Your comments "Better to listen and nod in most cases." remind me of a brief dip into the book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. one of the few things I understood was when a woman tells a man a problem she doesn't necessarily want it fixed she wants him to understand what she has to put up with.

I am sure this is a massive over generalisation but it does lead me to realise that just because there is a problem it does not necessarily need fixing.