How many of you have to ask for help to reach items on shop shelves?

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LanguidVirago@reddit

Never, I am a 6' tall lady with long limbs, and evidently have an approachable face. It is rare I ever go to the supermarket without someone asking me to reach an item on the top shelf for them, i have never not obliged I think my record was 6 times in one isle, doubles and triples are more common as people see me helping someone else and immediately ask the same.

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mdmnl@reddit

Reacher said nothing.

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LuvBooks22@reddit

I'm 5ft tall. I try my best to scoot things down from a high shelf by using a suitable product from the same aisle, if that makes sense. If I can't find a long enough product, I lie in wait for a tall person. If a tall person doesn't come along, I walk off, disappointed, cursing Asda for having such high shelves. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the lovely tall people who help us short arses!

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DurhamOx@reddit

I hurt my back recently and had to ask someone to get something from the bottom shelf. It was a fascinating glimpse into the future

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phatboi23@reddit

i have knackered knees and have done this in the past haha

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itsshakespeare@reddit

I’m short and I would genuinely love to help a tall person in this way, because I feel bad that I’m always the one asking for help

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DurhamOx@reddit

I've never befriended a borrower before

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ramapyjamadingdong@reddit

I have a vacancy! The bottom shelf is just so far away! As a tall, when pregnant I had to borrow bottom shelf ability 😆

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Helpful_Librarian_87@reddit

4’11 here and I’m getting good at climbing. Or looking around for the tallest person in the shop. Need anything from one of the bottom shelves?

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Moremilyk@reddit

I often can't reach if the top shelf item is back from the front of the shelf. I have discovered that Aldi have guide thingies on the shelves for alcohol and sometimes the small soft drinks in the fridge and if you pull the guide thingy it moves the whole row forward and within reach. Felt like I'd discovered some esoteric secret. Anything else? Hi it if possible, ask a tall person if there is one or go without.

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Present-Technology36@reddit

I had a friend who was about 5 feet tall, one day he told me he was very jealous of my height. Im not even that tall, I might be 5'10/11. Anyway he told me about all the trouble he had, he said he cant shop properly without help and he told me in his kitchen he doesnt keep anything in the top shelves because its difficult to get stuff in and out. Id never even thought of that before.

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Present-Technology36@reddit

A lady asked me to get her a box of cereal from the top shelf once. It was right at the back and I couldnt reach it so I grabbed a different box of cereal, used it to knock over the cereal she wanted and then I just dragged it off the shelf lol. She looked at me, giggled and said oh I could have done that.

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sihasihasi@reddit

No. I'm one of the people who gets asked to reach stuff on the top shelf!

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MaleficentSwan0223@reddit

5’1 with social anxiety. If I can’t reach it, I can’t get it. However someone once stopped to ask me to reach something and my jaw hit the floor!

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Ronsona@reddit

I'm 6'3 and like to think I have decent spacial awareness. I tend to notice people struggling and offer to help get anything up high, generally before they ask for help, seems to put them more at ease if they don't like to ask for help from strangers. I also always pull a few more of the items forward to help anyone else who will later have an issue too. Common decency really...

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ohnobobbins@reddit

5’2 - yes I have to ask. It’s pretty embarrassing but people are really kind and always help me. There are definitely times when there was no help around when I just… didn’t buy things. Or rather, couldn’t. No idea if the supermarkets know that.

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neenoonee@reddit

5’2” here. If it’s not a delicate item, like a glass bottle, I’ll waft it down using something else. In more cases if the top shelf was 2 inches lower I’d be able to reach. Otherwise I look pathetic and ask a member of staff.

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lookhereisay@reddit

Just shy of 5 foot and a lot. Luckily I now have a helpful toddler who is taking after his over 6 foot dad. I now lift him up and he reaches stuff down!

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Apidium@reddit

5"1. If it's on the top shelf I cannot reach it most of the time.

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MintyMarlfox@reddit

6'7, get asked all the time. But you ask a short person to pass you something from the bottom shelf one time and you're a villain!

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moon-bouquet@reddit

Yes. Or look surreptitiously for the ‘staff only’ kick step, abduct it guiltily like I’m stealing a puppy, carry it in my arms to the freezer aisle and climb on up,

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Isgortio@reddit

I got yelled at by a security guard in the Sainsbury's local for using the step stool to get to the top shelf, because I could've fallen. Probably safer than climbing the shelving racks, and there was no one else around. It's almost like I haven't spent years with a step stool by my side at work and at home because everything is so damn high up.

