"Aks"

How hard can it be to articulate the word "ask"? I was on a phone conference in a colleague's office a couple of years ago with the vice-president (!) of a bank on the line. Not only did she say "aks" for "ask," but she kept repeating the word "askess." (So she could say "askess" but not "ask"?)

Did she mean "access" or "assets"? We were discussing the transfer of pension funds, so both words were plausible in context. My colleague hit the mute button two or three times to *ask* which she meant, but I couldn't tell, either.