I've got exactly the same experience: it takes weeks to do a minor adjustment to task flow due to administration overhead but people still say it's super configurable. What difference does this power make if you cannot exercise it?!
i.e. the masses have formed an opinion, Jira won't get you fired. Something else will, so if in doubt, use Jira.
Lot of people in doubt out there.
It's a defensive behavior and in a low trust culture one would be more concerned about choosing something good enough rather than risk experimenting with a new but unproven tool.