Chapter 4: Mr. Krabs
Mr. Krabs performed his nightly ritual of closing down the Krusty Krab and counting his profit from the day. "Let's see." he said looking over his profit. Mr. Krabs smiled as he studied the balance. "Ah, nothing like the smell of money." he said. Krabs frowned when he looked at the balance. "Oh drat, I'm short for the day." he said. "Let me look it over again." But now matter how many times he counted the money, it always came up short.
"Drat." Krabs said. "I think I need to launch more aggressive advertising." Mr. Krabs began to brainstorm ideas to make up for the loss. "Hmm, what can I do?" he said to himself. "And why would the profits come up short?" He kept thinking. "It's impossible that the profits are down." Mr. Krabs said. "There's nothing that could cause this. Especially since those Kelp Shakes were banned."
He threw the balance statement down and huffed with disgust. Krabs sighed and sat at his desk. He brainstormed ideas on how his profits could be down. He thought about his employees pay. "Hmm, I could slash their wages in half."
He said. As he brainstormed, Mr. Krabs began to feel droopiness in his eyes. "Oy, I'm tired all of a sudden." He said. Krabs yawned and decided to go home. He left and locked up his restaurant. Within an hour Krabs was asleep at his home in his bed. His sleep was disturbed, however, by a dream.
He was standing in an empty, black room, or at least what appeared to be a room. He couldn't discern any floor or ceiling. Everything was pitch black. Soon the black area became the Krusty Krab. Mr. Krabs found himself sitting at the cash register. "What's going on here?" he wondered. "Order up!" said a rather cheerful voice from behind him. "Huh?" Krabs said. He saw none other than his loyal and faithful employee, Spongebob come from the kitchen and served some Krabby Patties to the customers. He then saw Squidward mopping the floors of the restaurant.
"What's going on?" Krabs asked himself.
He then heard the "ka-ching!" of the register. He looked down at the money within. He smiled, as always he did when he saw the green stuff. As he looked, however, he noticed that the change began to grow dim. "Huh?" Krabs exclaimed. He watched with horror as the coins disappeared. Before his eyes, more of the money began to disappear.
"Oh no!" he shouted. "Me money!" Soon, all of the money had disappeared. "What's going on!?" He cried. "Oh, my beautiful money!" "Mr. Krabs!" Spongebob cried out. Krabs turned to Spongebob. He saw that his employee too, was fading away. "Spongebob, what's happening' to ye!?" he cried. Spongebob watched as his body began to vanish. He looked up at Mr. Krabs with mournful eyes, and waved goodbye, just as he finished vanishing. Squidward, who had been watching, burst out with joy when Spongebob had vanished. "Woo-hoo! No more Spongebob driving me nuts! Woo-hoo!" He began to dance around in circles. The room began to spin as he did so. Mr. Krabs soon became dizzy. "I told you." said an echoing dark voice. Mr. Krabs somehow recognized it. "Red?" he asked. "Didn't I tell you?" Red said. "I did. And like the greedy idiot that you are, you didn't listen. Typical invertebrate." Mr. Krabs screamed and was soon awakened when his body had rolled off of his bed and hit the floor.
"Oof!" he said as he hit the ground. "What a horrible nightmare." Mr. Krabs saw that it was morning. He looked at the clock. Seven o'clock, just before he had to be in to open up shop. Mr. Krabs showered, brushed his teeth, ate a quick breakfast and then got into his boat to drive to the Krusty Krab. He pulled into the restaurant and leapt out, eager to start the day and get his mind off of the events of last night. He pulled the keys out of his pocket and twirled them around his claw.
During the hours of the day, things at the Krusty Krab seemed to be doing quite well. Mr. Krabs was in his office, relaxing. He was looking over some of the past ledgers, looking for any anomalies. "Let's see…" he said to himself. He examined each ledger meticulously. Mr. Krabs didn't find anything out of the ordinary.
"It seems nothing is wrong." He said. "Then why am I short?" He then heard a voice that didn't sound too happy.
