[CamTin]

In the US, we have the understanding bartender or wise taxi driver stereotype. This seems like largely the same thing: somebody with some perspective on your situation because they aren't too bogged down with the minutiae of actually knowing you very well who can "buck you up" or dash off an insight that your spouse or friends can't.

[S-E-P]

They make you comfortable as they attempt to give insight to something they don't understand, but it's not too personal and since they know little about you, there's not much room for judgement.

Kind of like a one night stand, same principle (though much like a real relationship is much more rewarding, it's also a lot more work, the parallels here are fairly apparent)

[jerf]

Yeah. It's amazing how much good you can do for someone just listening to them. It's "rubber duck debugging" in our industry, but the principle can be applied to your general life too.

It's also amazing how much good you can do for someone by just listening to them for a bit, and then deploying the correct platitude. No originality, no great wisdom, just the right thing said at the right time, from someone whom the listener doesn't have years of emotional callouses, defenses, and preconceptions built up to prevent them from hearing the simplest of words without hearing the echos of years past.

With a bit more effort you can do even better, of course; I'm not trying to oversell the goodness. I'm saying the bang for the buck can be surprisingly good for people.