When comparing profiles to be merged, there are four options:
1) Yes, merge the profiles
2) Request to merge
3) No, they're different
4) I'll decide later
You'll always see #3 and #4 as options.
If you don't have permission to complete the merge, you'll see #2, but not #1, which is fine.
If you *do* have permission to merge the profiles, you'll see #1, but not #2.
My suggestion is that if you do have permission to merge the profiles, that *all* four options appear, not just #1, #3, and #4.
Why? Because sometimes you'd like to alert the profile managers that there is a pending merge (i.e. request a merge) rather than complete the merge yourself.
Thanks for listening.