This is a situation we’ve all run into at one time or another, be it at work, the mall, or any virtually any other setting: We have a hard time understanding someone because of their accent. While they may be speaking perfectly fluent English, it can be really difficult to understand someone with a thick accent. While it may only cost you an extra pair of socks at the mall, or make you return your dinner because you got the wrong dish, at the office the cost of such a misunderstanding can be much greater. The problem is some people don’t want to ask for clarification from someone if they can’t understand them, because they think it’s rude. This leaves them in a self-made catch-22 situation: If they don’t ask, then whatever they are working on with that person probably won’t be done right, but if they do ask they feel they’re going to offend them.

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