I will say that the training at Cathay is very outdated. The regional US carrier were I worked for some time had ten times better training. Cathay definetely needs to open their eyes if they expect to grow to the size of a real airline. This small time bull****t mentality is just not going to cut it.
But, talk to guys that have been here for a while, and they will tell you how bad it used to be. So, seek comfort in knowing that it is changing for the better. The airline IS growing, and therefore can not afford to hang on to this silly immature training environment. These same old "famous" assholes that everybody knows of will have to eventually retire and new blood will step in and improve the training department.
As bad as some people make this place out to be, I caution you to listen to both sides of the story. That is the best advise I can give you. Every story has two sides. I can guarantee you that you will only hear one side of it from this web-board. It would be pretty hard to hear the other side unless you were there during one of these "horror" training stories, or you knew someone in the training department. I've also heard some stories which amazed me, but you won't hear them told here either.
Someone did ask a very smart question in this thread; how many people are leaving Cathay? I dare anyone who works here to provide proof of so many pilots leaving Cathay. The attrition here is just about nil (excluding retirements). And that speaks for itself.