"Mr. Krabs!" Squidward shouted. Krabs burst out of his office and ran to the cash register. "What is it Squidward?" he asked. "Look at this guy!" Squidward said. "He is the laziest fry cook I've ever seen!" "What!?" Krabs exclaimed. The cook was loafing around, flipping burgers with the speed of dripping molasses. Mr. Krabs growled and went into the kitchen. The new fry cook didn't even see him or hear him. He was listening to music.
"Oy, you!" Mr. Krabs roared. The fry cook turned to see Mr. Krabs at the kitchen entrance. He took off his headphones. "Listen you!" Mr. Krabs bellowed. "The name is Chet." said the fry cook. "I don't care what your name is." Mr. Krabs said. "Just pick up the pace!" "Dude, what is your problem?" Chet asked. "My problem is you are a slowpoke!" Krabs shouted. "Now get back to work!" Chet sighed. "All right." he said "All right." Chet set out an order on the serving window for Squidward to take. Mr. Krabs scurried out of the kitchen.
"Note to self." he said. "Never again hire a high school student." As he walked, Mr. Krabs glanced at a customer who was about to take a bite of a Krabby Patty. "Enjoying your meal?" he asked. The customer took a bite."I'll take that as a yes." said Mr. Krabs. The customer then, stopped chewing his meal. He had a look of illness on his face. Krabs became worried. The customer spat his Krabby Patty into a napkin. "Actually this patty was far from enjoyable." he said. "What do you mean?" Krabs asked. "This Krabby Patty tastes terrible." said the customer. "I think it's overcooked."
"No, that's not it." said a lady customer. Apparently she did not enjoy her patty as well. "It's undercooked." she said. "Uh-oh." Mr. Krabs said to himself. "That little whelp." he thought. "First he's slow, and now I come to find he can't even cook!" Mr. Krabs soon saw more and more unsatisfied customers rejecting their food, and leaving the restaurant. Krabs yelled for Chet.
Chet came from the kitchen. "Have an explanation for this?" Mr. Krabs asked, pointing at the mounds of rejected food. Chet just shrugged his shoulders. Mr. Krabs cuffed him on the shoulder. "They were complaining of their food." he said. Mr. Krabs took a patty that a customer had left behind so Chet could see. "I don't see what the big deal is." said Chet. "I'll tell ya what the big deal is!" Mr. Krabs shouted. "Bad patties means the customers don't come back, and when they don't come back, I don't make me money!" he shouted. "Can you get that into your head boy!?"
Chet just scoffed. "Whatever." he said. Krabs fumed. "If that's the attitude you're going to have, you can kiss your job goodbye!" he shouted. "You're fired!" "Aw c'mon man!" Chet said. "I cooked the burgers like you asked me too!" Krabs growled. "It's not just a matter of cooking 'em, boy! Ye gotta make sure you cook them RIGHT!!!" Chet scoffed again. "Whatever." he said. "I'm out of here." And with that, the former fry cook left the building. "You know," Squidward began. "now that he's gone, who'll make the patties now?" "I don't know." Krabs said.
"Do I wish Spongebob were here now." he said. Squidward just sighed.
"Spongebob me boy, where are ye?" Mr. Krabs asked to the air. He sighed. "I guess we do need you more than we think." Krabs said. Outside of the Krusty Krab, Red was watching. He seemed to hear what Mr. Krabs had said. "Well, it seems you guys are finally starting to get it." he said with a grin. "Now, let's see if you can read the epiphany." Red then took out his cell phone to make another call to "Zipporah." He waited for her to pick up.
"Hello?" a female voice said on the phone.
"Zipporah, it's Big Fish." said Red. "Ah, hello." She said. "How's the plan coming?" "Perfectly." Red replied. "It seems the crab is starting to understand now." "Excellent." Zipporah said. "Who's next, do you think?" Red took out a piece of paper that looked like a list of names. "Next on my list is:" Red began. "Her."