Did anybody laugh about the latest VARS how it said "Comair has gone 0 days without a contract violation"?

FTR I have a question about getting released.

I was supposed to finish a 3 day trip the other day with a deadhead. If I did the deadhead I was going to be at 10 hours of duty on reduced rest and had hard days the next day. So I figured I could get released no problem and skip the deadhead. When I called they told me "we can't release you yet because things keep popping up". Then who I was talking to told me to call back in 10 minutes because they were busy doing something else. They finally released me when I said I was trying to catch a flight.

Are there certain rules to release people or is it all up to the scheduler?
I just don't get why it was so hard to be released when I could only be used for 1 more hour and wasn't overnightable.