Our very proper French captain of the Enterprise is really a very rude man. Here's a typical example of why:
Data: Captain, the vessel is about to crash into that moon.
Picard: Mr. Worf, hail them.
Worf, replying instantly: No response.
And yet, when someone is calling them...
Worf's console chimes.
Worf: Captain, we are being hailed.
Picard: On screen, Mr. Worf.
If everyone that called the Enterprise expected an answer as quickly as Captain Picard does, you'd have the following:
Worf's console chimes.
Worf: Captain, we're...
The console sounds a different chime
Worf: Captain, we were being hailed, but because I had to stop and tell
you about it, the other end discontinued the call.
It takes a little bit of time to establish a connection. How many people can answer a telephone the instant they hear it ring, before it has finished ringing? Even with the more sophisticated communication systems that are shown in Star Trek, connections are still answered by people, not the computer, and their reactions won't be instantaneous.
At this point, you may be wondering (if you stuck around long enough to read all this) why I'm picking on Picard and not Worf. Picard is the one who reminds the others about social customs: chiding Riker for being a "mother hen" in one episode, commenting about how alien cultures won't react the same way as a human culture would, etc. Picard should have long ago reminded Worf (and whomever staffs communications on other shifts) to give the party being called more than a second to respond.
Then again, it may not be just Picard who is rude, as I've seen this same situation on Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Maybe it's the whole Federation.
Universal Translator problems --
Holodeck problemms
Communicator problems
Return to the foyer --
Return to Fluff & Stuff main page