Agreed. If an E-6 comes up to me and discretely/professionally lets me know about something I'm doing wrong, then I'll respect him for being professional about it, I'll say, "thanks Sgt for letting me know" and we can both go on our way...leave it up to me as the officer to make my own call. That's why I'm "paid the big bucks" and if I decide to still wear my gray socks, my not approved benie on the flightline, etc., don't go running to Daddy and accept my decision. The biggest reason this "chief bashing" exists is because of douche bag E-X's who think its appropriate to yell at an O for something (reference the sunglasses example above). You pull that shit and you're going to get an O vs. E showdown.
It's about mutual respect...I wouldn't yell at an E across the chowhall for something unless it was a big deal and needed correction faster than I could walk over to him and have a talk (so probably only if he was about to hurt someone). So I expect an E to do the same. Only problem is a lot of E's do not do the same an instead feel they have the right to say whatever they want to an O, damn near order an O to do something, etc. It's unbelievable that this shit is allowed to happen. Does anyone realize in any of the other services an E would be crushed 100% of the time for shit like this?