Sydney man confronts worker after being refused free milk tea for not speaking Chinese: ‘You can speak Chinese to me’

A short clip outside a Sydney bakery shows a free bubble milk tea promotion turning into an uncomfortable dispute over who could have one. A simple drink request quickly became tense when the worker limited the giveaway to Chinese customers.

The video, posted to TikTok by user millau, shows a young man walking up to a small promotional table where a worker was handing out free milk tea. Before he even asks for one, she tells him who the giveaway is for. “Hi, this is only for Chinese people,” she says as he looks over the drinks on the table.

He asks what the drink is and, after learning it’s milk tea, asks if he can have one. She tells him, “Uh, no.” When he presses her on why not, she gives him a direct answer: “Because you are not Chinese.”

The giveaway comes with a catch

The man then repeats the explanation back to her for the camera. “I can’t have any because I’m not Chinese?” he asks, before she reiterates that the promotion is meant only for Chinese customers. He then flips the question on her: “How do you know I’m not Chinese?”

Her answer, “You can speak Chinese to me,” brings the exchange to a close. Rather than answering in Chinese, he responds with a mock “Konnichiwa” followed by gibberish. The video then cuts to him walking away with bakery items in hand. Speaking to the camera afterward, he calls it “my first time experiencing racism.” The video then cuts to him walking away with bakery items in hand. Speaking to the camera afterward, he calls it “my first time experiencing racism.”

The booth, tied to the milk tea brand Mixue, was part of a promotion organized by Fantuan, the food delivery platform. According to 7NEWS, Mixue later said the woman in the video was not one of its employees and that her comments did not reflect the company’s values. The chain apologized and suspended its supply of products for Fantuan promotional activities.

Fantuan also denied that the giveaway was restricted to Chinese people, saying the worker’s comments did not reflect the campaign instructions. A spokesperson said people of different backgrounds received free drinks after meeting the promotion’s requirements, while acknowledging that the language used during the exchange was inappropriate.

That differs from what some viewers had assumed in the comments, where several suggested the worker was simply following instructions. One commenter, describing themselves as Chinese, wrote that the promotion likely tied back to Fantuan, “a food delivery app whose users are mostly Chinese,” and said the worker “was probably just following instructions from her employer.”

Other viewers focused on the exchange itself. A commenter wrote, “bro faught racism with racism,” pointing to the man’s mock-Japanese response as much of the problem as the worker’s rule. Others weren’t willing to give the vendor a pass. One argued, “The smile on her face doesn’t make what she’s saying less racist.”

Questions about identity can shape an interaction from the first exchange. A Black woman in Missouri ran into that issue when a waiter at a Chinese restaurant opened their encounter by telling her to “speak English”.