Ixixly
No CP should ever ream a pilot for simply following the rules. These rules aren’t elective. In your example the CP is clearly the wrong person for the job. He should have instead been pressuring the owner to provide funding so that each aircraft had an approved MEL. The number of times stupid things like this ground an aircraft will soon make those that write the cheques realise and approved MEL/DDG is the way to go. When I introduced them we very quickly saw the benefits by being able to legally defer a great number of defects until a date limit, sector limit, hour limit or work shop visit.
I agree though MEL’s/DDG’s etc aren’t the be all end all but they will make what is clearly happening now with many GA operators legal but more importantly "a controlled system of defect management".