diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/cacher_whitebox_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/cacher_whitebox_test.go
index 414307e1a0a..9a3bfcc068d 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/cacher_whitebox_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/cacher_whitebox_test.go
@@ -431,7 +431,14 @@ func TestEmptyWatchEventCache(t *testing.T) {
 				if e, a := tt.expectedEvent.Object, event.Object; !apiequality.Semantic.DeepDerivative(e, a) {
 					t.Errorf("Expected: %#v, got: %#v", e, a)
 				}
-			case <-time.After(3 * time.Second):
+			case <-time.After(1 * time.Second):
+				// the watch was established otherwise
+				// we would be blocking on cache.Watch(...)
+				// in addition to that, the tests are serial in nature,
+				// meaning that there is no other actor
+				// that could add items to the database,
+				// which could result in receiving new items.
+				// given that waiting 1s seems okay
 				if tt.expectedEvent != nil {
 					t.Errorf("Failed to get an event")
 				}