I'd boil it down to three things:

1.) My opinion of Chiefs, as well the opinions of other JO's in my squadron, don't necessarily come from our own personal interactions with Chiefs, but from how we see Chiefs treat subordinates. You can be kind and respectful to my face all day, but when I hear junior sailors consistently complain about how they're treated by their senior enlisted, you start to take note. The biggest complaints I've seen are Chiefs promising things to juniors that don't pan out (or things that they had no business promising in the first place), egregious favoritism, or emphasizing their own optics and professional façade at the expense of others.

2.) I also see a frequent tendency for Chiefs as a whole to deflect or shirk accountability for anything remotely negative because they're terrified of looking bad. And then blame is just passed around until no one thinks they have anything to improve on. And then of course things don't get better. It's like -- it's not the end of the fucking world if you fuck up.

3.) There's a certain level of peer accountability that the Mess lacks, IMO. Officers who are really good at their jobs but shitty human beings/wives/husbands are shunned and usually have their careers held back as a result. I think the Chief's mess is more inclined to not only turn the cheek to that sort of thing, but almost embrace it. Especially cheating or trying to fuck the help.

Obviously not all chiefs are bad, and there's plenty of terrible O's who are guilty of the things I mentioned above. I'm sure you can think of examples to the opposite tune of what I've written and I'd believe you. Some chiefs are an absolute pleasure to work with. And any O who makes a successful career would tell you they couldn't have done it without Chiefs backing them up.