How Can I Help You?

Has this ever happened to you? A peer asks you for advice or suggestions, and when you respond, s/he gets upset that you didn’t deliver what they were asking for. Darn! Is it me or is it them? My new learning is that it’s on me.
I have a colleague who, every time I ask for assistance to think through a problem, stops me before I get very far to ask: What is it that you’d like from me? What are you asking me for? Aha! That’s what I need to remember to ask.  And, for example: Are you asking me to brainstorm solutions, or not? Are you asking for my opinion?   
OK, anyone want to help me test this?!