Ah yes, the sea. A vast unexplored part of the world filled with lesser known beauties. This is your first time, isn't it? Here, we see the city of Bikini Bottom, teeming with life. We shall take a closer look at one of the neighborhoods, couch street. It is home to Nickelodeon's favorite sea creature: Spongebob Squarepants. Of course he's a sea sponge that lives in a pineapple. It couldn't have been any other way.
The sound of a foghorn jolted Spongebob out of a gentle dream. As he sat up, a bright smile formed on his face. "Good morning Gary. Today's the day!", he greeted his pet sea snail, who groggily opened his eyes and let out a long yawn. The sponge wasn't bothered by his pet's lack of enthusiasm. He understood that most people didn't share his morning energy, and was perfectly ok with that. But that's not the matter for that day.
It had been a week since the sponge had turned 16. He and his friend Patrick Star had a sweet 16 birthday party just the previous week, with desert and decorations to boot. It wasn't a lonely party, not unlike what most would think. He couldn't possibly be lonely with the sea star around. As such, he was now legally allowed to get a job. And of course, to get a job once, you must prepare for it thoroughly.
The sponge climbed up a ladder onto his diving board, and jumped off of it, gently landing in his clothes. He had showered the night before, and always preferred to sleep in just his underwear. Surely, he shouldn't be ashamed of his partial nakedness if his pet and sometimes best friend are the only ones to see him that way.
With his clothes on and ready, he walked over to his exercising room to physically prepare himself. He'd been exercising in the room in anticipation for the two weeks leading up to that moment, and had made a bit of progress as such. "Ok Spongebob, I know this is painful and kind of tedious. But you need to be in top physical condition if you want to knock the application out of the park. Ok, let's do this.", he encouraged himself as his fingers wrapped themselves around a barbell with a plush attached to each side. After a minute of struggling, almost passing out for that matter, he managed to lift the weights above his head. Gently putting it down, he left out a heavy sigh. "You can do this.", he assured himself as he made his way outside. Once there, he ran down the road of his neighborhood and towards his destination, all the while saying "I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready." to himself. It was his go to phrase for motivation, and he especially needed it at that moment.
It wasn't long before Spongebob found himself standing by his destination. In front of him stood the finest dining ever established for eating and the most popular fast food restaurant in Bikini Bottom: The Kusty Krab. Home of the Krabby Patty, dozens of folks would flood the eatery daily. Some week or so ago, the previous fry cook left his job to pursue bigger ambitions, leaving the job wide open for applications. "Ok, Spongebob, you've been waiting for this moment for years. All you have to do is go in their, march up to the manager, look 'em straight in the eye, lay it on the line, and…" before the sponge could finish his motivational speech, he felt his nerves flaring up. Surely he couldn't be the only person trying to apply for the job. What if there was someone in that building, who could somehow outperform him? Was he too late? Was there even a chance to get the job? "I-I can't do this! "he cried out, turning heel and beginning to walk away.
In the midst of his self-doubt spiral, he temporarily lost awareness of what was around him. Though the period of time was short, it was for long enough for him to run into something-no wait, someone. Looking up, he took notice of Patrick. "Where do you think you're going?", the sea star asked him with an air of skepticism. "Hey Patrick. I was just-" "Just bailing out your dream? Spongebob, you can't just can't just walk away like this. Get in there, and..get! That! Job!" The sponge was interrupted while he was trying to give an excuse. "Can't you see? I'm not good enough to get the job. There's someone in there, probably doing what I want to do at least 10 times better. How am I supposed to surpass that?", he explained to his friend after the interruption, venting out his feeling of self-doubt.
"Not good enough? Tell me, who spent all last summer perfecting burger techniques?"
"Uh, I did?"
"Who made a spatula with only toothpicks and glue?"
"I did."
"Who, uh, ah….can absorb information like water?
"I can."
"Are you ready?!
"I'm ready!"
"Then go get that job!"
After the motivational back and forth, Spongebob turned his body back to the restaurant with a new sense of confidence. Even if there was someone with a lot of skill in there, he'd still have to at least try.
The sound of a shrill "I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready.", snapped Squidward Tentacles out of his dull, internal monologue as he cleaned off yet another piece of graffiti on one of Krusty Krab's windows. Looking behind him, he saw the 16 year old sponge walking towards the door with his usual deal of sickening nativity. It almost reminded him of when he was 16 and first got his job as the grease hell people call an "eatery". It had been about 2 years since then, and he wished he knew better before signing his life to a third rate fast food restaurant. Unfortunately, time travel wasn't an option.
"What could that smiling idiot possibly want?" the octopus asked himself, only for his stomach to drop as he took note of the "Help Wanted" sign on the door. "Crap! I need to warn Krabs!"
As Spongebob was opening the door to enter the building, his path was suddenly blocked by his other neighbor Squidward rushing through the doorway. Afterwards, he set foot in the restaurant to see him speaking nervously to the eatery's manager, Eugene Krabs. He wasn't sure why he was acting so anxious that moment, since he wasn't normally so excited around him. The sponge cleared his throat, getting the attention of the two. "Permission to come aboard captain. I've been preparing for this moment my whole life, and….I shall not fail!", he declared with full confidence, as he took a step to shake the crab's hand. Unfortunately, he failed to notice a nail sticking up from the floorboard, causing him to trip and ricochet all across the building. After landing face-first barely an inch in front of where he was previously, he made an awkward "ta-da" expression. Eugene didn't verbally respond, only giving him a half-concerned, half-skeptical look. "I am so sorry about that . You see, I was so excited, that I kind of, uh, stopped paying attention for a bit. Please give me a chance! Squidward's my neighbor-he knows what I'm capable of. Just ask him."
