Put beautifully, if I may say so. I had a great time flying and living in the Middle East, Indian Sub-Continent, the Pacific and even the USA on and off for well over 20 years and the man who said "it is their train set", is exactly right.
The first thing is to accept entirely their SOPs unless they are dangerous. If the SOPs are burning fuel for no good reason, that is not your initial problem. As time goes bye and you have got your feet further underneath the carpet, it might be possible to suggest more economic ways (efficiency) to do things.
This I managed to do on the "softly, softly, cathchee monkey" basis eventually more often than not.
If you cannot have the flexibility to adjust to local conditions then join BA. (It used to be easy in the old days).