A well-crafted story by Gish Jen and a suggestion for a follow-up

Gish Jen has a story, No More Maybe,  in the current New Yorker, the latest in a wave of stories over the past few years about the immigrant experience told from the immigrant's POV - often also the author's POV though I think this story is not at all autobiographical: GJ writes about a couple from China settled into the US in low-ranking academic jobs, the woman is pregnant and not at the moment working, and the story concerns a visit of indefinite length from the in-laws (told from pregnant wife's POV) - a twist on most of the immigrant stories in that the in-laws visiting from China are far more prosperous and established in careers (or retired from careers) in academia (the wife's mother cannot afford to visit during the pregnancy, so they communicate by Skype - probably a more typical situation). The twist of the story is that the in-laws are disappointed in the modest career of their son/daughter-in-law - they expect great prosperity and opportunity for educated Chinese immigrants in the US and are surprised by the limitations. The failed expectations fuel the story. Jin's writing is clear and concise, almost childlike at times. With too many sentence fragments. Like this one. Ugh. But she does hav a story to tell and knows how to frame it, which is much more than many other recent NYer authors have been able to do. The crisis of the story occurs when the father-in-law, somewhat mentally enfeebled at this point in his life, which is frustrating and embarrassing to him, sets out to wash his son's "new" (used) car but washes the wrong car. When his mistake is revealed, the family and he laugh it off, and then are surprised when the car-owner shows up a few days later to thank him the father for washing the car; the father adamantly refuses to accept a gift - a cake - and in fact denies washing the car (afraid allegedly of a lawsuit if anything had been damaged). This is a strange and awkward moment, especially in that the car's owner is a black man. All going well up to this point but (spoiler) I don't see why Jen had the black man deface the cake w/ a racist remark that the writes with his finger dipped in the frosting. That seems weirdly hostile and out of keeping with the gift-bearing character. One of Jin's strengths is her ability to sketch in characters efficiently and deftly; I would like to see her try another story, based on same characters and sets of facts, from the POV of the man whose car was washed by a stranger.