US: Man in crisis calls gay bookstore, and manager and patrons answer

When writer Nicole Cliffe asked her Twitter followers on Monday about “the kindest thing a stranger has done or said to you,” she received an inspiring response from a former LGBTQ bookstore manager that went viral — and highlighted the necessity of suicide-prevention resources.

“Oh God I can’t even tell this story and not cry,” wrote the ex-manager, a gay man from Chicago who goes by the Twitter handle @TweetChizone. While working at the bookstore one night, he said he received a call from a man who said he might be gay and was “considering self-harm.”

“We were not a crisis center! But as long as we’re talking, he’s safe, right?” @TweetChizone continued in a tweet that has received more than 30,000 likes as of Wednesday afternoon.

The man said he kept the caller on the phone by answering his questions, even though there were several customers in his store. @TweetChizone said that a few minutes later, “this angel of a woman puts her hand on my shoulder and asks for the phone. 'My turn,' she says.”