The Stakes are High

The Stakes are High is an episode from Season 122 of the SpongeBob Fanon Series (episode 31a). In this episode, Mr. Krabs goes on vacation and leaves Squidward in charge. SpongeBob comes up with a brilliant idea to win over more customers.

Plot
One morning, Mr. Krabs loaded his luggage into a taxi parked right outside The Krusty Krab. Before leaving, he told Squidward to keep the restaurant in check during his vacation, and not to let SpongeBob do anything "stupid." Squidward complied and Mr. Krabs went off to his destination. Squidward laid in his cash register post and fell asleep.

One customer yelled at Squidward to try and wake him up, but to no avail. He dropped his Krabby Patty in the process leaving him infuriated. He yelled, "you know, maybe if this restaurant had a promotional deal or something, than people wouldn't be leaving for The Chum Bucket!" SpongeBob barged through the kitchen door into the main dining area upon hearing this. He offered the distressed customer $100 cash and whispered in his ear that he will place $100 prizes under random Krabby Patties.

The next day, business ran as usual, with SpongeBob performing double duty as Squidward ditched work. Two hours later, a customer yelled in excitement as she found a $100 bill under her Krabby Patty. The rest of the restaurant heard and as she read the corresponding napkin. "Congratulations! You are a winner of the Krusty Krab sweepstakes contest. Enjoy your Krabby Patty along with your $100 prize!" read the napkin. All the other customers purchased extra Krabby Patties to try and win.

Several days later, the sweepstakes contest headlined the Bikini Bottom newspaper and surrounding areas. There was even a commercial promoting the contest. Mr. Krabs was lounging in his hotel room watching TV when he saw the commercial. Paranoid that SpongeBob could have picked up the combination of his safe, he jumped into the nearest taxi back to Bikini Bottom. Krabs, enraged, opened the entrance door to the Krusty Krab and snatched the $100 prize from the "tenth winner of the contest." "SQUIDWARD! I told you to keep an eye on Sponge..." he noticed Squidward not at the cash register before he could finish his scolding. He asked SpongeBob what "in the barnacles" he was thinking. SpongeBob nonchalantly told Mr. Krabs that he came up with a way to earn the Krusty Krab more business, and that he hadn't heard from Squidward "for days." He also mentioned that the restaurant earned twice the average revenue.

Mr. Krabs raided Squidward's house to find him lounging in his bathtub, grabbed him by the tentacles, forced him to get dressed, and then escorted over to the Krusty Krab. Mr. Krabs continued the sweepstakes contest while Squidward had cleaning duties "for a whole month" as punishment for ditching work.