After the sponge was finished with his pitiful explanation, and Sqidward walked a couple feet away so as to not have him listen. After taking in a deep breath, the 18 year old octopus let out a blunt "No." "Sure, lad.", the middle aged crab spoke back, giving him a friendly wink.
Not long past before the two casually walked back over to where Spongebob was. "So, where do I start?", he asked, barely holding back his enthusiasm for the job. "Well, you see lad, here at the Krusty Krab new applicants are tasked with an entrance test to see if they're up for the job. Yours, me boy, is…" Eugene leaned into Squidward before barely audibly whispering "What was it again, Squid me boy?" After being whispered something incomprehensible, the red crab turned his attention back to the 16 year old sponge. "Go fetch me a hydrodynamic spatula with port-and-starboard attachments, and turbo drive. Don't come back 'till you have one." "Aye aye captain! One hydrodynamic spatula with port-and-starboard attachments, and turbo drive comin' right up!" "Wait boy, don't leave without this." The middle aged crab placed a trademark Krusty crew hat on the sponge's square head. And with that, Spongebob was off to fulfill his duty.
"Oh, that landlubber ain't coming back."
As Eugene and Squidward watched the naive sponge leave for his impossible missing, they couldn't help but feel the slightest bit of pity. They guessed he'd end up spending the rest of his day, maybe even the rest of his week running in circles, given his high amounts of determination.
As the two laughed at the thought, an eerily familiar scent entered Krab's nostrils. "You notice that ?" he asked, dread beginning to creep up his spine. "Notice what?", the octopus questioned in response, looking positively confused. Just outside the door, a bus teeming with chattery folks pulled up just in front of the restaurant. "That smell-do ya smell that? The smell of smelly smells, that's quite…smelly.", he reiterated. Familiarity made the crab's eyes widen. "What?" The 18 year old was only made more confused by the statement. Suddenly, a whole wave of em' came rushing into the building with no sense of courtesy and patience- anchovies.
The two were almost immediately backed into a wall by the flood of hungry anchovies, the sound of them chanting "Eat." filling the air. "Would you all please be quiet? Is this really the polite way to come to a fast food place?", Squidward demanded, positively sick and tired of the crowd's horrible behavior. He's seen bad customers before- but this was just ridiculous. After the chanting died down, he calmly ordered "I can't get your orders unless you all form a neat, single file mind. Understand?"
Instead of obeying, the crowds fell into chaos once more, moving in erratic manners. Jumping into the boat-shaped cashier, the two found themselves hoisted in the air, as though they were in the midst of rough waters.
Spongebob entered the most convenient place in Bikini bottom for convenient shopping: Barg N Mart. The store practically owned everything, from food items to kitchen supplies. It was his go to place for groceries and toys for Gary, and came at least once a week. Grabbing his shopping cart, he took the time to analyze the aisles.
Dairy,no,meat,already have it,frozen food, prefer fresh foods, spatulas-perfect.
As he made his way into the spatula aisle, it took his about a minute to find what he needed.
"This is the end of us, !"
Eugene and Squidward were barely hanging onto a raft, the anchovies crashing at them like waves in the middle of a stormy ocean. " , you don't understand how much I could've done in life! Yet here I am, about to be trampled to death by psychos."
In the midst of the chaos, Spongebob flew in the restaurant with his new spatula's propellers. "Hello . Ordered this?", he confidently stated, pointing to the object with his free hand. Eugene seemingly could only stutter at the sight, visibly in shock. "Just what you wanted- a hydrodynamic spatula with port-and-starboard attachments, and turbo drive. Would you believe they only had one in stock?", he added. "Just get in the kitchen, lad!" the middle aged crab demanded frantically, to which the 16 year old responded enthusiastically with "Aye aye, captain!"
After propelling himself into the empty kitchen, the sponge went straight to work. Vegetables were sliced, cheese was taken out of plastic, and dozens upon dozens of non-meat patties were placed on the grill to cook. With quick succession, the sponge had loads of finished Krabby Patties finished and flung out of the kitchen, straight into the hungry customers' mouths. After not even 5 minutes had passed, the chaos had cleared up, the folks leaving satisfied after throwing money on the ground. Him and the other two were left alone, with the red crab bringing in a wheelbarrow from his office to collect the money. Spongebob headed back into the dining room of the restaurant, his test having been finished.
"You're the quickest and finest foodsman I've seen in the seven seas. Welcome aboard.", congratulated the sponge with a pat on the back. "But , he-" "Can't talk with ya right now, . I need to count all me money.", the middle aged crab cut off Squidward mid-sentence, before wheeling his cash into his office. The octopus only let out a heavy sigh in response, murmuring something under his breath. "Hello Krusty Krew. Hi Spongebob!" Patrick stepped into the building, looking fresh from an afternoon nap. "What are you ordering this time?", the 18 year old octopus bluntly asked indifferently. "Just one Krabby Patty please." "One Krabby Patty comin' right up!", the sponge uttered, rushing back into the kitchen. His new job needed him once more, and he couldn't disappoint!