On helping - Repost Due To Response

Years ago I was eating a Shabbos meal in someone's house. I stepped into the doorway of the kitchen and said I was wondering if I could help. The hostess gladly obliged. She said that when someone at the table asks if he or she can help she always says no. But if someone comes to the kitchen she always says yes.

You might say it seems pushy or wrong to just walk to the kitchen. I don't think, if done right, that it is a problem. 

Right now I'm seeing this remembered anecdote as a metaphor. When people say feel free to call, I'm here to help, it doesn't help as much as someone showing (with a call, email, visit, smoke signal) that they're here to help.