In the main, they were a few egotistical arrogant a***holes who hid behind their 4 gold bars to be a bully. They were detested as much by aircrew as they were by ground staff.
QF between SY and HNL in 1980. I was only allowed on the flight deck while the Captain was not there. I had to leave when we were informed that he was returning. The FO and SO were apologetic.
Contrast to;
The QF Training Captain who let me sit through a sim session and then gave me three circuits in the 747 simulator the day before; or
The TAA 727 crew from PH-ML-BN in 1974 with whom I chatted in the cockpit long after we landed in BN.
The AA DC10 HNL to ORD on Halloween who had a plastic skeleton hanging from the overhead panel.
In BN I did see the crew of a BOAC VC10 lineup at the bottom of the stairs and allow the Captain to board first. Common courtesy or company policy?
A bit of topic but in the same vein;
Although a lot of us did not make the airline jets but spent years in corporate jets, those of us who have just retired or are close to retirement probably lived and experienced the most dramatic changes in civil aviation ever.
To progress from Tigers, Chipmunks and C152s to the emerging light twins and then jet aircraft with the advances in navigation (WAC to RNP) and avionic technology (tower lights, 10 channel VHF and 5 channel HF to world wide satellite coms) in one career will never be matched.
Finding a star picket in the middle of the Simpson Desert in a Baron using WAC charts had the same kick as doing an ILS into AMS in a Citation after the first snow storm for the season.