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Im_Not_Here2day@reddit

I’m 5’9” and sometimes have trouble reaching things on the too shelf if they aren’t all the way forward so I have had to ask for help a couple of times (when the jump and grab method didn’t work)

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Isgortio@reddit

I'm 4'11, I've had to ask for help quite a few times. They always put the items I want on the top shelf :( There are also clothing shops that put the smallest shoe sizes at the top and the largest at the bottom, and will have the petite stuff on a top shelf. It's almost as though whoever designed those shelves didn't understand what the products were.

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PeepsDeBeaul@reddit

Almost weekly ...I'm 5ft 1.5 inches. I once asked a roughly 16 year old lad to reach some potato waffles for me. He was mooching around Morrisons with his mum grumbling at him near constantly. I'd been in the same isle as them multiple times and it was like she didn't have a pause button. He was tuning her out, and clearly used to this. I explained my issue, he passed me the waffles, I thanked him and quietly commented on his mum's bad mood. He mooched back to her. I heard her say "what were you doing there, I hope you weren't causing trouble? ". I quite loudly said "oh no, he was being my angel, I can't reach a lot of the shelves in here, it's nice when tall folk are happy to help ". " You never do nice things for me" she said to her son as they walked off. He looked back at me and gave me the biggest grin. I wouldn't do nice things for her either mate!

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Smeeble09@reddit

6'4" don't think I ever struggle to reach things, do get asked to grab things/ offer to grab things though in shops. However getting stuff from the back low down means I'm on my knees to grab them, or my 6yo grabs them if she's with me.

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knightsbridge-@reddit

I'm 5'4" and generally I don't even have to ask - as soon as I start trying to get something down from a tall shelf and obviously failing, a tall person nearby will just gravitate over and get it for me. A few years ago, I used to frequent the same supermarket as a guy in a wheelchair. I saw him often, must've lived nearby, and was on roughly the same schedule as me, so we were often in the supermarket at the same time. I always used to see him struggling to get stuff down from middle-high shelves, and always had an internal argument with myself about whether I should help him. Is it demeaning? Is it helpful? Is it both? I have no idea.

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10642alh@reddit

I’m 5ft. If my 6’3 husband is with me then I’m fine but if not, I’ll always ask for help.

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bizstring@reddit

I’m 5’8” and people have asked me to reach something down for them before a few times. I always think ‘really? Me??’

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New_Pop_8911@reddit

I'm just over 5ft, I would definitely view you as 'tall' in terms of reaching the top shelf

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Pretend_Peach3248@reddit

At 5ft, any time I need something out of reach. It’s just normal for me to ask someone who doesn’t look like they’d mind. Tbf most of the time I generally just ask anyone who is taller than me regardless of whether they look bothered or not. No one has ever declined yet!

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Bazzlekry@reddit

5 foot nothing, and I often have to ask tall people for help. I hate it :(

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FelisCantabrigiensis@reddit

Being 187cm long, this is not a problem I have. I do sometimes get things down for short people.

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71109E@reddit (OP)

Sounds painful

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BeanOnAJourney@reddit

I'm 5'3" and have a dodgy shoulder, so sometimes, yes, depending on what it is and how deep the shelf is.

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Soggy_Detective_4737@reddit

I'm 5'2". When I was younger, I'd happily climb a shelf for myself or someone else, or if it was the very top shelf, lift one of my kids up to grab things, or use an umbrella. I'm 52 now, less mobile, and with terrible balance due to disability. If anything is out of arms reach now, I either use my stick to knock things forward and off to catch them or find an obliging tall person.

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Rowanx3@reddit

Im 4’11 and i don’t think I’ve had to ask anyone to reach anything for me in a supermarket before. I don’t find most supermarket shelves to be that tall. Either that or a i just don’t need whats on the top shelf

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IamTory@reddit

My guess is it's the latter lol. I'm 4'9" and can usually get to what I want in the non-fridge section if it's at the front of the top shelf, but it's the freezer that gets me. The floor units that stick out make it impossible for me to reach the top freezer shelves. I have to ask for help anytime I want specific items that are stocked up there, and there are a few that I buy regularly. I have to ask for help on a weekly basis.

