There's a big difference between being at the mercy of government bureaucrats and what is described here, which is being at the mercy of an employee acting above his station (paraphrasing the author).
I think one of the key things you and the original objector miss is that the typists were usually not under direct administrative control by the people using them. Instead, there was a side bureaucracy that hired and fired them. They could generally behave with impunity as long as they were following the rules as written and had the support of their own management.
Firing someone translates to a higher likelihood that they will seek revenge, and it is trivial to get the state to accomplish that (e.g. filing a false claim).
This potential liability causes a lot of side effects, such as refusing to give references to former employees. Or ever asking any personal questions about any topics surrounding protected status.