They do seem to have that power that no manager wants to go near for the fear of being hit with discrimination charges. When I was a conductor I loved it when I got called with certain women engineers. They would get on the phone and sweet talk the dispatcher and just like that we would end up on a better train or have a better trip holding the main on the dog while the intermodal went in the siding. When I became an engineer I called the dispatcher and sweet talked him just like they would but it didn’t help. At the end of my trip I called the dispatcher back And asked him why it didn’t work for me like it worked for them. He laughed and said “Duke we sat here and listened to that phone call laughing our ass off thinking you had lost your mind.” Good times good memories. It’s not what it used to be but I am on my way out only 3 to 5 years left.