Sure, I’d explain. But I have a vague sense of social skills.

We can fault this employee for not knowing how to communicate, and that’s fair. But it’s a much bigger fault with the manager for not knowing how to deal with it. After all, of the two people involved in this exchange, one of them has “deal with other people” as their entire job description, while the other one has “deal with your manager” as one job requirement among many.

Is it so hard to ask “why not?” if a simple “no” isn’t enough?