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literate_giraffe@reddit

5'3 here. Regularly have to ask for a hand or stand on the little rail if there is one. Same issue if the stuff is pushed to the back of some shelves too.

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InsolventAttendant22@reddit

5 foot 2 and a half. Lidl two pint milks are the worst!

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Effective-Bar-6761@reddit

Yep - this is my experience. Shelves are far too deep, so you can see it, but not get to it! What irks me slightly is if I find a member of staff, and they reach one for me, that’s fine, but if I suggest they bring some others forward at the same time to help other people , they look at me like I’m mad!

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DameKumquat@reddit

My arms don't move much so I sometimes can't reach the back of a shelf, but usually my walking stick solves the problem. I'm not great at getting to the bottom shelves either, but if I don't have my own child with me, there's usually a bored one around happy to help.

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Level_Blackberry6409@reddit

I'm 5'5" and occasionally can't reach something, but will just go without rather than impose on someone else. It's more of a problem in the bigger supermarkets than Aldi for me.

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AnTeallach1062@reddit

When people ask me to reach for high items I am happy to help. Sometimes I ask them to pick things off the floor for me.

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beachyfeet@reddit

Old with bad back here - I have to ask for help with the bottom shelf

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Agreeable_Fig_3713@reddit

I’m a bawhair off 5’8 and not that often. I also don’t mind climbing in the fridges or things. My husband however is 6’6 and gets asked all the time.

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MRRichAllen2024@reddit

They deliberately put stuff where people can't reach it so that it doesn't get half inched.

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MaidInWales@reddit

4ft 9 here, with mobility issues - I often have to ask for help with both the top shelves and the bottom shelves! Top shelves, I look for a tall person and ask if I can borrow their height. Bottom shelves where the item is not right at the front, I just ask anyone who looks approachable and apologise profusely as I ask for their help. The lower shelves are the hardest to ask for help with as people don't understand why you can't just reach down and grab it for yourself, so if it's something that I can do without for now then I don't bother. I did once ask a lady who turned out to have similar issues, we stood there for 10 minutes commiserating and sharing hints and tips!

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Altaccount_T@reddit

Yes - I'm a foot shorter than you. I'll try to get it myself first (and if jumping, knocking it over, pulling it towards me with something else, or finding something to climb on doesn't work), I sometimes have to ask for help. I like the bottle puller things some supermarkets have on the top shelves for large soft drinks bottles - shame they don't have something like it elsewhere.

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liluniqueme@reddit

5 ft 6 here. Needed some toilet roll from the corner shop and couldn't reach so asked one of the guys in the store to grab me some. My husband wasn't with me at the time but I told him when I got back and he said it happened the opposite way round for him all the time. Us vertically challenged people need help sometimes!

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Missing-Caffeine@reddit

5’5” here and I have asked for help plenty of times, especially when I was pregnant. I always remember of the cartoon about that and the tall person saying "I have accepted my role in society"😅

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71109E@reddit (OP)

Fair play, sounds annoying, glad we can help though. That part about our role in society is quite funny tbf😂

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Missing-Caffeine@reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/tall/comments/cx6x2w/strange_planet_for_talls/ found the comic 😅

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71109E@reddit (OP)

😂

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CapableCorvid@reddit

Yep. 5ft 2. Top shelf is ok if the products are stocked right to the front. Then I can jusssst get the first one with only a little undignified jumping. But if the first one’s gone then I have to use something long - brolly, Pringles tin etc to knock it down. If that’s no good, then yeah I have to find someone taller.

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MolassesInevitable53@reddit

All the time.

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KaidaShade@reddit

I'm 5'7 and have helped people get stuff off shelves quite a few times. Apparently I'm juuust into the bracket of people who can reach the top shelf

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Superior_human1234@reddit

I have asked many people to “borrow their height” I’m 5ft 4 1/2 and sometimes I just can’t reach something, especially if it’s low stock on a high shelf.

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DebraUknew@reddit

5ft here.. yes. After I’ve tried to climb up the shelves , tried to knock something down with my Brolly, used a stores rolling step thing that was randomly lying around. If no luck then I’ll ask someone 5ft 1 and above

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LondonCycling@reddit

I'm 5'8 and can't remember ever having to ask for someone to get something off a shelf for me.

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