Chimbu, right up until I read your (very good) post, I was going to suggest that some of the airlines should instigate a 'Happy Hour' for their crews, a la military, as the bar is a very good place to get together and sort minor problems and personality clashes out before they become major problems in the air.
However, this might not have helped the guy in your story as he probably would have either started a fight or drunk himself unconscious at every opportunity.
For the rest of us the CRM issue never goes away and as you get older, despite how great you were when you were young, you make mistakes; maybe only little errors at first, but unless you recognise your fallibility and learn to use the rest of the crew wisely you are committing the worst of sins in aviation - allowing arrogance and self importance to get in the way of Flight Safety.