What's the worst that can happen when you ask someone if they need some help?
On the plane back from Switzerland last week, I was sitting in the front row, and to my left was an older lady with a handbag beside her seat.
We were both in emergency exit seats, and it was obvious that someone was going to ask her to put her bag up. As I put mine up, I said to her, “Would you like me to do that?” She was delighted.
Someone could see that as an insult, someone could see it as a problem, but from then on, and during the flight, I just lifted it up and took it down and at the end took her rucksack down for her too.
It made her feel better that someone was there to help, and it made me feel better for helping.
She could have said “no thank you, I'm fine”, and it would still all have been good, but what was not acceptable was not to ask.
In circumstances like that, I'm always reminded of one of the first times I travelled to London, when I was on the tube heading to Victoria to visit the Straumann head office at Gatwick. An old man fell and banged his head, and before I could get him to make sure he was all right, 6 or 7 people stepped over him.
That was years ago, and it's not better than that.
It's always better to ask if they need help early, despite the fact that someone might reject you.
Blog Post Number - 4237
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