Unfiltered Story #131640

I work in a coffee shop that’s most often frequented by the local youth and the occasional tourist. We have a loyal customer named Lex, who was about 17 at the time of the event and at the time and to this day (3 years after the event in question) still shows up every day for a beverage on his way home from work, along with other times in the week. Lex is gay, very shy and soft-spoken (yet extremely friendly around people he knows) and usually wears something purple or pink, with long hair. He also wears eye shadow… his orientation is pretty clear. One day we had a most unwelcome customer; a woman in her mid to late 50s who was in the line adjacent to Lex who was chatting with me in his casual, sweet tone and demeanor. Those two were the only customers in the cafe at the time.

The lady snorted after taking a good long look at Lex, then after having her order taken, she followed him to the table he normally sat at.

Woman: “You know, God sees you as a filthy, fornicating sinner!”

Lex: *flabbergasted* “Wh-what do you-”

Woman: “He hates your kind, you little faggot. You and all your b*tch-boy kind. You’re all going to hell unless you quit being little scum-bag, d*ck-sucking faggots!”

At this point Lex is stammering and starting to cry, and I can’t believe what’s going on because it sounds like the most stereotypical tirade I’ve ever heard! I see a guy about Lex’s age who had just come in the door in time to hear everything walk up angrily to the both of them and then decide to step in because this fellow is wearing a cross necklace, and I can just see it getting worse for Lex. But before I could get out from behind the counter, I’m floored;

New Guy: *stands between the woman and Lex and points a finger at her* “You’re the sickening one! Not only do you use foul language but you have the audacity to tell someone God hates them. If you’ve ever read the Bible you’ll know that Jesus loves all of us despite any flaws.”

Woman: “What?!? You mean you stand with this little sh*t?? You think don’t homosexuality is an abomination??”

New Guy: “I think exactly what the Bible says about it, but I also listened to the part where it tells us to love people unconditionally, ESPECIALLY the sinners.”

This goes on for about another minute, with the new guy not once letting her get past him to even look at Lex. My manager leaves her office  after hearing the commotion outside and tells the woman she needs to leave immediately.

Woman: “You little b*tch! You’re trying to cheat me out of the coffee I bought!”

Manager: *angrily takes out about 8 bucks worth of ones and change from her own pocket* “Take it and get the hell out, or I’m calling the police!”

Woman: *grabs the money and starts to leave, lividly screaming on her way out* “You’re all going to hell, you f*cking heathens!!!”

I turn from watching my manager to look at our new hero who turned around to finally face Lex, who is crying quite hard at this point. He sits down next to him and introduces himself as Jason.

Jason: “Are you alright?”

Lex: *sobbing* “I t-think so.”

Jason looks at Lex for a moment, then leans in to hug him. They both stayed that way for several minutes till Lex stopped crying.

Jason: “Hey, for the record, there’s only one thing God can’t do, and that’s hating us.”

Jason turned one of the worst days for Lex into one of the best, and they’ve been best friends ever since. They started working at the same shop together and right now, three years later, Lex is super excited because Jason and I asked him to be the best man at our wedding.

Life is good, and because  one bad witness for her religion was countered by a good one, that awful woman brought together the best trio of friends since the Three Stooges. A little bit of love for fellow man goes a long way.