Another gem from the newsgroup:

One helpful piece: A request is not a demand. I can ask for some help. But the person I ask can turn it down. Conversely, I can
turn them down when they ask. -- seems that the people who have the worst time about asking for help are those who won't refuse. You're equals, so can ask for and offer help freely, and decline equally freely.

(Robert Grumbine, Re: Who's the craziest? Winner gets a prize...)

I have trouble asking for help. I've never really thought about it in those terms, but I do have trouble refusing others. Perhaps some of my guilt in asking for help does stem, at least in part, from an assumption that the other party is incapable of saying "no". Interesting.