Boss for a Day

Characters

• Template:Data:Links
  • SpongeBob's slices
• Patrick Star
• Squidward Tentacles
• Eugene H. Krabs
  • Krabs' claw
• Pirates
  • Pirate captain
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  • Fred
  • Incidental 7
  • Incidental 115
  • Judy
  • Incidental 151
  • Incidental 41
  • Incidental 48
  • Charlie
  • Harold (Inc 40)
  • Incidental 49
  • Incidental 8
  • Harold (Inc 36)
  • Incidental 93
  • Incidental 46
  • Incidental 85
  • Frank
  • Incidental 64
  • Old Man Walker
  • Mabel
  • Incidental 27
  • Incidental 159
  • Incidental 69
  • Incidental 60
  • Incidental 47
  • Carol
  • Incidental 92
  • Incidental 152
  • Steve
  • Incidental 42
  • Incidental 25
  • Joe
  • Billy
  • Incidental 14
  • Incidental 3
  • Incidental 2
  • Incidental 20
  • Stretch
  • Incidental 13
  • Apollow
  • Mary
• Worker fish
• Shark nerd
• Shark mom
• Shark daughter

Synopsis

File:Boss for a Day 034.png

Mr. Krabs gets hurt.

The episode begins on a particularly busy day at the Krusty Krab. Mr. Krabs is managing everything smoothly, while barking orders at SpongeBob and Squidward. Mr. Krabs helps out the customers with their problems, whether it be refilling a man's drink, giving another customer ketchup, or a slicing a Krabby Patty into small pieces for a little baby to eat. Mr. Krabs also manages to fight off a group of pirates at the same time all of this is happening. After all of that, Mr. Krabs' claw smells cash, and finds a penny on the floor. Mr. Krabs delightfully claims the penny, but almost immediately afterwards, SpongeBob kicks open the kitchen door, accidentally knocking Mr. Krabs all over the restaurant until he eventually lands in the middle of the street. A construction worker hoisting up a piano becomes distracted when he notices the penny that Mr. Krabs found earlier fell out of his pocket, causing Mr. Krabs to be crushed by the piano. An ambulance arrives immediately, but before they take Mr. Krabs away, SpongeBob asks who will be in charge of the Krusty Krab while he is out. Mr. Krabs is about to point at Squidward, but he puts SpongeBob in front of him, officially making SpongeBob the boss of the Krusty Krab until Mr. Krabs recovers, much to Mr. Krabs' dismay. Squidward mocks SpongeBob, saying that he will probably ruin everything "like he always does." SpongeBob decides that if he wants to boss like Mr. Krabs, he will have to act like him too.

File:Boss for a Day 102.png

Patrick cooks Krabby Patties.

Later on, a nurse is wheeling Mr. Krabs, who is in a full body cast, back to the Krusty Krab. SpongeBob greets him at the front door, and wheels him inside of the restaurant to show him how he has been taking care of things. He reveals that he hired Patrick to be the new fry cook of the Krusty Krab, since he is too busy being the boss now, much to Mr. Krabs' distress. SpongeBob shows Mr. Krabs how much of an effective boss he is by helping two troubled customers; one of which needs a napkin, and the other having a wobbly table. Nearby, Squidward yells at a customer, which results in SpongeBob scolding him. SpongeBob makes Squidward wear a helmet that forces him to smile to appear more friendly to the customer, but it only creeps him out instead. Squidward is about to blow up at SpongeBob, but they suddenly hear a slicing sound coming from the kitchen, and SpongeBob goes to check it out. It is Patrick, attempting to clean the deli-slicer with a pair of tongs. SpongeBob offers to take care of the situation, while Patrick gets back to work. In the next scene, Patrick is trying to make a Krabby Patty, but SpongeBob micromanages everything he does, even down to the tiniest detail. This annoys Patrick to the point where he quits, but not before taking off all of his clothes. Patrick slams the door on his way out, and SpongeBob gets caught in the spinning door, resulting in a part of himself being sliced off. SpongeBob ends up leaving the SpongeBob slice clone in charge of the cooking. Out in the dining room, Squidward is being pestered by an angry mob. This prompts him to storm out of the restaurant, but not before SpongeBob attempts to stop him. It does not work however, as Squidward screams in SpongeBob's face that he quits for good, angrily leaving the Krusty Krab.

The angry mob turns to SpongeBob, but he quickly thinks of the solution to slice off another clone of himself and put him in charge of the cash register. SpongeBob tells Mr. Krabs that everything is now under control, but out of nowhere, tons of things start going wrong at once. One woman spills her drink, another man slips in the spill and falls, one customer complains that the TV does not work, one customer complains that it is too hot, and another customer complains that it is too cold. The pressure eventually gets to SpongeBob, as he screams at the tops of his lungs for everyone to stop. SpongeBob runs back into the kitchen and starts slicing off multiple clones of himself, all of which assist each and every customer with their problems. Suddenly, Patrick (who is still naked) bursts through the front door, saying that he is just "cleaning out his desk" (although in actuality, he just steals a family's meal). Patrick leaves the door open though, resulting in the SpongeBob slice clones being blown around the restaurant and eventually being sliced to bits via the Krusty Krab's ceiling fan. All of the customers are grossed out by the sponge bits and leave the establishment, making Mr. Krabs furious to the point where he breaks out of his body cast. SpongeBob (who is now stuck in the ceiling fan) apologizes to Mr. Krabs for messing everything up and explains that he wanted to be like him. Mr. Krabs forgives him, saying that nobody can be like him. However, the rage he felt in watching him destroy his restaurant forced his body to heal very quickly while stating that SpongeBob was the worst boss ever and his pay will have to be docked for decades to cover all the damage he caused. Mr. Krabs turns on the ceiling fan and laughs, while SpongeBob spins around in the ceiling fan and calls Mr. Krabs the best boss ever, as the episode ends.

