Employee of the Month

This is the page about the episode. For other uses, see Employee of the Month (disambiguation).

Characters

• Squidward Tentacles
• Template:Data:Links
• Eugene H. Krabs
• Employee of the Month SpongeBobs Template:Debut
• Employee of the Month Squidward Template:Debut
• Gary the Snail Template:Cameo
• Template:Data:Links
  • Incidental 15
  • Incidental 27
  • Incidental 30
  • Incidental 41
  • Incidental 42
  • Billy (Inc 65)

Synopsis

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"There might be a new face on the wall this month."

SpongeBob reminds Squidward that the Krusty Krab's Employee of the Month Award is about to be granted. Squidward tells SpongeBob that the award is nothing but a scam, and that Mr. Krabs only gives it out to make them work harder for less money. SpongeBob does not believe him and insists that Squidward take more pride in his work, but when Mr. Krabs warns him that Squidward might win the award, SpongeBob begins to worry.

SpongeBob tries to work harder by cooking Template:Data:Links twice as fast. Squidward notices this and reiterates his belief that the award is a joke. Later, SpongeBob starts to wonder if Squidward is right. He then imagines a picture of himself saying that Squidward is only trying to make him lose confidence just so he could win the award for himself. The picture "convinces" SpongeBob to fight back, and SpongeBob formulates a plan to outpace Squidward.

That night, SpongeBob sneaks into Squidward's house and tries to destroy his alarm clock so that Squidward will not wake up. Squidward catches him in the act, leading to an argument concerning the award. Squidward says that he could get the award if he wanted to, and SpongeBob tells him to prove it. After SpongeBob leaves, they glare at each other from their windows until Squidward plays a lullaby on his clarinet that puts SpongeBob to sleep. Squidward then tries to sneak over to the Krusty Krab, but falls into a deep hole that SpongeBob has dug in front of Squidward's door. Upon climbing out, Squidward tries to barricade SpongeBob's door, only for SpongeBob to saw it down from the inside. They both make a desperate run for the Krusty Krab, setting several traps for each other along the way.

File:Employee of the Month 169.png

Squidward and SpongeBob hastily running for the Krusty Krab.

By morning, SpongeBob and Squidward grow tired and call a truce with each other, only to break it as soon as they finish shaking hands. They both reach the Krusty Krab just as it opens and begin overworking in an attempt to impress Mr. Krabs, smashing many of the restaurant's supplies and frightening Mr. Krabs out of his wits in the process. SpongeBob and Squidward then begin trying to make as many Krabby Patties as possible; the number of patties grows so high that it causes the Krusty Krab to explode into pieces. The patties rain down from the sky, leading several Bikini Bottomites to believe that they are free. While Mr. Krabs, face stuck in the empty frame, tries to make the customers pay for the patties, SpongeBob and Squidward eagerly ask him who the winner of the award is as Mr. Krabs shouts at them to stop, ending the episode.

Production

This episode's recording script was completed on February 19, 1999.

Script

• On November 14, 2016, recording scripts for every episode from season 1 were publicly released, found on one of the asset discs for the PlayStation video game, SuperSponge. This included the recording script for "Employee of the Month."

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Art

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Model sheets

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Release

Broadcast

• This episode and its sister are the first episodes to premiere during March Toon Mania, and the first episodes to premiere on a Wednesday.

Distribution

• This episode is available on The Complete 1st Season, Home Sweet Pineapple, Karate Choppers, Krusty Krab Chaos, Beach Bob, The Ultimate Box Set, First 100 Episodes, 3 DVD Pack, The Super Celebrations, Money Box, SpongeBob on DVD, Exposed!: The Ultimate Box Set, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 1, Employee of the Month, The Complete First Season, From the Beginning, Part 1, Waves of Adventure, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, Welcome Aboard, SpongeBob, You're Fired!, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, Triple Pack 4, The First & Second Seasons, Movies & TV Collection, Big Hits: Volume 2, The Best 200 Episodes Ever, and The Best 300 Episodes Ever DVDs.
• This episode is also available on the UK version of the Home Sweet Pineapple VHS tape.

