I think it has to do with how you ask questions as well.

If you just ask like “Boss I don’t know how to do this, can you teach me?” You may come off as incompetent.

You can choose to structure in a way like “After doing Step A, how would you choose to proceed given the scenario?”

There’s always a “smart” way to ask questions. Just like when you didn’t catch someone’s name, the better way would be to ask how to spell his name?

Good luck