeever told Business Insider.

It's not hidden. It's plastered on plaques in the retail stores, and shows up on every page of their website. On an order email, I counted a mention of it no less than four times.

With that in mind, it was absolutely time to put this lofty guarantee to the test. Hearing stories of people bringing back years-old camping gear and footwear, receiving brand new replacements sounded too good to be true. It can't really be that good can it?

I had a pair of old LL Bean Blucher Mocs that I seldom wore anymore since the stitching on one of them came undone. I was pretty disappointed when it happened, as the shoes still had a bit of life left in them otherwise.

I chalked up the breakage to the fact that the shoes were 4 years old, and had served their useful life. However, with the guarantee in mind, this served as the perfect excuse (however flimsy).

As a New Yorker without a car, there aren't many opportunities to visit an LL Bean store. The nearest one is in Paramus, New Jersey. So I took advantage of a family trip back home to New Jersey to visit one.

I saddled up to the counter with my dirty, old shoes and asked, since they broke, what they could could do about it in relation to the 100% satisfaction guarantee. The cashier flashed a knowing smile said "ok" and immediately added some identifying information into the computer. No other questions about the shoes were asked.

After clearing up a bit of confusion as to why my order information wouldn't populate in the computer system ("They were ordered in the last two years, right?" the cashier asked. "No," I replied sheepishly.), the shoes were ordered to my home address in New York. No record was given to LL Bean showing when or even if I purchased the shoes at any point.

I walked away with a written receipt giving me an estimated delivery date, since the shoes in my size were not in stock. I was not given a choice of another color, model, or size. Two days later, the brand new shoes were waiting on my doorstep.

It my sound too good to be true. Surely customers would take advantage of such a generous policy. And while that does happen, possibly less than you may think.

"We know that the vast majority of our customers are adhering to the original intent of the guarantee, that being to ensure we sell high quality merchandise and stand behind it with our satisfaction guarantee," McKeever said. "Our guarantee is not a liability, but rather a customer service asset —an unacknowledged agreement between us and the customer, that always puts the customer first and relies on the goodwill of our customers to honor the original intent of the guarantee."

The guarantee empowers customers to decide for themselves when they're satisfied with a product, and rely on their own moral compass for guidance. In fact, I did feel a bit like a jerk at the counter with my clearly very old shoes. Buying an $84 pair of shoes once four year ago does not exactly entitle me to shoes for the rest of my life, and that is not the intent of the policy.

But the fact remains that the company was ready and willing to honor my flimsy complaint, true to their guarantee.

"We simply look at our guarantee as an extension of our customer service philosophy and our commitment to offer high-quality merchandise that stand up to the guarantee," McKeever said "As a company, we have made a conscious decision to invest in our customers by standing behind our products through our guarantee."

At no point did I identify myself to LL Bean customer service as a reporter.

SEE ALSO: Here's why everyone is suddenly obsessed with a rubber boot that's been around since 1911

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NOW WATCH: MALCOLM GLADWELL: ‘Anyone who gives a single dollar to Princeton has completely lost their mind'

Harvard psychology professor Amy Cuddy's new book "Presence" highlights the best ways to bring your most confident and powerful self to any situation. 

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Gusto, a startup with 300 employees in San Francisco and Denver, just became the first midsize company in the US to cover fertility treatments in a way that will help single women and same-sex couples, according to Cigna.

Fifteen states require employers to offer some fertility coverage, reports the San Francisco's Chronicle's Marissa Lang, but that coverage often hinges on a being diagnosed as clinically infertile, as defined by the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.

A gay couple might not be clinically infertile (incapable of getting pregnant after a year of unprotected heterosexual sex), but they still can't biologically conceive a child together. 

A single woman can't biologically conceive on her own either.

So Gusto is offering insurance that ditched the medical diagnosis requirement and will cover up to $20,000 worth of treatment anyway.

Gusto CEO Josh Reeves was inspired to extend this fertility provision by one of his employees, Katie Evans-Reber, and her wife Amy. The couple had one child together and were trying for a second but their fertility treatments were not working. After a lot of heartache and $40,000 worth of attempts, they couldn't afford to keep trying.

When researching insurance that covered infertility treatments in this less restrictive way, Reeves was surprised by how few employers ever researched the question. Cigna told the Chronicle that it estimated there were perhaps four other companies offering this benefit nationwide.

"My hope is Gusto can lead by example and inspire other businesses to do the same," Reeves told Business Insider.

While Reeves may be motivated by kindness (he's known to be a very nice guy), in many ways, it makes good business sense for Gusto to pioneer this benefit, too.

Gusto offers payroll and insurance benefit software to small and mid-sized companies. It's pitch is that it's software treats people more humanely, Reeves tells Business Insider. 

SEE ALSO: The CEO of billion-dollar startup Gusto has 75 angel investors and warns other startups: 'There are no shortcuts'

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