I wonder which actor wanted Enterprise to switch to a four-shift rotation.
this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2025
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just for the record if you're running a 24/7 outfit with a an A/B, C/D shift rotation actually kinda makes sense. Three days on for 12 hour shifts, 4 days off, then you flip that with 4 days on and three days off. Though, I'd assume they would be running on a time system similar to submarines.
I thought the 3/4 shift rotation meant how many shifts in a 24-hr period. That there were simply 3 shifts of 8 hours each, and when they changed it to 4 shift rotation the shifts got reduced to 6 hours lengths. That made sense to me at the time since it meant the crews would be cycling out a little more often so the people at their posts were a little more rested and relaxed
Shorter shifts can mean more rested people, but it can also mean more handoffs between this shift and next shift, which means more disruptions and more opportunities for miscommunication and mistakes. I hear this is why nurses have such long shifts: because itβs been shown that patients actually die abnormally often around shift changes.
so the continuity of care does play a role in that. But it's also because hospitals are cheap bastards and longer shifts reduces staffing requirements.
a traditional 5-day work week with 3 shifts per day, on a 24/7 operational time results in 6 full shifts plus staffing for covering absences. A 12 hour shift a/b, c/d rotation has four full shifts plus coverage, just as an example.
I didnβt understand the math in your second paragraph. Could you explain again? I donβt have any prior familiarity with shift planning.
I'm going to use a 24 clock here, just to make it a bit more obvious. (am/pm is annoying on a 24 hour rotation.)
most place use something like a 09:00-17:00 shift. (or 07:00-15:00, etc.) "full time" is 40 hours a week in the US, and we get there working five days a week (monday through friday). For types of jobs that go 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, that falls into three shifts- First shift starts ant 09:00, second at 17:00, and third shift starts at 01:00
for every position, if you want round-the clock coverage, Monday through Friday, you typically have one full time person for each shift. 3 people. You then have shifts on the weekends- Saturday and Sunday; because overtime is a big no-no; that's another 3 people. So for a single position, working "typical" 8 hour shift rotations, you're going to need 6 people. (and, 3 of them are going to have high turn over as they move into positions that are full time. which can be quite problematic.)
one way of doing things differently is to have four shifts that are 12 hours long. A/B and C/D are paired together. A and C are both day shift and B and D are night shift. the two pairs alternate between 3 days on and 4 days off, and 4 days on and three days off.
because there's no part-timers on the payroll, it reduces overall turnover, and the contingent costs associated with onboarding. you've also cut your on-going continuing education costs by a third. when you're talking across hundreds of nurses, that actually adds up enough to justify the 4 hours of overtime everyone gets. But even that can be avoided- many places that technically have a 'you must be paid overtime' frequently have exceptions for 12 hour shift rotations. (which generate an extra 4 hours of overtime every two weeks, in this example)
Just because your mention of sub watch schedules incited me to look it up and I found it interesting: hereβs the wiki page
There is an insane amount of psychology involved in a USN's submarine watch rotation. A large part of it is designed to keep people busy (or sleeping) so they're not thinking about how much the world wants them dead for thinking it's a good idea to float around crushing pressure of the depths in what is basically a giant sardine can.
(and lets be honest, we all have a vested interest in them not going insane from huffing their own farts.)
Yeah, submariners are for sure a⦠special breed.
I never knew this, thanks for sharing.
The fish tank removal's reason makes a ton of sense. I was so confused at first though, because I didn't even remember a fish tank until I saw the little coral in one of the backgrounds of the scenes they featured. I guess I registered it as some coral-like statue or plant in my mind.
Why would the cast care what the shift change was?
I still don't like Jellico.
also, being altruistic towards the dumb fish... what were they gonna do with it?
Give to Ryker for one of his cheftanista nights?
They could store the fish in Cetacean Ops until they can transport it to a suitable environment to live free.
Or give it to Miles to buffer. He needs the practice.
I bet there's a few cetaceans that would enjoy the snack.
A lionfish? They're venomous so it'd have to be a pretty ballsy cetacean.
It's Star Trek. we're talking about whales swimming around a starship hybrid for marine and land based earth-life. I would have to assume they've learned how to use tools- and make tools that are appropriate for their anatomy. (maybe along the lines of telepathically controlled robots a la David brin's Startide Rising.)
What was the dumb fish?
a lion fish.
Which, for the record, they're invasive to florida (iirc,) and certain groups are trying to encourage anglers/restaurants to use them as food. (hence the quip about ryker cooking it.)
That tiny little fish that was in the tank in the captains ready room? Does he end up replacing it when he returns from the mission?
The Captain (real ass Captain, ze French one) gets Borged and is gone for an unspecified length of time. It was a season ending and beginning 2 parter so we can build head canon about what happened to Livingston during The Jellico Jihad and after Picard was rescued and resumed his post. I like to think he was living in a huge, fancy tank at Picard's chateau on Earth with his own tank peasant to look after him. Tropical fish tanks are a ton of work, making that little fish a job creator!
I think so? it was in the ready room in First Contact. apparently it died in the crash for Generations. (and Moore joked that Spot had to eat something before Data could get back.)
Picard had a lion fish in his tank, and Jellico removed it.
Ah yiss. love on screen changes that have character/actor based logic behind them
TIL: a lot == 2
I'm pretty sure everyone has seen this, right?
Not yet. π
I hesitated to mention it because it was so old, but it's singlehandedly responsible for me coming to appreciate Jellico and look a little more deeply at the characters.