Racist? Tall Black Woman Blasts Shopper Who Simply Asked for Help Getting Item on High Shelf

A grocery shopper took to social media to complain about people asking for her help reaching items on the shelves because of her height, triggering a firestorm from fellow users.

Osha Cerese, a life coach based in Georgia, wrote on social media that a woman approached her in the produce section to ask for assistance “because you’re tall,” ostensibly to grab an out-of-reach item.

But Cerese said in her post that she flatly denied the request: “[N]o, I’d rather you get someone who works here.”

“She got assistance & when I tell you she would’ve wanted me to walk to the other side of the section to gather something from the top shelf for her,” Cerese claimed.

“That is highly offensive to me,” she continued. “And yes she was and this is not the first time I’ve experienced this.”

Black fragility strikes again. I’m a tall girl who then wears heels on top of that. I’ve been approached numerous times to pull something off a top shelf. I always comply if I can get it. If I see someone struggling, I’ll usually offer without them asking.

Black people need to… pic.twitter.com/5DGSqgtHg1

— Natalie Jean Beisner (@NJBeisner) January 2, 2025

Natalie Jean Beisner, the X user who d Cerese’s remarks, alleged that “black fragility” was motivating the post, inferring that “yes she was” means the person who asked Cerese to help with reaching an item was white.

Cerese indeed said later in her thread that a fellow social media user who questioned her post should watch “The Color Purple” and then “ask some of your friends of African descent, if you have any, how they feel about this post.”

There does seem to be at least some evidence that Cerese was reading racial undertones into a situation where none of that was at play. But we were not there, and we cannot read her mind or heart.

In any case, the fact that a simple request to help reach an item on a grocery shelf was used as fodder for a social media rant shows a disturbing lack of goodwill.

Functioning societies are built upon the trust that strangers have for one another in a time of need.

For example, you would hope that a passerby would try to alert the police if you were being robbed or would be willing to call the ambulance if you were in a car wreck.

But those behaviors should most certainly extend to favors for which the helper has no benefit but also little cost, like spending five seconds reaching for an item on a top shelf in a grocery store on behalf of a shorter shopper.

That is why the post from Cerese is disturbing, even when ignoring any racial undertones.

The fact that Cerese saw her refusal to help a neighbor with a simple favor as a meritorious act that merited a self-congratulatory social media rant actually reveals her arrogance, laziness, and cynicism.

Being too entitled to help a neighbor with even the most basic task is a vice rather than a virtue.

This sort of behavior is, in other words, why we cannot have nice things.

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