Somewhat related to the anecdote you’re skeptical of: I was a law clerk for multiple years for a presiding judge and if you were a wise attorney rule #1 was be kind to the administrative staff at the courthouse - judges would find out if you were rude and while no-one was ever unethical, in my opinion, arrogant attorneys were definitely grilled more than polite ones. Kindness gets you a long way. And if you were a jerk to my secretary I was definitely not putting in the extra effort to dig through the two-foot stack of motions we got everyday to fast track your motion to postpone to the presiding judge. It’s not my fault you filed it at the 11th hour.
I've realized the same thing during my career in IT. Being nice (to everyone, but especially) to the boss's assistant paid off time and again. I can't tell you the number of things I got done for me around the office specifically because I wasn't a jerk.
Need new batteries for my pager? Done! Would like some updated business cards? Done! My desk phone needs replacing. Done!
