Management of fruit bowls on the Enterprise D

Question

I have noticed that guest quarters on the Enterprise D have fruit bowls on their tables. A prominent instance is the fruit bowl in Berlinghoff Rasmussen's quarters in "A Matter of Time". The first thing that Rasmussen does when Data takes him to his guest quarters is take a piece of fruit and shove it in his pocket.

Who replicates fruit for these fruit bowls before guests arrive? More generally, who removes unused fruit and tidies quarters after guests leave? Is there a ship hospitality staff, perhaps including Guinan's wait staff in Ten Forward?

Answer 1

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say "no-one". My guess is that rooms are automatically configured and maintained by the ship itself:

• The Enterprise has replicators in every set of quarters and access to high-precision transporters.

• The Enterprise has a powerful semi-intelligent AI.

• We know from the TNG Technical Manual that guest quarters are configured "at short notice" but can only be reconfigured once someone is staying for a longer term.

• We know from TNG : Up the Long Ladder that the ship intelligently cleans itself (Riker is confident that it will detect and clean the Bringloidi's dirty sheets and hay, despite these not being part of the ship's usual ephemera):

Worf and Picard EXIT the shot, and Riker walks back to Brenna. She is fastidiously picking up the sodden blankets.

RIKER : That wasn't necessary. The ship will clean itself.

BRENNA : Well, good for the bloody ship!

If I had to theorise about the fruit, I'd imagine that when you configure a guest room for a human visitor, you simply select a few items from a menu (fruit bowl, flowers, etc) and they're transported and then regularly replenished by the computer whenever the room is left empty.

Additionally, in STD we see cleaning droids floating around the place picking up mess, dusting and wiping. They just pop out of the walls and then disappear discreetly when not needed.

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Moving down the canon scale, in the TNG novel Q and A (written by respected and prolific Trek author Keith R.A. DeCandido), we learn that Picard's quarters and bed are all maintained by something he refers to as "automated janitorial systems". No major explanation is given for their workings but apparently they not only clean the floors but also make the beds.

Jean-Luc set down his teacup on the end table next to the bed, then reached over to cup Beverly’s cheek with his right hand. “I must say, Beverly, I prefer this method of eating breakfast.”

Reaching over to the tray that sat between them on the bed, Beverly grabbed another croissant and stuck it in his mouth. “You’re just saying that because you don’t have to clean the bed.”

and

They stopped only when the clang of flatware falling to the floor startled both of them. Peering over the side of the bed, Beverly saw that the croissant tray and the jam had upended onto the carpet.

She looked at Jean-Luc and grinned. “Oops.”

“Oops, indeed. Suddenly, I’m rather grateful I don’t have to clean the room myself. Thank heaven for automated janitorial systems.”

Answer 2

I don't know that we ever see this kind of housekeeping work on-screen, but this is the kind of task that you would normally expect a Yeoman to do.

Yeomen were commonly seen on-screen during ST:TOS, as well as the TOS-based movies. Captain Kirk's Yeoman (Janice Rand) played a significant role in a number of episodes. We don't see any Yeoman in ST:TNG, though Memory Beta claims there were references to them in supplemental material as late as DS9.

Yeoman is not so much a rank as it is a job title. They are essentially the "administrative staff" of Starfleet. The Captain's Yeoman, for example, was responsible for doing bookkeeping tasks for the Captain (note that Yeoman Rand was almost always carrying some form of clipboard and getting Kirk to sign things.) Given that Enterprise-D is, in part, a diplomatic vessel, keeping the guest quarters in shape to receive dignitaries would fall under the umbrella of the operations staff, primarily Yeomen.

Another possibility, though again I know of no reference to it on-screen, is that there is a civilian housekeeping staff assigned to the ship. This would make sense, as the Enterprise-D housed far more than just the military personnel -- it includes their families, for example. There would need to be a dedicated staff to keep the ship running smoothly, like a very large hotel. There may even be a mix of the two: civilian housekeeping responsible for "general guest rooms" and Yeomen assigned to maintain "official visitor's rooms".

Answer 3

The Enterprise-D has over 1,000 people on board. Over 7 seasons screen time has been devoted to maybe 100. The closest we get to a rank-and-file hotel staffer is Ben in 7x15 Lower Decks, and he mainly serves drinks.

There are enlisted staff, civilian staff, replicators, transporters etc. but screen time is far too expensive to be devoted to utilitarian positions that do not move the plot forward.

One thing we don't see is utility robots. Star Wars is crawling with the things, Trek has either nothing or Data.