Reception

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Trivia

General

• This is the first episode for a few things:
  • This and its sister episode are the first episodes to premiere in a country outside the United States before they aired on American television.
  • The first episode to have three storyboard artists.
  • The first episode where the Krusty Krab explodes.
• There is a PC game that has the same name as this episode, which was released in 2002, but shares little in common with the episode besides the name.
• Two shots of this episode have become internet memes: the scene where Squidward opens the bathroom door with SpongeBob hiding behind the plant, and the scene where Squidward opens his closet full of clocks.
• This is one of the rare instances where SpongeBob acts maliciously in some way towards Squidward.
• SpongeBob imagines a drill sergeant version of himself in one of his Employee of the Month placards, who demands him to work as hard as possible so that Squidward does not win. This one appears in the March picture, a reference to an army march.
  • The drill sergeant design of the SpongeBob picture from this episode is also the same design as the artwork on the North American cover of Battle for Bikini Bottom. He also wears the same helmet in the teaser for the game's remake.
• SpongeBob says he won Employee of the Month 26 times in a row, meaning this episode falls at least two years and two months after "Help Wanted," when he was hired.
  • It is revealed in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie that he has won 374 consecutive Employee of the Month awards, which is about 31 years, either from "Help Wanted" or the month after this episode, depending on whether he won the award after the end of this episode.
• This, "Help Wanted," "Pickles," "One Krabs Trash," and "Best Day Ever" are the only five episodes to have SpongeBob's bed placed on the right side of his room and not the left.
• It is never revealed in this episode who got the Employee of the Month award. Template:Data:Links would, however, win an award later in "Breath of Fresh Squidward."

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"Chumbucket?"

• Sometimes, YTV accidentally lists this episode as "Chumbucket" instead of its actual name. The Chum Bucket is not even seen or mentioned in this episode.
  • YTV also sometimes incorrectly says this episode originally aired on March 14, 2014.
  • Additionally, "Chumbucket" is one word when it should be two.
• This is the second episode where Squidward cooks for the Krusty Krab. The first is "Pickles."
  • Unlike in "Pickles," (and most other episodes where he attempts to cook) Squidward seemingly cooks Krabby Patties as well as SpongeBob does.

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• This episode was referenced in "Friendiversary" in SpongeBob's memory book.

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• An unused cel from this episode of Squidward stuffed like a turkey is used for the "Time to Feast!" card in the SpongeBob SquarePants Trading Card Game.
• This episode was previously paired up with:
  • "The Great Snail Race" during the Best Day Ever marathon on November 10, 2006.
  • "Naughty Nautical Neighbors" on March 2, 2007.
  • "Dying for Pie" during the SpongeBob Z to A Countdown marathon.
  • "Krusty Krushers" during the SpongeBob's Winner Take All Sunday marathon.
  • "No Free Rides" on January 1, 2020.
  • "Pizza Delivery" during the Week of All Things SpongeBob event on February 3, 2025.

Episode references

• The scene where Squidward yells in the hole is a recycled audio clip from "Naughty Nautical Neighbors."

Errors

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  Third window

  In some shots, Squidward's book has no visible page lines. The total thickness of the pages also varies between shots.
• When SpongeBob shows the calendar showing "Annoy Squidward Day" on the 15th, the date of the 21st is right below it. In a real calendar, the 22nd would be below the 15th, so the week appears to only have six days.
  • As well as that, the date of the 5th is above the 15th, meaning that it skipped four days in the week.
  • Also, the date of the 27th is below the 22nd, meaning that the week of the Employee of the Month day would have only had five days.
• SpongeBob's calendar said it was "March," but the empty Employee of the Month placard says January. In addition, the calendar has 28 as the last day of the month, meaning it must have been February in a non-leap year.
• SpongeBob mentions he has won the Employee of the Month 26 times to Squidward but is pictured 43 times on the Employee of the Month wall.

