As a member of management I really thought I made a difference on a number of occasions. If you are persistent enough(read a pain in the a$$) you can be pretty effective. It also meant a lot to have Jack in the ofice when I went to him. He was like an old OpsO I had in the MC that you could go in and scream and hollar and fight for something without it becoming a personal issue between him and me. At the end of the discussion you set a time to meet for happy hour. But in the big scheme of things, as I have told more than 1 person since I left, if you just go to work, do your job and never need anything form anybody in the back office it really doesn't matter who is there. But if you happen to step on your d1ck, or if your kid gets sick, or your wife has issues with her pregnancy, you really need someone with some empathy that will help. I used to live in the gray when I was in the job. If it didn't say you couldn't do it, and it made sense, than let's see if we can get it done. But if you ask a question and the answer you're given is "does it say you can in the contract" then we're in trouble.

And no, as you all know, I'm too much of a gentleman to say "I told you so.....