White Man Evades Diversity Training After Drinking Gong Cha Bubble Tea

“He really went above and beyond on this one.”

Bubble tea photo credit: Howief

January 10, 2021

By: John Doe

Local man, James Macintosh, was granted special permission to skip his workplace’s mandatory diversity training day after drinking an entire cup of taro bubble tea in full view of the HR Department.

Macintosh, 28, noted that it was his first time trying bubble tea, and that this attempt was prompted largely by his desire to impress Michelle Nguyen in Accounting. “Look, she’s the only Chinese person I know, and so I thought I’d get in by showing I’m open to try some more out-there Asian food.”

“It was enjoyable, but a bit sweeter than normal tea. I’m still pretty sure I got ripped off though, as there were these strange flavourless balls that reduced how much tea I got overall. Yeah, I dumped those out immediately. If they got rid of those, it’d probably be an easier sell. I think Starbucks could probably do a great pumpkin spiced version.”

Diversity trainer David Smith applauded Macintosh’s efforts, “I’ve not seen courage like that in my thirty years of teaching people about diversity. This is even better than the time that Toby tried making his own wontons. Moving forward, I’ve asked James to head up our internal intercultural affairs committee, and if that goes well, he may even get promoted to head up our Cambodian office.”

In an attempt to emulate Macintosh’s example, lunch for the diversity training event was catered by Panda Express – an unusual departure from the usual chicken teriyaki party subs from Subway.

When asked about his other intercultural experiences, Macintosh was quick to defer to other colleagues’ expertise. “Look, there’s Dave over in IT who regularly puts away a Number 24 from Lucky Dragon across the road, and of course Jenny who makes her own steamed pork buns. She puts curry in them sometimes – they’re really authentic. All I’m saying is, it’s not hard to keep an open mind and just try these things out.”