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Photo With Trump Puts Business Owner In Dire Straits: Dave’s Soda & Pet City Owner Shunned By Customers

By Roz Zurko
Published on: 08:29 PST, Oct 16, 2017

If you are a New Englander living in Western Massachusetts or Northern Connecticut, you know Dave Ratner’s face. For the last four decades, Dave has coupled soda with everything your pets could want, from pet food to crates and from pet toys to dog leashes. People really like Dave and his products, which he feels was true up until a few days ago when a picture of him standing behind Donald Trump signing an executive order turned his life upside down, and it has literally brought him to tears.

Dave’s face is well known in the area from his commercials, which are described as “zany commercials” by the Boston Globe. He has been a rather lovable character in this neck of the woods for as long as most folks can remember. This happy and likable guy made it very easy for those who like soda and for those who have pets to do business at one of his several locations.

At first, many thought it was a rather odd combination for a business to sell, soda for humans and anything you could possibly want for your furry and not-so-furry pets. But as strange as it might be, it’s worked, and Dave’s Soda & Pet City has thrived — that is, up until the last few days.

Dave truly likes his customers and he isn’t the guy who sits in the front office watching the sales. He is the kind of business owner who is very visible in his stores. As the Boston Globe puts it, “Indeed, Ratner is a big presence in Western Massachusetts.” So how did all this change with a picture? Dave has gone from well-liked to being called all types of derogatory names on the social media sites. It started with the picture seen below. Dave is seen second from the left behind Donald Trump. He has a mustache and glasses.

[Image by Evan Vucci/AP Images]

People are furious over their perceived thoughts that Dave is in the Oval Office in this picture supporting Trump’s executive order. Some are even calling for a boycott of his stores, with things getting so bad that Ratner told the Globe on Sunday that he’s just gone through the “worst two days of his life” since that picture was published. He didn’t have so much as an inkling of a thought that his presence at the White House during that signing would come back to haunt him. He is devastated after that photo destroyed his business in one day after he’s taken 42 years to build it up.

Dave’s trip was not to support Trump.

Back in 2010 when the Affordable Care Act, which is often referred to as Obamacare, was passed, the power to negotiate for cheaper insurance rates for his employees and for other small business owners and their employees, vanished. Dave has gone to Washington D.C. every year since then to speak to anyone who would listen to him on just how unfair that act is to the small business owners when it comes to giving insurance to those they employ.

Dave, who owns a chain of those Dave’s Soda & Pet City stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut has been an active member of the National Retail Federation. This is a trade association that supports the small, local businesses, which is a category that Dave’s Soda & Pet City stores fall under. Dave said he was there to support the business owners getting that option back when it comes to shopping healthcare plans for his employees. He said he wasn’t there to support Trump, reports Mass Live.

Dave got a phone call from the Federation two weeks ago announcing that Trump was about to sign an order restoring that power back to the small business owners. He was invited to that signing ceremony by the Federation. Dave said, “My first reaction was ‘Holy smokes, he’s doing something good.'”

At the time he was thrilled to have these options back in place, but he had no idea what else was entailed with Trump rolling back the ACA. This executive order did restore the power that Dave and other small business owners had advocated for, but it also put a halt to the subsidy that helps low-income folks afford the healthcare offered.

Putting a stop to this subsidy has prompted Maura Healy, who is the Attorney General of Massachusetts, to file a lawsuit in hopes to stop this from happening to the citizens of the Bay State. Dave didn’t know that this was the second part of the executive order that Trump signed, so in the picture taken that day, you see Dave Ratner standing behind Trump oblivious to the deeds signed as he watched.

Dave has asked his customers to listen to his side of this story, but they seem so angry they won’t hear him out. If he had any idea as to what Trump was also signing that day, he would not have gone, but he was there, oblivious to the facts, and it’s left his life in a shambles. Ratner told the reporter, “I feel like I walked into a room, and somebody shot somebody when I was in the room, and so people are looking at me.”

As for Trump’s executive order, Ratner said, “I absolutely abhor what he did, and I would not have been there had I known what was happening.” During his interview with the Globe, Ratner broke down in tears a few times, while describing people’s reactions. His stores are receiving angry phone calls and the store’s website comments have gone from fun and complimentary to rather condemning and name-calling overnight.

Ratner has hired some outside help to navigate this business crisis. A Boston-based PR firm will help him through the rough days. Dave is hopeful his customers will see his trek to Washington as nothing more than a celebration for regaining the power to shop for healthcare for his employees. He would not support the subsidy being yanked out from under those who need help paying insurance.

[Featured Image by Evan Vucci/AP Images]

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