Stan, I have been in this business for 20 years now. From night freight, airline, brokerage, and now we run a busy AOC operation.
If one of our pilot's had a glass of wine, I would not ask him to fly.......he may very well get a rollicking, but not asked to fly. I do agree with you that some "management" in these companies beggars belief. They seem to have little respect for regulation, and often no idea how to keep an operation running successfully. hence why they normally go bust eventually !
On the flip side, a lot of pilots tend to start quoting the letter of law at management, and tar all with the same brush of incompetence. I am sure you appreciate that rules need bending sometimes, and can be interpreted differently depending on the circumstances at the time. I don't tell a pilot how to fly the aircraft, so don't tell me how to run the business, is how I feel.
Pilot's are like footballers. They are all looking for the next move. I know for a fact that David Beckham once turned out for Preston reserves, probably on a cold tuesday night, against Scunthorpe 3rd's. Bet he wouldn't now !
At the time though, he needed that experience to further his career.
Point is that GA is a stepping stone for pilots, and pilots will drop their current employer in an instant if that better job offer comes. So the Quid pro quo is that GA operators get as much out of these pilots as they can before they leave. As long as everyone knows the score, then no problem.