Finishing at 180 then 220 before sealer is actually on the finer side of what I'd run, and going even finer than that is where you can start losing bite. I ran 320 on a decklid once thinking I was doing myself a favor and the sealer just sat on top of it, no tooth at all, and I ended up chasing fish eyes for two days. There's a sweet spot and it's not as fine as people think, the sealer needs something to grab onto besides just being clean. At the shop I'm at now we finish most panels in 180 on a DA with a soft pad and only step to 220 on edges and spots where the blend is, and primer use stays flat. What that painter showed you about scratches drinking sealer is real, but the fix is more about keeping your scratch pattern even and not jumping grits than it is about going super fine. Going too fine can bite you just as hard as leaving 120 marks, just in a different way.

Wait, you actually typed out sapiosexual ninja and hit post? How did you even come up with that combo lol. I would've deleted the whole account too, no questions asked.