You're doing great, Ali. I won't bother with my standard "I don't know how you do it" trope. You're probably getting tired of it.
One thing about a lot of men is that we won't come to you with our problem unless we think you can help us solve it--AND we want a solution from you, in particular. We don't always "get" the value of just talking and having someone listen to our troubles. I think this is where the old trope of the man telling all his troubles to his barber or a bartender comes from. If you're in the barber's chair, and your troubles happen to come up, well it's not like you went in there to talk about your problems and get a sympathetic ear--you're doing stuff. You're getting a haircut. The conversation just kind of happens. Nothing girly there.
He probably thinks he's being strong, stoic, taciturn. That's what John Wayne would do.
