Interesting post. Maybe we are not "their friend". We are, (at least i am) a public servant, employed in a publicly funded governmental agency, paid for by tax payer monies, who come to us daily for permits, inspections and information about all sorts of questions, problems and "what ifs" related to construction. They rely on us to be a part of the "flow on their" project. That being said, i feel it is necessary on my part (and it is the departments position) that we provide service. If that means helping folks to find a solution to a needed correction, that's what we do. We can't design, however we can provid options to remedy non-complying work. Will i show someone a span table to help them meet code requirements, you bet. Will i open the nec and read a code section with a contractor, yes. Education of our contractors ( and ourselves) will lead us all to better relationships with those we inspect. I disagree with a "write em up and leave em to figure it on their own" attitude. Some one taught me, now it's mine to give freely and in a free exchange of knowledge come better working relationsips. Would it hepl if they all read code books, yes, but we live in an imperfect world, no one of us has "all ther answers"