It depends upon who you are flying with. The majority are fine. But those rules as described are inviolable. Ignore them, ding metal, get fired.

It HAS improved, though. When I was hired, some of those old 727 idiots were flying Captain Blighs. What's especially entertaining is that when the 727 retired, a lot of them flunked their upgrade into a glass airplane. They couldn't work even the basic FMC functions. VNAV, fuggetaboutit.

Most of those are gone. What is left is generally fine, but the rules are the rules....