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The Employee of the Month awards are out of order.

• Right before SpongeBob imagines Squidward's face on the "Employee of the Month" award frame, the order of the awards is wrong:
  • On the third to last row, "February," "December," January," "February," "December."
  • On the second to last row, "April," "May," "March," "April," "May."
  • On the bottom row: "December," "January," "February," and "January."
• When SpongeBob is crying, "How could the quality of my work slip so much?" the frame on the picture of Squidward says "January," but the frame before it says "February," then changes back to December.
• When the Employee of the Month placards are panning down when SpongeBob thinks Squidward might be right about the awards, in the last readable row, the order of the awards is "Mach," "April," "May," "March."
• When the drill sergeant SpongeBob is giving the real SpongeBob a pep talk, the award after "March" is "February."

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  Squidward with the wrong color of eyelids.

  When Squidward catches SpongeBob on the ceiling, Squidward's eyelids are the same color as his skin instead of darker.
• When SpongeBob hides in the kelp near his house, there is no window on the side of Squidward's house. When he looks through his binoculars, the window on the side of Squidward's house appears.
• When SpongeBob looks into Squidward's house to spy on him, Squidward sets his alarm clock on the nightstand with a lamp, but when SpongeBob goes into Squidward's house, the alarm is on the other nightstand with no lamp.
• During the scene where SpongeBob is in Squidward's pillowcase, SpongeBob's eyes turn green, and then they are back to normal.

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The broken clocks are gone.

• When SpongeBob sneaks into Squidward's house, all of Squidward's furniture is in the room. However, while SpongeBob is running back and forth from the closet with the clocks in it, the room is empty.
• Squidward's clock says 9:00 when he goes to bed, but in his closet full of clocks, most of them say 8:05. They all later switch to the correct time.
• When SpongeBob goes to Squidward's closet it is filled with alarm clocks. In the next scene, he is breaking them, the ones SpongeBob previously broke disappear, and he is seen breaking one clock.
• Squidward's bedroom is on the second floor, but when SpongeBob leaves the room, he walks out the front door as if it was on the first floor.
• When Squidward walks into the bottle, the glass suddenly forms around him without explanation.

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SpongeBob's hat is missing.

• When SpongeBob and Squidward are shown dragging anchors, SpongeBob is not wearing his Krusty Krab hat. When the camera zooms in on him in the next shot, the hat appears.
• When Squidward and SpongeBob finish shaking hands due to their "truce" and start running towards the Krusty Krab, the Chum Bucket is not visible.

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  The door handles are clear instead of solid.

  When Squidward and SpongeBob barge into the Krusty Krab, the handlebars on the door are clear instead of gold or brown.

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The sign is still standing

• When SpongeBob and Squidward flood the Krusty Krab with Krabby Patties, and the restaurant explodes as a result, the Krusty Krab sign is still visible while the smoke is covering the restaurant. The wreckage is not shown until the smoke vanishes.
  • Also, before the explosion, the "Enter" sign is on the left side of the Krusty Krab entrance, but after the explosion, it is on the right side.

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  The bubbles are in front of his nose in real life but behind his nose in the mirror.

  When Squidward is brushing his teeth, in his reflection the bubbles are behind his nose, but from behind, the bubbles are in front of his nose.
  • In the same shot, Squidward's neck does not connect to his head, rather going in front of it.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Finnish	Kuukauden Työntekijä	Employee of the Month
French	L'employé du mois	Employee of the Month
German	Mitarbeiter des Monats	Employee of the Month
Hungarian	A hónap dolgozója	Employee of the Month
Italian	L'impiegato del mese!	Employee of the Month!
Japanese	今月の頑張ったで賞 Kongetsu no ganbatta de shō	This Month's Good Work Award
Polish	Pracownik miesiąca	Employee of the Month
Russian	Лучший служащий месяца Luchshiy sluzhashchiy mesyatsa	Best Employee of the Month
Spanish	Empleado del mes	Employee of the Month