I think I default more to guess culture? I certainly don't ask for help much--almost never--but I think that might be because I'm very independent. My personal problem with ask culture is when the relationship becomes very asymmetrical. Some ask culture people that I know will freely make requests all the time. In their minds, I assume, they'll get me back when I ask for it. The problem is that I don't ask for help, so instead I will help them out a dozen times in a row, my frustration building all the time, my opinion of them tending toward "freeloader".

My relationships that work well have a very strong unstated premise of turn-taking. If my friend paid for lunch last time, of course I'm getting it this time, and vice-versa--to me that's just obvious. If I stay at someone's house while traveling, it goes without saying that I will host them at my house (or return the favor in some other way of equivalent value) before imposing on them again.