Banana

The company paid for me to attend a three-day seminar. The major industry players were present, and quite a number of the delegates were Chinese guys who were either born or bred overseas.

Bananas, as American or British-born Chinese are called here in China - yellow on the outside, yet white inside. I can single them out by how they look, even before they speak, and I personally find them attractive.

I focused on the topics presented, injected humor in the discussions, and pretended not to notice the cute guys and their accents. And by the time they served lunch, I knew who among them was checking me out.

We broke up early for the day, but I lingered in the function room. The guy I was eyeing across the room (and vice versa) also stayed behind. He approached me after a few minutes and introduced himself.

We exchanged business cards and were surprised with the identical logos. I quickly came up with a lame excuse for leaving, and reminded myself of a painful yet valuable lesson I once learned.

Don't ever shit in your own backyard.