Your anecdotes remind me of what I've heard about in-house counsel: lawyers can tell you that you should/shouldn't do something, but in the end, lawyers don't run the business, and sometimes they get ignored.

I think that in software there's something similar. Maybe you'd have more fun in a software company, where what you do is central to the business. Anyway, don't give up hope! There are jobs out there where you'd be having a lot more fun every day.