Will you get something off a shelf for someone, if they’re having problems?
Yes, it’s true. I do get the jar from the back top or bottom shelf for older, shorter or handicaped people. They don’t have to ask either. They’re usually verbally appreciative too. I’ve yet to have someone get pissed, because I helped them without their asking.
and?
Nothing.
I’m just sick of your favorite “place something here” threads.
I’ve done it, too. Actually, at 6’5", I find myself doing that sort of thing frequently. Not that I mind, though. I actually enjoy helping people. I help confused parents find the toys their kids want in the toy stores, too.
I’m short. 5’2" I often have difficulty getting things down from the top shelf at the grocery store. That happened to me just today. I needed a styrofoam coolor for a workshop and it was on the very top shelf. I asked a man in the aisle if he would get it down for me. I definitely appreciated it because I probably would have a) climbed on the shelf to get it myself. I could just see myself knocking down a whole shelf of canned products, or b) looked for a stockroom person to get it down for me. As it was, he got it down for me and I spent 3 minutes in the store instead of spending 10 minutes trying to find help. They’re always hiding when I need something.
People often assume I work at whatever store I happen to be shopping in. They usually don’t ask if I work there before they ask for something. I love to play along and help them. There is a point at which I have to tell them I don’t work there and then they get all embarrassed. It must seem bizarre but I get a big kick out of it. I was in retail management before I decided to stay home, and it’s fun to pretend I have a job again. I also just like helping. Do unto others etc. I have never had anyone get upset with me for interfering, but I try to ask before I help so as not to offend.
It’s nice to know this happens to other people, sometimes I wonder! I was in retail sales for years, before staying home to have children. I still get asked where something is, or what size someone might need. I like it too, and a cute thing happened when my oldest son came home for Spring Break, a customer at Wal Mart stopped HIM and asked about the garden shop! And DJ, having been to the store so many times, ended up helping the elderly lady find what she was looking for, and putting it in her cart! Ah, tradition!! 
This is something that happens often to me, whether in a store, or on the street. I have always assumed that I must appear to be approachable, since I often get asked for directions or help of one kind or another. IMO, this is a good thing, although I’ve worried before that this is the same reason I have been approached by lunatics a time or two. Still the outcome, though scary, was never harmful.
And I don’t know how to change how I appear…anyway.
learae
I always appreciate help, and I always help children (the few people who are shorter than I am).
Unfortunately in the one place I need help getting stuff off the shelves (the grocery store) NONE of the staff ever help. They just watch as I strain various muscles trying to reach the green peppers, risking bringing the whole display down on my head. And they get angry if stand on my cart.
If you’re wondering, I don’t ask for help because I inspect my produce very carefully when I choose it, and they wouldn’t.
Why must shelves be so high? The average North American woman is 5’4". Who does most of the shopping? Women. When will they learn?
Sigh. I miss Vancouver, where many stores and apartments are designed with Asian women in mind.
Usually one of the old women at work grabs my butt or my back & asks me to reach something for them. Of course, after bringing down half the stuff since I can’t hear what they want, eventually they pick which item it was.
Slightly off-topic, but I frequently put things on top of the refrigerator, which is in plain sight to me. When Mrs. Pluto can’t find them it always takes me a minute to remember I’m taller and that she can’t see them. But I will help her get things down from there if she asks me nicely. Twice.