I know what you mean. I would really quite like a piece of X-ray equipment to develop a fault at the moment. The nature of my job means I've got plenty of development-type stuff to do at my desk, but the fun bit is the problem solving at the coalface - often with radiographers, engineers and physicists all working together to work out what has happened and what to do about it. And it is immensly satisfying to get that piece of kit back, safely, into service. For my job to be fun and satisfying, that breakdown has to occur, which isn't exactly great for the patients on whom the kit would otherwise have been used, or the radiographers who have to work round it, or the receptionists who have to do the cancelling of appointments, or the commisars who don't meet their targets(!). But - like you feel about you 'juicy' jobs - it's what I'm trained to do, and what I'm here for. Scientist