Huh? He said he meets up for beers with his long-time friends. It's not his friends chastising him for this, it's his cow-orkers or managers. Sounds like he needs to look for a new job to me. The best thing to do in a case like this is to find a new job, and time your giving notice at the old job so that it's right in the middle of a big crunch. Of course, don't bother working very hard during this 2 weeks, if they even keep you around. If anyone complains, tell them they're lazy if they're not willing to pick up the slack for you leaving and work 20 hours a day. Assholes.
Ah sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. It is my friends chastising me. It's all in good fun, but I do sense some bitterness/jealousy from it. I find the more time they spend at work, the more the conversation is steered towards it. Personally, I don't go for beers with friends to make small-talk about our work life, so I in turn can sometimes become the bitter one when they can't reciprocate with anything (that I find) interesting to talk about.