Throughout the entirety of the Spongebob Squarepants series on Nickelodeon, one character has taken the brunt of suffering and the butt of the jokes: Squidward Tennisballs, er, we mean, Tentacles. He's the grumpiest, saddest, and most disillusioned character in the show or probably in all of television.
As a result, billions of millennials can now relate to Squidward after having grown up with the unhappy cephalopod. He's almost the patron saint of yuppies these days, even. In any case, some of Squidward's misery is not entirely his fault. In fact, every other character in Spongebob Squarepants has collectively chimed in on ruining his life; here are 10 of the worst things they did to Squidward.
ANNUAL ANNOY SQUIDWARD DAY
It was never explicitly declared which month "Annoy Squidward Day" is, Spongebob only stated that it would take place on the 15th. However, his calendar only showed a total of 28 days, meaning Annoy Squidward Day is likely February 15. However, it doesn't matter, Squidward gets the displeasure of being annoyed usually by Spongebob every day.
For someone who would love a moment of peace after a hard day of pink-collar work, getting annoyed is the last thing you want. We've already seen just how annoying Spongebob or Patrick can be on a daily basis to Squidward; goodness knows what takes place on Annoy Squidward Day.
DESTROYED SQUIDWARD'S HOUSE
Like most people past the age of mid-'20s these days, only a few things can alleviate the daily onset of existential dread and the disappointing reality, the house is one of those. Squidward is relatable in that regard; his Easter Island Moai house is his sanctuary from pretty much everything. Suffice to say, it's one of the few things keeping Squidward sane (though that might be a bit of a reach for a cartoon character).
Too bad it gets destroyed more often that he prefers in the show by none other than Spongebob and Patrick. One of the most notable destructions of Squidward's home is when Spongebob and Patrick blew it up with soda burp bubbles. There are also other times where they straight up trashed the place using golf clubs.
OPPOSITE DAY
The makers of Spongebob and us too, love to see Squidward's agony so much that they even made whole episodes dedicated to this. "Opposite Day" is one such episode where Squidward just can't catch a break. After finally deciding to move out and sell his house to real estate, Squidward goes out on a limb to ensure that Spongebob does not deteriorate the sale value of his house.
Hence, Opposite Day was born which led to both Spongebob and Patrick committing identity theft and posing as Squidward as well as scamming a real estate agent. Oh, and they also ruined Squidward's only chance to find a normal and peaceful life.
FIRED OVER A DIME
It's not just Spongebob and Patrick who make Squidward's life an ongoing torment. His uber-cheap boss, Mr. Krabs, has also vexed him more than once. The worst incident of this was when Mr. Krabs "lost" the very first dime he made. Squidward was suspect because he was the one manning the cash and Mr. Krabs fired him based on a mere accusation... and because of a stupid dime.
This led to Squidward becoming a vagrant who had to comedically eat his own paintings because no one would buy them. It's one of those Spongebob episodes which probably spoke more to adults than to kids. Then Spongebob took Squidward in and he quickly lost our sympathies.
JELLYFISHING
Here we have yet again another episode dedicated to Squidward's torture. It's an episode called "Jellyfishing." Squidward didn't have the best luck here because an accident involving his bicycle caused him to be wheelchair-bound and unable to talk. Since he was all alone in the cruel world, no one else could take care of him... no one else but Spongbob and Patrick.
So, the two jolly undersea best friends prepared a "best day ever" for Squidward. They took him jellyfishing! It was fun; Patrick impaled Squidward's injured hand with a blunt stick and Squidward also got zapped by a gargantuan jellyfish which made him bedridden.
RUINED HIS SUNDAY FOREVER
It's not enough for Squidward's life to be ruined just for one day, Spongebob and Patrick simply had to ensure that Squidward is permanently tormented. This happened in the "Good Neighbor" episode. All Squidward wanted in this episode is to have a peaceful Sunday to himself.
Then, Spongebob and Patrick came along and made him president of their made-up Secret Royal Order of the Good Neighbor Lodge. This annoyed Squidward so much that he turned his house into a big robot accidentally and it destroyed half the city. As punishment and payment for his crimes, Squidward was sentenced to a lifetime of community service every Sunday.
MADE HIM DEPRESSED
Often, Spongebob's attempts to help Squidward and make him happy ends up doing the exact opposite of what he wanted to achieve. This interaction between the two grew at its worst in the episode "Are You Happy Now?" Spongebob finds out in this episode that Squidward has no happy memories whatsoever (at least according to him).
He then sets out to try and give Squidward some happy memories to be ed like going to concerts, hot air balloon rides, museum trips, etc. All of those only served to make Squidward increasingly sad until he just shut off and locked himself up in his room for two weeks just lying on his bed and not taking care of himself until he finally snapped and took out his anger on Spongebob dummies.
GAVE HIM HEAD TRAUMA
"Jellyfishing" isn't the last time Spongebob and Patrick would injure Squidward seriously. During the episode "Squid Baby," Spongebob and Patrick inadvertently caused Squidward to hit his head badly on a mailbox. This gave Squidward a splitting head trauma where his head swelled up bigger and his brained regressed back to that of an infant's.
That pretty much explains the episode's name but that's not the worst part; Spongbob and Patrick had to play parents (again) and took care of baby Squidward. They did so badly and every hit in the head for baby Squidward further reduced his mental capacity. The problem only got fixed after they put ice on Squidward's head.
RUINED HIS TALKSHOW CAREER
Squidward has always been a borderline mediocre artist even though he doesn't want to believe it. At one episode, however, Squidward managed to hit it big after finding out how easy it was to get a TV show and was able to have his own talk show. Somehow, the whole of Bikini Bottom found out and wedged themselves into the talk show.
The producers then claimed that the show was doing great but a few people had to be kicked out of the program. As it turned out, Squidward was one of those even though the whole thing was his and everyone else in Bikini Bottom stole it from him. No wonder Squidward hates everyone.
EXPLOITED SQUIDWARD FOR LEMONADE
Spongebob Squarepants is no stranger to bizarrely disgusting episodes and "Ink Lemonade" is one of those. It began with Patrick finally having a job at a lemonade stand but it wasn't doing so well. Squidward accidentally squirts some of his ink on Patrick's lemonade and they became an instant huge hit (eww).
So, Patrick channeled his inner Mr. Krabs and started exploiting Squidward for his ink just to sustain the lemonade business. He even went as far as turning Squidward's whole home into a haunted house just to squeeze him dry of his ink-- scratch that, that diabolical plan is most definitely Plankton-level, not just Mr. Krabs. Regardless, it was Squidward who got the worst of it, as he does in most episodes about him.