Different people have different expectations for that sort of thing. Sometimes a request isn't and the requester is expecting a certain bend-over-backwards mentality to make the lightest of requests. Other people are blunt and direct to a fault, the exact opposite of that, erm, "spectrum." In either case a manager needs to understand and accept differences between people, because that's kind of their job in most cases. Of course, I'm an introverted programmer, so my empathy tends to lie with the dude that has aspbergers.