On the flipside, it generally pays the same to fly with someone who's not a condescending a-hole. So if there's a choice, I'd rather fly with a normal person.

Yes, I'm thinking of the guy who told me not to talk to anyone outside the cockpit (ops agent, FAs) directly, but to go through him. Why? Because we need a "unified voice from the cockpit" and to "not involve myself with things that aren't my concern." I guess 30 years isn't enough flying experience to read a fuel gauge to an ops agent.

Yeah, there's a reason that I go on high alert when I hear the phrase, "I usually do AMs but I picked this up." These are the same people who eat their lunch with the hot mic on.