NateSean
Friday 10th June 2016 3:30pm
Salem, Massachusetts
218 posts
Quote: Definitely Tarby @ 9th June 2016, 11:14 PM BST
If you post about it on their facebook, twitter accounts they may respond with a more friendly approach to avoid this escelating.
Oh, I'm definitely posting on social media and review sites. Raising a fuss is something I've inherited from my parents. 
Here's the follow up on that post.
In the previous post, you read about the unpleasant encounter with the owner of Remember Salem, and his claim that I had a negative experience with one of his employees a "year ago". You can read the actual quote in this post.
I still maintain that I have never had any sort of negative experience with any employee at Remember Salem during any of the times I have been in there. In fact, one of the most recent times I had set foot in there was during October. Anyone who has been to Salem in October knows how busy it is. I'm not the first person to have jokingly referred to Salem as the temporary capital of Massachusetts during the time of the Psychic Fair.
So it's strange that this owner apparently remembers me in connection with a negative encounter when his and many other shops in the area are so packed full of tourists from all corners of the Earth.
However, as the title indicates, some new information has come to my attention. It's actually something that happened close to a year ago, and it's the only incident I can imagine this owner is referring to.
My dog was attacked last year. I documented this incident in the following post. I've written about at least one other incident involving an irresponsible dog owner in Salem Commons, but this particular incident was especially terrifying as actual teeth met flesh on this occasion. In this case the teeth belonged to a dog whose breed I will still not mention, as the breed has been wrongfully maligned, but I will mention by name as Athena.
Athena was poorly trained. I don't know her entire history, before that day, only that after the incident in which she broke free of her leash and attacked Dickens, also drawing John's blood in the process, the owner was required by law to place a muzzle on her when he was taking her for a walk as she had been deemed a dangerous dog. The owner seemed to believe that this was optional, as we encountered them several times out and about, without the required muzzle.
I refrained from documenting anything further about this incident for a few reasons. The officer who was building the case against Athena's owner had requested that John not talk too openly about the incident while the investigation was on going. I wasn't sure what details were safe to share on this blog, so I held back. John was also afraid of retaliation, since the owner lived so close by, so I held back out of respect to him.
Eventually, the problem took care of itself. Athena inevitably attacked at least one other person, resulting in her being put down. I want it to be clear that I don't take any satisfaction in knowing that the dog had to be put down for her owner's stupidity.
However, the owner of that dog, does occasionally work in downtown Salem, handing out fliers for some of the local businesses. Would any of my faithful readers care to guess which of the local businesses he handed out fliers for, last year? Yes, Remember Salem's "Ghost Tour" was among them. And I know that Athena's owner is on friendly terms with a number of people who work along Essex Street.SAM_0916.JPGSAM_0917
That would technically make him an employee of Remember Salem. So if the owner sees me as the reason why the dog of his irresponsible owner had to be put down, then clearly this is not a case of anything I did to threaten his business. This is the case of a man who believes, as he stated so bluntly himself, that he can do anything he wants. Including, but probably not limited to, bullying customers with the misguided notion of avenging a friend.
Where is this kind of behavior going to stop? We already had an incident involving a prominent local business owner who was a very strong and visible member of Salem's economy, getting arrested for trafficking heroin. This person is currently sitting in jail and has been ostracized by Salem's local psychic community. Clearly, not every single shop owner is represented by that man. But just like this drug dealer, the shop owner of Remember Salem has placed a negative mark on all of them by mistreating a member of the community.
Some may call it a bit extreme, my comparing this little man to a known drug trafficker. But I also remind you that before the police showed up, and I peacefully explained my side of the story and left the premises when the officers asked me to do so, this owner had made himself completely scarce. That's certainly not behavior that I would expect of a legitimate business owner who has nothing to hide from the law.
