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.
Production
Sketches
Paintings
Title card background.
Music
( ‣ ) Production music
( • ) Original music
( ◦ ) SpongeBob music
‣Moloka'i Nui A - Kapono Beamer [Title card] ‣The Tip Top Polka/The Cliff Polka - Chelmsford Folk Band [Opening] ‣Romeo & Juliet Overture - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Fiachra Trench ["The new spatulas are here!"] ‣Family Tales H - Peter Balding, Otto Sieben [Teaching Pearl how to breach] ‣Vibe Link (B) - Richard Myhill ["Hello? Daddy!"] ‣Heavy Footsteps (a) - Paddy Kingsland ["SpongeBob, do you realize what this means?"] ‣The Rake Hornpipe - Robert Alexander White ["Say hello to me Pearl!"] ‣Furtive Footsteps - Paddy Kingsland ["Okay, this is it, SpongeBob. Now tell her how you really feel about that uniform."] ‣Revelation - Dick Walter ["This is the greatest uniform ever!"] •12th St Rag Slo - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["Oh, SpongeBob, you look so adorable."] ‣On The Beach - Kapono Beamer [Squidward wearing the new uniform] •Thats It ! - Nicolas Carr ["Me? Really?"] ‣Gorgeous Girl - Kurt Schick [coming up with new names for the Krusty Krab] ‣Short Fanfare [#29.02] - Alfred Kluten [The King Krab] ‣Conga [#61] - Sammy Burdson [The Kool Krab] ‣Guitar Rag 1 - Herbert Wallace, Jerry Burnham, Joseph Wilson [The Kowboy Krab] ‣Slipping Over - Dave Rogers, Paul Shaw [The Kurly Krab] ‣Shock - Cornelus Joh Bolten [The Kreepy Krab] ‣Shock Horror (A) - Dick Walter [The Killer Krab] ‣Hawaiian Link (B) - Richard Myhill [The Kuddly Krab] •Steel Licks 35 - Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward rips the uniform off] ◦Bossy Boots Song - The Capsules [Inside the Kuddly Krab] ‣Aloha - Dick Walter ["Okay, no buns."] ‣Lovely Scenery C - Mladen Franko [The grill's gone] ‣Hawaiian Link (A) - Richard Myhill [SpongeBob in a crab costume] ‣Stiff Upper Lip - Paddy Kingsland ["I'm a fry cook, darn it!"] ‣Kids Up and Go (b) - Steve Sidwell [Inside Krabs' office] ‣What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor? - Okko Bekker ["It's hip! It's coral! It's...!"] ‣Botany Bay (b) - Robert Alexander White ["It's losing money!"] •Idea Sting - Nicolas Carr ["That's it, boy!"] ◦Bossy Boots Song - The Capsules ["...I'll wait in me office."] ‣Vibe Link (A) - Richard Myhill ["How am I gonna break it to her?"] ‣Island Romance - Jan Rap [Pearl cries] ‣Orchestral Effect (f) - Dick Walter ["I've got it!"] ‣Hawaiian Link (B) - Richard Myhill [Later...] ‣Action Cut A - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob pretending to fire Pearl] ◦Bossy Boots Song - The Capsules ["Come on, gang, the mall waits!"] ‣House Of Horror [#10.5] - W. Merrick Farran [SpongeBob screams] ‣Hawaiian Breeze - Jon Jelmer ["How could we have done such a thing to me own flesh and blood?"] •Vibe & Harp Hits - Nicolas Carr ["Hmm..."] ◦Bossy Boots Song - The Capsules [Ending]
"Bossy Boots" was ranked #93 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.
Trivia
General
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 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.
Dub facts
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.
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.
When 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
When SpongeBob tries to fire Pearl, his left pupil's outline becomes purple for a split second.
