It's a regular evening in Bikini Bottom. The Krusty Krab is approaching closing time. Squidward at the cash register, slaking off as always, reading one of many issues of 'Fancy Living' magazines. Hoping one day his face would be on the cover and not his arch nemeses from high school Squilliam. Mr. Krabs sits in his office doing his usual unusual fetish of sniffing and talking to money, and as for SpongeBob , he's in the kitchen singing a song as he fries krabby patties on the grill.
Suddenly, an ear splintering screech startles SpongeBob. It was Mr. Krabs busting down the door of his office like a charged bull. "Me dollar! Its missin!" He runs over to Squidward who acts like he didn't notice. "Mr. Squidward, me dollar is missin… you gotta help me find it before—"
"Oh no," Squidward sighs sarcastically. "The worlds gone mad! Mr. Krabs lost a dollar, what are we gonna do!"
"I know Mr. Squidward, it's a terrible thing when a man loses something as valuable as a crisp, green dollar bill!"
"I was being sarcastic…" Squidward replies dryly. "And what's the deal? I mean really—we make hundreds of dollars a day thanks to the new 'price reductions'." Mr. Krabs had yet again 'dropped' the price of a krabby patty form $20.99 to 20.89. "It's just one stupid dollar!"
Mr. Krabs gasps, "just a stupid dollar? Maybe you don't know, but its greenery like that that keeps those cheap magazines you read every lunch break on the news rack!"
"Cheap? Ha! I can think of a million things cheaper than this magazine. I mean just look at your clothing…" he grabs Mr. Krab's shirt. "You wore the same set of clothes since 1999!"
"You of all people!" Mr. Krabs slaps Squidward's arm away. "Don't get me started on your mediocre clarinet playing!"
"You wouldn't dare…" Squidward warns sticking his big nose into Mr. Krab's tiny nose.
Suddenly SpongeBob comes between the two separating them. "Is this your dollar sir?" He asks showing Mr. Krabs a dollar.
Mr. Krabs takes the dollar inspecting it with his nose, tossing it into his mouth chewing on it like bubble gum before making a bubble that explodes all over his face. "Nope, this ain't me dollar."
"Does it even matter?" Squidward sighs. "A dollar's a dollar—you said it yourself…"
"A dollars only a dollar if it's the real dollar…" Mr. Krabs replies. SpongeBob and Squidward blink at each other in silence.
"I'm gonna take out the trash," Squidward says leaving the register and going to the back room.
Behind the Krusty Krab, Squidward drags a large bag of trash along to the dumpster. The sun was setting casting a deep orange shadow behind the building. Squidward tosses he trash into the dumpster when he hears a man grunt in pain. "Who's there?" He quivers.
"Help… me…" A voice ghostly Reponses Squidward starts shaking uncontrollably as he approaches the dumpster. He peers his long neck over the bin and didn't see anything.
"Come on Squidy!" He exclaims to himself. "I'm just hearing things… there's no deranged killer hiding in this dumpster ready to kill me given the chance." He laughs pulling away from the dumpster, when a hand reaches out gripping his thin arm. His laugher quickly turns to screams of terror.
