# Did any Star Trek episode have a character with no job? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 5, 2016, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913 "2016-12-05T07:40:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/1 "2016-12-05T07:40:54Z")
I don’t recall one. The conceit by which _Star Trek_ works is that the Federation is a post-scarcity economy, even doing away with currency. :dubious: The logical extension of that is that there would be people either by necessity or inclination who therefore don’t do anything productive, however I don’t recall any such character. Obviously the main focus is on group of people who all work in the quasi-military Starfleet, (and in _Voyager_ a group of freedom fighters/terrorists.) Naturally the main people they visit will be government leaders, scientists, diplomats etc, Logically though, they would encounter people who don’t do those things. Jake is the closest I can think of, although he was just a kid for the early years, then became a journalist later, with a small window of idle adulthood. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/2 "2016-12-05T07:54:46Z")
IIRC all adults on the ship had jobs. Even the crew’s spouses had jobs. Miles O’Brien’s wife Keiko, was a botanist. There were characters like Q that weren’t employed. TNG had a episode featuring a smuggler. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/3 "2016-12-05T08:05:12Z")
We probably didn’t see slackers because they’re boring and wouldn’t make for very good TV. -currently re-watching TOS ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/4 "2016-12-05T08:07:28Z")
I can’t recall any coach potatoes. Every one was active doing something. Even if they weren’t crew. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/5 "2016-12-05T08:24:20Z")
Alright, potatoes, give me 100 push-ups! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/6 "2016-12-05T08:40:02Z")
If there was no money, what was the deal with gold-pressed latinum? ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/7 "2016-12-05T08:54:05Z")
What about those hippy kids that played music and Spock jammed with? They were meant to represent unemployed kids. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/8 "2016-12-05T10:28:45Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > If there was no money, what was the deal with gold-pressed latinum? That was only ever stated about the Federation, and the context that it came up could be read as further limiting it to humans or Starfleet and the core worlds. And even that appears to be purely ‘official’, with Federation citizens accumulating latinum…which makes sense, given preferences for non-replicated goods that multiple characters have stated, and the fact that certain non-repicable qualities can add value. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/9 "2016-12-05T10:53:15Z")
Harcourt Fenton Mudd. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/10 "2016-12-05T11:01:38Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > IIRC all adults on the ship had jobs. Even the crew’s spouses had jobs. Miles O’Brien’s wife Keiko, was a botanist. But perhaps that was her hobby? Was she externally tasked with work? Did she sell her expertise? ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/11 "2016-12-05T11:10:50Z")
Picard’s son, who wasn’t his son, but just made to look it by the Ferengi who hated him, seemed to be an adult with no real plan but to spelunk. He could have just been on vacation, but I got the vibe that the boy was just a ne’er-do-well. His mother’s whole goal in life was to help those less fortunate, and he seemed pretty jaded on that concept, but uninterested in anything else. Dr. Crusher’s grandmother was retired, I assume, on that planet, Sub-Rosa i think, with the sex ghost infected candles. But Beverly decided to resign and take candle rides. So with the post scarcity replicator culture, its hard to see why anyone does have to work. But herein you see the problem. Bev can resign, just like Worf can, go on a path of self-exploration, then come back, with no change in how they’re viewed. I can’t, but in Europe, its common for people to get way more vacation time. Hard to know where _Star Trek: Next Gen_ really wants to draw the line on Earth culture and laws. It’s like, because Star Fleet is headquartered there, planet government is just Federation laws. Like if Washington D.c. had no laws, policies or institutions, except for Federal laws. Which is ridiculous enough. But the whole damn planet? From the Canadian tundra where Riker spent his childhood to the United States of Africa where Geordi and Uhura are from? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/12 "2016-12-05T11:16:21Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > IIRC all adults on the ship had jobs. Even the crew’s spouses had jobs. Miles O’Brien’s wife Keiko, was a botanist. > [@Mijin](#): > > But perhaps that was her hobby? Was she externally tasked with work? Did she sell her expertise? I believe Keiko was a teacher. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/13 "2016-12-05T11:20:24Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > From the Canadian tundra where Riker spent his childhood to the United States of Africa where Geordi and Uhura are from? Nitpick: Riker was from Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/14 "2016-12-05T11:36:40Z")
My personal fanwank is that humanity has been genetically modified to no longer be lazy or particularly greedy, in the Star Trek universe. Of course, Roddenberry thought that we could get there through good ol’ elbow grease, but I’m less optimistic about our ability to triumph all that well over evolution through nothing but rationality and cultural shifts. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/15 "2016-12-05T12:11:45Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > But perhaps that was her hobby? Was she externally tasked with work? Did she sell her expertise? > [@cochrane](#): > > I believe Keiko was a teacher. And after her teaching gig went south, she had a leadership role (director?) in some Bajoran expedition as a botanist. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/16 "2016-12-05T12:17:22Z")
I’d like to know more about the star Fleet guys who apparently who just stand in the corners of the room, waiting for Data or Worf, or anybody on the bridge to get randomly called away on an away mission. They’re just waiting right there jump right in with out missing a beat. No one has to tell them to fill in for so-n-so, because they are RIGHT THERE! WAITING! AT ALL TIMES! Must get awful boring between away missions. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/17 "2016-12-05T12:57:14Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > My personal fanwank is that humanity has been genetically modified to no longer be lazy or particularly greedy, in the Star Trek universe. > > Of course, Roddenberry thought that we could get there through good ol’ elbow grease, but I’m less optimistic about our ability to triumph all that well over evolution through nothing but rationality and cultural shifts. Yours is close to mine. I think that humanity has been socially conditioned to “Better themselves”…though I think that ‘washing dishes’ thing is a little TOO quaint for my tastes, rather than feeding them into the matter converter and replicating new dishes as needed. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/18 "2016-12-05T13:15:22Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I believe Keiko was a teacher. She became a teacher on DS9 after a purely hobby garden failed to satisfy her. On the Enterprise she was a botanist. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/19 "2016-12-05T14:45:08Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > She became a teacher on DS9 after a purely hobby garden failed to satisfy her. On the Enterprise she was a botanist. You’re not remembering it correctly. When the O’Brien’s arrived at DS9, Keiko was less than thrilled. Her and Miles were at each other’s throat because she didn’t have shit to do, while Miles got to advance his career. That was when Kieko came up with the idea of teaching. And it was pretty much from day one after she arrived. She was never a “hobbyist”. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913/20 "2016-12-05T15:07:06Z")
Remember, we are only seeing the “best and brightest” (Og help us!) of the Federation on the ships. Even in a post-scarcity universe, you don’t send a ship out to explore with 400 highly trained people, and Doug. Everybody on the ship has a purpose, and therefore a “job.” As for “regular” people encountered, when would they, really? With the exception of the pleasure people that Wesley runs afoul of during the first season of ST:TNG, perhaps. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-star-trek-episode-have-a-character-with-no-job/773913.md?page=2)