I flew EWR 756 fo for 13 years and can remember maybe three Capt 's of a certain vintage that at times would attempt to circumvent SOP. All the others were true pros and managed the cockpit in great fashion and adhered to SOP.
Flying the NAT's in ECON mode is 100% legal and the most efficient.
Since day one I had no problem with the FA's feeding revenue BF customers before the cockpit. To put yourself above smells of entitlement.
As a Capt. I too will look at the flight plan in my hotel room before getting on the van, but the official briefing is in the FPA. This allows briefing the FA's early about flt time/turb etc before the pax board. (When we're all on the same van).
I know of several fo's whose seats have been turned into IRO for training and they're all grieving it.
To bombastically claim the incompetence of a whole group of Pilots is a little too much to swallow....