As a retailer, I was a little uncomfortable with the savaging of a local restaurant in some of the blogs this week -- whether the restaurant did the things alleged or not. It seems a little too much like negative political advertising; damned if you respond, damned if you don't.

Thing about having a storefront is that customers and friends tend to come and go over time, but enemies accumulate.

I don't care who you are, you are going to eventually have disgruntled customers -- sometimes for doing the right thing. People being people.

There are a couple of businesses locally that I haven't been happy with, but it never occurred to me to go after them in this blog. It smacks a little too much of vengeance. If I don't like a place, I don't go back.

And it seems a little over the top. Like the guy picketing a local used car dealer for selling him a lemon. Maybe so, but the very fact that you would go to such an extreme calls into guestion your complaint.

Anyway, I was saying this to one of my fellow bloggers and customers (Hey, Jon!) and muttering something about the 'customer isn't always right,' (which is something I try to avoid saying....) when the other customer in the store piped up and said,

"I was one of the ones making comments about.....(the restaurant.) "

That was completely amazing to me. We're a small town, true, but I didn't think we were that small. I don't think he was offended. And he told me that his experience at the restaurant was true, and needed to be said.

So....I guess that is the nature of the blogosphere. But it still makes me uncomfortable. Stores can just too easily be a sitting duck target.