Production

On October 11 and October 26, 2018, John Trabbic posted rough storyboard panels from this episode.

This episode's synopsis was mentioned in a press release on February 11, 2019: "[SpongeBob's] dream comes true when he becomes boss for the day at The Krusty Krab".

The episode was confirmed by Vincent Waller on June 6, 2019.

Storyboards

• Rough storyboard by John Trabbic.

• File:SB1217-JohnTrabbic.jpg
• Deleted scene of SpongeBob holding a sandclock.
  Deleted scene of SpongeBob holding a sandclock.

Release

Format	Title	Region
DVD	The Complete Twelfth Season	United States
Box set	Another 100 Episodes	United States
	The Best 300 Episodes Ever	United States
Digital release	SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 21	United States

Trivia

General

• This episode was paired up with "Pineapple RV" during the original American airing, but it has since been re-airing with "The Goofy Newbie."
  • Both episodes premiered on July 17, 2020 to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the official series premiere, preceded the live-action Nickelodeon special Cake My Day, and premiered on David Hasselhoff's 68th birthday.
• A clip from this episode was used for promoting new episodes in September 2019, but this episode did not air until 10 months later.
  • Another clip was used for the SpongeBob SmartyPants challenge promo in late June 2020.
• The title card background is similar to those of "Dumped," "Patrick SmartPants," "Mrs. Puff, You're Fired," "Ditchin'," "Stuck in the Wringer," "Gramma's Secret Recipe," "Two Thumbs Down," "Fun-Sized Friends," and "Krusty Kleaners," but it is blue and has more of SpongeBob's bathroom wallpaper pattern.
• SpongeBob has been put in charge of the Krusty Krab before in "Gullible Pants."
• In this episode, Mr. Krabs is horrified to find out that SpongeBob hired Patrick as the fry cook, even though Mr. Krabs hired him temporarily in "Bummer Vacation" and "Two Thumbs Down."
• According to SpongeBob in this episode, the order of a Krabby Patty is bun, patty, cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, and bun.
• In Canada, this episode was originally going to air on July 17, 2020, but was pulled for unknown reasons, and pushed back to September 19.
• This episode, alongside "Karen's Baby," "Mind the Gap," and "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout," are some of season 12's 20th anniversary specials.
• This episode's premise is very similar to "Squid's Day Off" in Season 2, where Squidward was left in charge after Mr. Krabs got hurt, and also "Gullible Pants" in Season 6, where SpongeBob is left in charge while Mr. Krabs is away.

Dub facts

• In Russia, this episode was accidentally paired up with "The Ghost of Plankton" instead of "My Two Krabses."
• In the Netherlands and Flanders, this episode was paired with "Lighthouse Louie."

Episode references

• SpongeBob imitates Mr. Krabs the same way he does in "Gone" and "Mimic Madness."
• Squidward putting on a helmet to make himself smile is a callback to "Truth or Square."
• The pirates that sold the pie bomb to Squidward in "Dying for Pie" return in this episode.

Cultural references

File:BfaDPac-Manreference.png

Mr. Krabs' Pac-Man eyes.

• Mr. Krabs bounces all over the Krusty Krab like a pinball.
• Mr. Krabs' eyes turn into Pac-Man and a ghost, referencing the game Pac-Man.

Errors

File:White belt error BfaD.png

One instance of where SpongeBob's belt turns white.

• Multiple times throughout the episode, when SpongeBob changes into Mr. Krabs and back to his normal form again, parts of his belt are miscolored as white.

File:BfaD Error.png

The frame where SpongeBob's teeth are "connected," and where Squidward's wrinkles are missing.

• When SpongeBob bolts in front of the front door of the Krusty Krab when Squidward is leaving, the bottom line of his two teeth are connected as one big line.
  • Squidward's wrinkles are missing as well in the shot.
• When SpongeBob is twirling around in the circle of his slices, his leg appears white like his sock whenever he faces to the left.

File:Unknown-34.png

Mr. Krabs duplicates.

• Mr. Krabs duplicates himself for a split second when SpongeBob opens the door.

File:Squidward wrinkle error in Boss for a Day.PNG

Squidward's wrinkles are missing.

• When Squidward breaks the smile from SpongeBob, his forehead wrinkles disappear for a split second.
• When SpongeBob says to Patrick to turn up half-degree, Patrick moves the dial too far for half-degree.

File:Boss for a Day 036.png

Squidward's miscolored eyelids.

• In a few scenes where Mr. Krabs chooses who will be in charge, Squidward's eyelids are light turquoise instead of teal.

File:Eye outline error in Boss for a Day.png

SpongeBob's miscolored eye outline.

• When SpongeBob takes Mr. Krabs into the kitchen, the outline on his eye is miscolored.
• Right after Mr. Krabs breaks the cast of his body, there is no light switch by the door, however near the end, there is suddenly a light switch when Mr. Krabs turns it on.
• In the Kazakh dub, there are multiple M&E errors.
  • For example, Patrick's line, "Orders up!", is undubbed.

Videos

• File:SpongeBob SquarePants - Brand New Episodes Official Promo (September 14, 2019)
• File:"SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout Bonus Edition" + "Boss for a Day" & "Pineapple RV" Official Promo
• File:SpongeBob Takes Over the Krusty Krab 🧽🦀 New Episode "Boss For a Day"

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Croatian	Šef na jedan dan	Boss for One Day
German	Der Krosse Chef	The Krusty Boss
Polish	U steru przez jeden dzieńy	At the Helm for One Day
Russian	Босс на один день Boss na odin den'	Boss for One Day
Spanish	Jefe por un día	Boss for a Day