I don't know about your friends case, and every so often in life people get a raw deal.
But I do know a little about int'l widebody nonsched, and am on the fence about train to proficiency. I think domestically it's fine, you fly to same airports with good atc, and everbody speaks english, ok maybe going into LAX on the civet you hear ATC asking Mexicanna what are they doing?, during rush hour. My point is when you fly all over the world, with bad to dangerously incompetent ATC, to airports you have never been to, on the back side of the clock, with a sleep schedule that is two continents behind, with terrain or weather, everyone needs to be a contributing crewmember. You never really appreciate how good the US controllers are, and how easy domestic flying is, until you see what is out there in the rest of the world, where you have to anticipate and be able to correct the mistakes of a non english barely comprehendable controller in foriegn airspace, and forget about them planning your descent in a heavy, you will have nights and days where the flights seem like nightmare checkrides. So I have some understanding for checkairmen who hold a high standard, especially when they regularly fly the line and are well liked by the rest of the pilot group. It's tough to be a hard assss and a decent human at the same time. This was only meant to say there are always two sides two a story and somewhere in the middle of them is the truth.