'100 Percent Wrong:' Wine Train CEO Apologizes To Humiliated Book Club Members
NAPA COUNTY (CBS SF) -- Napa Valley Wine Train officials issued a lengthy apology Tuesday to a group of 11 book club members who were kicked off the train Saturday afternoon.
Until now, the wine train had defended its actions, saying the group of women was too loud and impeded the experience of other guests. But the group of 10 black women and one white woman thought that a group of white women wouldn't have received the same treatment.
In a statement Tuesday, wine train CEO Anthony Giacco said he spoke with club member Lisa Johnson late Monday and took full responsibility for the mistreatment of the Sistahs on the Reading Edge Book Club members, promising changes in company practices and offering the group a train car to themselves as Giacco's guests.
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Johnson had chronicled the group's ejection on Facebook. She had initially set out to post pictures of her book club's outing on the luxurious train -- which serves wine and appetizers on a roughly three-hour tour of the Napa Valley -- but created a social media frenzy when her posts chronicled the group's ejection from the train.
The women were warned early on they would have to be quieter, and while Johnson said they tried to keep their voices down, they were seated in such a way that it was difficult for some women to talk to each other without raising their voices.
Furthermore, with such a large group, they often laughed while enjoying each other's company, and if they all laughed at once, it was loud.
Other passengers on the train struck up conversations with the book club members, stopping by when they noticed their matching T-shirts, Johnson said.
The group has met in and around Antioch for about 17 years to discuss books and encourage reading.
But some guests did not appreciate their enthusiasm the same way, and an employee of the train returned and said if they didn't quiet down they would have to leave the train. A passenger seated nearby commented, "This is not a bar" to them, according to Johnson.
A short time later, they were told police would be waiting at the St. Helena station to escort them off the train.
Johnson said she was left feeling angry and humiliated as the group was escorted through nearly every train car to the waiting officers.
She said even the police officers outside were surprised by the group they encountered, which included an 85-year-old grandmother.
As Johnson's social media posts gained attention, wine train officials posted a response on the train's Facebook page but quickly removed it. But Johnson posted a screen capture of the message that read, "Following verbal and physical abuse towards other guests and staff, it was necessary to get our police involved."
On Tuesday, Giaccio acknowledged the deleted post, writing, "We also erred by placing an inaccurate post on our Facebook site that was not reflective of what actually occurred. In the haste to respond to criticism and news inquires, we made a bad situation worse by rushing to answer questions on social media."
Giaccio said Tuesday morning that the wine train was "100 percent wrong in its handling of this issue."
In a public letter to the group, he called the treatment of them insensitive and a failure by the company.
"In this instance, we failed in every measure of the meaning of good service, respect and hospitality," Giaccio wrote.
In particular, he said staff on the wine train should have been prepared to accommodate a large and vibrant group and that he did not understand the humiliation of having the ejected group taken down the aisle until Johnson explained it to him.
To address the problem, he said that all staff at the wine train would receive diversity and sensitivity training and he would participate himself.
He offered the 11 members of the book club and 39 other guests a reserved train car to themselves to make up for the incident.
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