If you have a problem when airborne, it is good to have somebody out there on your side who will help any way possible. Whether you say Pan Pan or Mayday, it means you have a problem; the size of the problem can very much depend on your experience/panic/circumstances, and the controller really wants to help with a happy outcome.
I'll never forget the helpful enroute Jacksonville controller, when I noticed, while flying over water abeam Tallahassee, that one of the Cessna 172 fuel
dials read full, the other read empty....which caused me to wander off track a bit while contemplating the problem. The controller asked if I had a problem, I said I might have a problem with fuel....
With a tone of complete helpful concern, downright enthusiasm, he came back to ask "Would you like to declare an emergency?" (that's Yank speak for a Mayday). Clearly he hoped I would, but had to disappoint him because I didn't feel in danger...yet. He did help me fly to the nearest handy airfield to refuel, and I did stop in the tower to say thank you.
Actually, people, it is always nice to visit the tower, and they don't mind, if you know when to chat and when to shut up.....