Ben ( 24th century ) Ben was a waiter working in Ten Forward aboard the in 2370 . He was a civilian . Ben was friends with Sam Lavelle , Taurik , Sito Jaxa and Alyssa Ogawa . He occasionally played poker with them , as well as with some of the members of the senior staff , namely Commander William T . Riker , Doctor Beverly Crusher , Lieutenant Worf , and Counselor Deanna Troi . In 2370 , after eavesdropping on Riker and Troi , Ben informed Lavelle and Sito that they were both being considered for the position of Ops night duty officer . ( ) Appendices . Background information . The character concept of Ben was conceived by René Echevarria , who wrote the script of . Of the character ' s creation , he said , " " I decided to bring in someone who was not Starfleet . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 25 / 26 , No . 6 / 1 , p . 79 ) The invention of Ben came about simply because Echevarria wanted to have a character " who hitched aboard the ship for fun , who ' s unconcerned about rank , and who passes along stupid rumors ! " ( " " , 3rd ed . , p . 282 ) The Ben character was never intended to be Guinan instead . Ben allowed the writers to present an insight into the lives of the civilians who lived aboard the " Enterprise " , something which the writers had wanted to do for a long time . ( " Lower Decks " audio commentary , TNG Season 7 Blu - ray special features ) In the final draft script of " Lower Decks " , Ben is described as being around his early to mid - twenties . The script goes on to say , " " [ Ben ] has an easy smile and wit . He signed aboard a Starship for fun and adventure , and as a civilian , isn ' t subject to the pressures of Starfleet . He likes nothing more than to kid his friends about how seriously they take everything . " " Actor Bruce Beatty auditioned for the part of Ben . At that point , René Echevarria and a couple of other people suspected Beatty was the best performer for the role . Someone else was very nervous about selecting Beatty , though . " " So , we had an interesting controversy in casting for the role of Ben and I don ' t remember who it was but somebody expressed discomfort that . . . You know , here ' s a character , we ' ve never seen anyone like this before , we ' ve never seen a civilian on the ship , working in a bar , working , you know , in food service , " " Echevarria said , with a laugh . " " And was it appropriate or not to cast an African - American ? And , you know , you ' ve gotta remember this was twenty years ago but , you know , was that the right message to send , you know ? And I remember , I was just like , ' Well , guys , we ' re about to talk ourselves out of a job for this guy ! ' [ . . . ] We almost talked ourselves out of giving him the job , because of a perception of political correctness . " " ( " Lower Decks " audio commentary , TNG Season 7 Blu - ray special features ) René Echevarria , Denise Okuda and Michael Okuda agreed with one another that Ben was " just a nice guy . " Denise Okuda went on to opine , " " If the series had gone into another season , I think it ' d be fun to bring him back , ' cause I think he was a fun character . " " ( " Lower Decks " audio commentary , TNG Season 7 Blu - ray special features ) Apocrypha . Ben made an appearance in the comics " A Handful of Dust " and " Ceremony of Innocence " as well as the comic adaptation of " " .