It was the wrong approach.
There were a couple of things that one picked up when working with those in a higher position or rank. That was to say—where one was always in the subservient position and the chances of getting punished were high.
One could also say that it was when one was talking with women.
… Now that was also a needlessly wrong way of looking at it as well. But from his long and vast experience with connecting with people and gathering information, acknowledgement of wrongdoing was necessary.
And no, a simple 'sorry' that didn't sound genuine didn't cut it.
You had to explain why, you needed to understand the other person's point of view as to what they want or to what they were feeling upset over.
While it was easy enough to simply go about one's day and life saying whatever ran through your head or being needlessly rude, that didn't work too well if you wanted to survive.
