The perceived power of a notebook

As part of the youth soccer program my son participates in I spent the evening as a volunteer field marshal for the annual club tournament. I mention this because as part of the role they give you a standard size three ring binder to carry the information you need (scoring cards, emergency contact info, etc.). What intrigues me is the power that notebook arbitrarily conveys.

I'm just a parent with no more control, responsibility, or authority than any other person, and yet carrying that notebook around I might as well have had a badge on. Parents with issues about officiating or complaints about other parents came to me as if I had the power to do something about it with a wave of my blue notebook. Thinking about a similar situation, picture walking around the halls of an office.  If you're just walking with nothing in hand people wonder what you are doing.  If you're walking with a notebook, people think you have a destination and a purpose. 

There's something about a notebook that implies (correctly or otherwise) that you are the bearer of important information and by association are important. This can also be tempered by the type of notebook (compare a composition book to a "Moleskine" notebook). The question I ask to you reader is: do you look at someone bearing a nice notebook differently than someone just "wandering about"?