In the Caribbean, where captains ruled the roost on big jets, I once was the subject of this little titbit of a tale.
On boarding, with a crew change, the purser was in need of this or that and wanted the pax boarded ASAP, and wanted XYZ further doing etc. etc. She did not consult the captain, me, on any of the issues, even though permission to board was captain's domain.
After 10 mins nothing was happening on any of the fronts. She shouted at he agent some more. Still nothing. Eventually she came to me, exasperated, and explained. I went to the agent and requested all the same items she had done. Hey Presto.
It's a culture thing I guess.
What used to really irk me was how pilots let themselves be treated derogatorily. I was in a 4* hotel chain checking in for a duty night stop in civvies. The youngster behind the desk asked, "are you a guest or crew?" It was very sad to reflect that previous colleagues had allowed this misconception to gain ground.
If they did so in that scenario, what did they do on board?
I did once have a purser, (charter days with a different crew every day) who once told me that in front of the door was my world and aft of the door was his. He wouldn't tell me how to fly the a/c and I wouldn't tell him how to manage the cabin. We would all operate as per Cabin Crew Manual SOP's and then all would be tip top. I will not go into my response, but one of us had real flushed cheeks afterwards.
In this Delta scenario it is curious that 3 FA's were off-loaded. Was there a gang uprising?