How did the actual Starbucks bias training go?

I’m guessing most people just saw the parodies of Starbucks’ bias training.

RELATED: Starbucks praised and criticized

I wanted to see the real thing. In it, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson kicks things off by saying this whole business of trying to be “color blind” is nonsense.

“Growing up, this term called color blind — a described learning behavior of pretending not to notice race — that doesn’t even make sense,” he says.

The theme was to become “color brave.” This involved watching a series of videos and writing down your reactions. The reactions were private.

But there were other moments where employees were expected to react out loud and to help loosen people up. There was a discussion where Starbucks board member Mellody Hobson, who is black, talked with bias experts about the absurdity of trying to pretend you don’t see race.

“What is it about color blindness that creates a problem?” she asked.

“Our brains can’t not see different racial categories … we can’t turn that off,” an expert responded. She explained that people want others to see them as their full selves. For many, that includes their racial identity.

Starbucks also commissioned a filmmaker to put together a video on the history of discrimination in America. The film included a montage of African Americans talking about what they think about before they leave the house. In the middle of this, they show one white guy about how he prepared for his day.

“When I leave my house, regardless of where I’m going, I’m just leaving my house…” he explains. He isn’t thinking about what hurdles he’ll face and whether or not he will be judged.

This was followed by a black woman who makes what seems to be a fairly simple request.

“The society I want to see is, I want to be able to walk out of the house just as free, feeling as that white guy who says he doesn’t worry about a thing when he walks out that door. I want to have that same expectation.”

To me, though, the most memorable part was a series of stories — audio only, no video — of Starbucks managers opening up and sharing stories of incidents that happened in their stores. And as you would notice, there’s a reason they didn’t want their faces shown. One story was called “The Tip Jar.”

During the employee’s story, he explains how he was working the register when a group of “young black men” walked in. Before making it to the counter, the employee hid the tip jar.

“We’d had a couple of instances where people had stolen our tips. They kind of looked like maybe they’d be the type of person that would do that,” the employee explains. They got up to the register, paid, and when I gave them their change I was really embarrassed because they actually asked if we had a tip jar because they wanted to give a dollar as a tip.”

You can find the whole thing, along with the training booklet, on the Starbucks Channel. But I will admit, The Daily Show version is funnier.

Follow @http://www.twitter.com/thedaveross