At the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs holds a meeting with his employees, informing them that his daughter Pearl is going to be working at the Krusty Krab during her summer vacation and that she has lots of new ideas to improve the restaurant. Squidward does not like the idea of being told what to do by a teenager, and he and SpongeBob agree to stand up to her to protect their jobs.
Pearl soon arrives and SpongeBob's resolution quickly crumbles, adoring the flamboyant new uniform Pearl gives them. After exchanging many ideas, Pearl and SpongeBob agree to turn the Krusty Krab into the "Kuddly Krab," and re-purpose the restaurant into a hip café, all with Mr. Krabs' blessing.
Squidward remains the only holdout and shakes the newly designed sign in frustration. Two passersby are disappointed the Krusty Krab is seemingly gone and, thinking Squidward is a woman, ask him where a place to eat is. Enraged, Squidward quits on the spot and rips off his costume.
The Kuddly Krab quickly becomes a hit with the teenage crowd. SpongeBob is told to make a salad, which he never heard of, so he makes a Krabby Patty and shows it to Pearl. Disgusted, she orders him to take off the buns and the patty, leaving only tomatoes and lettuce. Upon returning to the kitchen, SpongeBob is horrified to see that his grill is gone. Pearl explains to him that Krabby Patties are no longer "hip," and that they now serve only tea and salad. SpongeBob is then given a humiliating mascot costume to wear out front, and this, for him, is the final straw. He goes to Mr. Krabs' office to complain.
Despite putting on a brave face, Mr. Krabs agrees with SpongeBob's complaints and admits that Pearl's renovations are losing them money. Though Mr. Krabs knows that Pearl needs to go, he can't bring himself to fire his own daughter, so he makes SpongeBob be the one to fire her. SpongeBob calls Pearl into the kitchen, dreading what he has to do. Before he can even say anything, however, Pearl breaks down crying and reveals to SpongeBob that she's really been trying to get herself fired since the beginning and hates working at the restaurant, only taking the job and pretending to like it to please her dad and doesn't want to risk disappointing him by quitting. After hearing all this, SpongeBob comes up with a plan to stage Pearl being fired outside of her dad's office.
As Mr. Krabs listens in to the exchange, he debates with himself whether he should allow it to happen. The sight of his empty safe with a spider web finally prompts him to yell to SpongeBob to get on with it, but with the words, "Pearl, you're fired," the strain on Mr. Krabs' heart knocks him out cold. Pearl thanks SpongeBob for letting her go and kisses him on the cheek before dashing off to the mall with her friends.
SpongeBob enters Mr. Krabs' office to report his success, only to find him passed out on the floor. After being revived with a $20 bill, Mr. Krabs laments what's been done to Pearl—but SpongeBob assures his boss that Pearl's fine, claiming that she's off to bigger and better things. While he's glad that the situation is resolved, Mr. Krabs wonders how he'll get his money back for all of Kuddly Krabs' decorations/merchandise. SpongeBob buys all of them, costing him one year's salary, and puts them in his house for his enjoyment, while Gary is uncomfortable.
This episode was originally titled "Working Pearl," but was later changed to the final title. Comcast had still listed it with the original title, but this has since been fixed, and DirecTV originally used it too, but it was also soon fixed.
The title is a reference to the 1988 film Working Girl.
The iTunes version still has "Working Pearl" as the name of the episode, but when watched the correct name is displayed.[2]File:Workingpearlitunes.jpgWorking Pearl on iTunes
This is the first episode for a few things:
The first episode in which the Krusty Krab has been remodeled.
The first episode in which the Krusty Krab grill is removed from the kitchen.
The first episode in which Incidental 7 is seen without lipstick or nostrils. However, in one scene, she does have nostrils.
The first time Squidward quits his job.
This along with its sister episode were the first episodes to use the 2000-2006 Nickelodeon Productions logo at the end.
This is the second episode to feature chrome. The first is "SB-129."
The ideas Pearl and SpongeBob come up for the new Krusty Krab are:
Pearl: The Kutie Krab
Pearl: The Kooky Krab
SpongeBob: The Khaotic Krab
Pearl: The Kissy Krab
SpongeBob: The King Krab
Pearl: The Kandy Krab
SpongeBob: The Kool Krab
SpongeBob: The Kowboy Krab
SpongeBob: The Kurly Krab
SpongeBob: The Kreepy Krab
SpongeBob: The Killer Krab
Both: The Kuddly Krab
When Incidental 27 drives by SpongeBob and then insults him, he inadvertently insults himself: by saying, "... I was just on my way to the big doofus convention!" he implies that he will be attending as a doofus as well.
Frames from this episode was later used in "Friendiversary" when SpongeBob remembers Squidward.
After Squidward quits and gets a ticket for indecent exposure from ripping off his uniform, he is not seen again for the rest of the episode even though he was mentioned a few times.
SpongeBob's Kuddly Krab uniform features as a playable costume in The Cosmic Shake.
In the German dub, the background for the title card is the exact same background from "Squidville."
In the French dub, the background for the title card is the exact same background from "Bubble Buddy."
Cultural references
Mr. Krabs' blue stress toy is a direct reference to Panic Pete, a novelty toy created by John M. Auzin in the 1950s.
Errors
When Mr. Krabs tells SpongeBob and Squidward to get to his office, in the end, there is the noise that a walkie-talkie or electronic megaphone makes before and after one talks into it. However, Mr. Krabs uses a non-electronic megaphone.
When SpongeBob and Squidward are in Mr. Krabs' office, his door has a porthole window, but when he leaves and they are shaking hands, the porthole is gone and there is a life ring instead.File:Bossy Boots 082.pngNo sign.
When Squidward is outside after SpongeBob and Pearl go inside, a car is seen beside the Krusty Krab. When Squidward shakes the Kuddly Krab sign, it disappears.
It is likely the driver already left offscreen.
File:Bossy Boots 085.pngMissing Chum BucketWhen Squidward is shaking the sign and then two people ask him where they can get something to eat, there is no Chum Bucket across the street.
File:Bossy Boots 187.pngThe K's briefly aren't rounded.The "K"s on Mr. Krabs' new uniform are rounded, but when it zooms into the scene of him lying on the floor, they are straight.
File:Bossy Boots 117.pngSpongeBob without sleeves.SpongeBob's sleeves are gone during one shot of the new menu.
When SpongeBob enters the Kuddly Krab office, the sea unicorn has a horn, but when Mr. Krabs points it out, the horn is gone. It then returns when Mr. Krabs cries on his desk.
File:Bossy Boots 150.pngPearl with black eyes.When SpongeBob bumps into Pearl, her eyes are black rather than blue.
When SpongeBob walks into the kitchen to fire Pearl, on a close-up on his face, he is missing his K's on his uniform.
When Pearl kisses SpongeBob after he "fired" her, her eyelids are gray instead of light violet.
Pearl's gray eyelids.
Mr. Krabs' blue stress toy is on his desk before SpongeBob comes over. When SpongeBob comes over and the view zooms out, the toy is gone.
File:BBe2.pngSquidward's eyelids reverting to their Season 1 color
In some scenes, Squidward's eyelids go back to the seafoam color they were in season 1 rather than the teal they had become in season 2.
At the ending when SpongeBob says, "Isn't this great, Gary? And it only cost me one year's salary!," SpongeBob blinks his eyes, but his eyelashes are still seen.
