Are you alright there?

Why has the phrase "Are you alright there?" become fashionable? In particular, when it was used on me recently. There I was queueing up at a well known bakers for a cheese and onion pasty. The queue was long and it moved slowly. Two assistants were serving. When I got to the front and one assistant had finished serving the previous customer, she looked at me and said, "Are you alright there?" I wanted to reply, "No I'm not! I've been queueing up for ages! I'm far from alright!" But of course, I didn't. I just politely ordered my pasty.

But whatever happened to phrases like "Can I help you?"