The opening post reminds me of an incident some years ago where there was a mess for some reason or another with baggage handling and pilots of a fairly large company (not BA) started to help out.

Those pilots were met with threat of physical violence from baggage handlers and told to stay off their tasks, forcing them to retreat and watch.

What I am saying is that sometimes one does not dare to stray outside one's own assigned duties for reasons that are somewhat surprising to bystanders.