Crew Shifts

[Bryan Moore]

So we have a standard crew shift in Trek of 3 8-hour shifts, and assuming they're not 7 days a week, they're probably 5-6 with the other 2 shifts working 12-hours or something instead of 8. So we definitely know there's people staffing things at all times. Why, though, do you have all your senior officers on at one time (other than looks good on TV?). We've also seen the bridge minimally crewed at "night" which, while I understand ships business will slow down, also puzzles me how they determine when things get busy. In space, not everything runs on a 24 hour schedule. There's obvious ways around this, but it's always kind of bugged me.

[Aaron]

I go with the 3 shifts, 7 days a week. That leaves 8 for work, 8 for sleep and 8 for other. That's plenty and it's not like RL ship crews get the weekend off unless their in port.

The senior officers all on the bridge alway bugged me as well though. Captains don't usually stand a watch unless they feel like it, their skills are best used for other things and there is plenty of Admin for them to do. Watch standing is typically a JO thing.

I assumed they run the ships on Terran time and just dim the lights to prevent the same type of issues we have in the arctic, keeping the bodies natural rhythm.

[steamrunner]

I assumed they run the ships on Terran time and just dim the lights to prevent the same type of issues we have in the arctic, keeping the bodies natural rhythm.

I would tend to agree. One thing I've often wondered about - the lack of clocks shown on-screen. Any workplace I've ever been in has had a clock in every room. We don't see crewmembers wearing watches (I think it would be a pain in the butt to say, "Computer? What time is it?" all the time) so maybe the clocks/chronometers are just off-screen...

[Graham Kennedy]

They actually did put a clock on the bridge in ST VI. Trouble is, with all the cutting and editing and reshooting of scenes that goes on it generates constant nits where the time bounces around when you actually pay attention to it.

It's curious, though, that nobody seems to wear watches in Trek. Given that they seem to get pissed off if you are so much as thirty seconds late to a meeting...

[Aaron]

They should have kept those wrist communicators in TMP, they could easily have served as a watch. Come to think of it, the standard brick communicator could have done so as well. We all have clocks on our cell phones after all.

[Nickswitz]

Um... maybe they all have a talking clock in their head, your guess is as good as mine.

[Tsukiyumi]

...maybe they all have a talking clock in their head...

I was going to suggest a different anatomical location to explain all the uptight characters, but your suggestion is good enough.

[Nickswitz]

Yeah, well, wherever they could fit it...

[Mikey]

Every single panel anywhere on board is conceivable a clock.

[Mark]

However, eight hour shifts seven days a weeks would get quite tiring, especially on long duration missions, where your not expecting shore leave for months or even years. You simply wouldn't get a day off unless you took leave.

What makes more sense to me is a rotating schedule with staggered days off for most of the crew and junior officers. As for the senior officers, perhaps they get called to the bridge at the first sign something is originally detected on long range sensors?

[m52nickerson]

I've never had a problem with us seeing all the senior officers on the bridge at one time because most of the time it is when something important is happening.

[Mark]

But 90% of everything seems to happen on the "Alpha" shift.....unless the staff gets called to the bridge

[Mikey]

That's what makes it tough to say. Certainly, there are times when the senior staff is on the bridge and then something happens... in general, it would seem to make sense that at least Riker and Picard had opposite shifts.

[Captain Seafort]

Agreed. In practice the only time I recall an indication that they're not on the bridge 24/7 was when Crusher was OOW, which makes as much sense as the CO , for the reasons Kendall stated.

[Aaron]

However, eight hour shifts seven days a weeks would get quite tiring, especially on long duration missions, where your not expecting shore leave for months or even years. You simply wouldn't get a day off unless you took leave.

What makes more sense to me is a rotating schedule with staggered days off for most of the crew and junior officers. As for the senior officers, perhaps they get called to the bridge at the first sign something is originally detected on long range sensors?

You'd probably have a day here and there but these guys have things the Navy will never, ever have. Like a holodeck, gardens, probably a pool, massive lounges and bar. Heck the rec lounge in TMP was larger then the hanger on the Halifax class frigate, IIRC the largest single room on the vessel.