It occurs to me that Chief Engineer isn't such a sweet gig after all. I mean, he gets a lot of cool toys, and I'm pretty sure the rest of the bridge crew know they're up a creek without a paddle if they ever lose him. But I just saw an episode (and I'm pretty sure it's not the only time) where Geordi says he can "maybe get the shields up in ... 30 minutes?" and Picards authoritative voice floats down from the overhead speakers: "You have ten."
Seems like a lousy work environment.
