TOFO, I assure you that it was 100% true.
The point escapes you beags...
Whether the tale is established in an actual incident or not, is irrelevant. It is bollocks because it purports to represent a problem that never, ever existed (and not in a banterish way either).
As fergineer so adroitly points out, we all knew what out job was and we got on with it as the ace team we were - "labels" were irrelevant. Of course we had knobs, but they did not get awarded captaincy...or for that matter, lead operator slots or first nav slots.
Regrettably, quite a few AEOs were of the knobbish variety, mainly in the early days, but that was entirely because OASC had an iron fist over AEO selection. If the fleet had had a veto, that would never have happened either.
Apologies for the thread drift.
PS
Tourist...thinking back quite a while now, we had our fair share of legendary ladies men and they were pretty much all rear crew. More time on their hands to hone their skills I guess.