Validate me please

Yellow Gal was having a telephone conversation with Friend this morning. Friend was asking for "advice" on whether he handled a certain situation correctly. She perfunctorily listened, analyzed, and assured Friend that he certainly handled the situation correctly. Friend paused, and again asked Yellow Gal if there was anything he hadn't thought of, if he had done everything right.

Yellow Gal thought, maybe she wasn't thinking hard enough. So she tried to think of possible conflicts, unforeseen conditions, or ideas that perhaps Friend hadn't thought of. When she mentioned these to Friend, he became confused and slightly annoyed. Yellow Gal was confused as well.

After two hours of going back and forth, Yellow Gal finally figured it out. What Friend really wanted wasn't "advice." Friend really wanted:

(1) to hear someone echo back to him that Friend was right.
Anytime Yellow Gal mentioned anything remotely contrary to his mode of thought or action, Friend would bristle and argue. When Yellow Gal regurgitated his mode of thought and action and completely shed off any independent, incongruous thought, Friend became appeased.

(2) to gloat about the subject-matter of his "request for advice" and be praised.
Friend's situation was certainly a new development. Yellow Gal originally approached his request for advice as just that--a request for advice. Friend seemed to get frustrated and kept repeating his question. When Yellow Gal began to talk about the subject-matter of the situation, gush over how wonderful it all was, and sufficiently "ooh"-ed and "aah"-ed, Friend became appeased.

Yellow Gal wondered, Why did Friend have to resort to this roundabout way of "asking for advice"? It would have saved both Yellow Gal and Friend two hours of confusion and frustration had Friend simply come out and said "Validate me please."