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-->'''French Narrator''' (At the end of ''Nasty Patty''): ''Well, that's our story. Yes, they are all idiots, aren't they?''

* In ''Nasty Patty'', Mr. Krabs and Spongebob catch wind of a fake health inspector being on the loose, while they have a health inspector of their own inside the building.\\
'''You'd expect''' that Mr. Krabs would either send Spongebob out to ask the Inspector for legal documentation, if not do it himself.\\
'''Instead''' they make the Nasty Patty.
** Mr.Krabs has Spongebob make a nasty Krabby Patty. Just as the Inspector is about to take a bite, he chokes on a fly ([[RuleOfFunny underwater?]]) and passes out. Krabs later learns that the fake Health Inspector was captured. \\
'''You'd then expect''' that Spongebob, Krabs, or someone else would go see if he's all right. He should still have a working pulse, and they could give him a real Krabby Patty and pass the inspection.\\
'''Instead''' they think they've killed him, starting a long charade of burying him and hiding him from the cops, [[ButtMonkey unintentionally torturing him in the process]], even when he turned out OK.
* In ''Spongebob Meets the Strangler'', the Tattle Tale Strangler puts on a mustache gag to get closer to strangling Spongebob.\\
'''You'd expect''' Spongebob to see through the PaperThinDisguise\\
'''Instead''' He falls for the oldest trick in the book, then again, Spongebob's idiocy throughout that point gives us [[CrowningMomentOfFunny hilarious moments]] that unintentionally but [[LaserGuidedKarma rightfully]] give the Strangler punishment.
* "A Pal for Gary" is pretty much the definition of this trope.
** The whole episode involves Spongebob getting a new toy-like thing named Puffy Fluffy, for Gary to play with, completely unaware that it hates being around other pets (even when the pet seller told him that). He showers Puffy Fluffy with respect and tries to force Gary to accept him. That night, he thinks Gary and Puffy Fluffy will get along perfectly, but Puffy Fluffy transforms into a monster and terrorizes Gary throughout the house. It causes damage to Spongebob's house, and the next morning when Spongebob wakes up, ''he thinks Gary is responsible!'' He enters the living room and sees Gary in Puffy Fluffy's mouth!\\
'''You'd expect''' that Spongebob would try to save Gary.\\
'''Instead''' he angrily tells Gary to put Puffy Fluffy down. Uh, yeah, he can't do that right now, because Puffy Fluffy has him '''IN HIS MOUTH'''! As he continues to rant, he is then taken by Puffy Fluffy's fangs.
** Then, Gary saves Spongebob by using a lasso and acting like a cowboy, and knocks Spongebob out of Puffy Fluffy's mouth. Puffy Fluffy then breaks out of the pineapple house and flees.\\
'''You'd then expect''' that Spongebob would finally realize what Fluffy really was, and apologize to Gary for treating him so terribly, considering he, oh you know, '''JUST SAVED HIS LIFE.'''\\
'''Instead''' he tries to get Puffy Fluffy back, but after that fails, he ''scolds Gary AGAIN''. '''[[BigWhat WHAT?!]]''' He neglected his own pet horribly in favor of a monster and ''NEVER'' apologized! And despite that, they make up in the very next scene with little trouble, in which Spongebob decides to take Gary to work everyday so he won't neglect him.\\
'''Extra idiot points:''' Considering that at the beginning of the episode, Spongebob felt bad and that he was neglecting Gary, he should have thought of THAT while Puffy Fluffy was there, but NOOOOOOO.\\
'''[[FailureIsTheOnlyOption Let's just face it]]:''' Spongebob was more of a jerk than usual in this episode. He was also more of an idiot as well.
* A basic staple, Spongebob going to Patrick for advice, or vice versa.\\
'''You'd expect''' that Spongebob would realized that Patrick is TooDumbToLive.\\
'''Instead''' the situation goes FromBadToWorse.

* In "The Slumber Party", SpongeBob uses a pizza man disguise to get inside Pearl's party for survelliance, forced to do so by Mr. Krabs. The mustache flies away and Pearl and her friends confront SpongeBob. SpongeBob runs to Mr. Krabs and tells him to "STEP ON IT!!!" so that way he doesn't get maimed.\\
'''You'd expect''' that Mr. Krabs grabs SpongeBob and drives him home.\\
'''Instead''' he takes the "STEP ON IT!!!" term too seriously and ''drives off without him''.\\
'''And that ultimately causes''' SpongeBob get impounded into a pizza, and he ships himself to Mr. Krabs.\\
'''You'd then expect''': Wait, it's been shown that SpongeBob can change into different shapes, so couldn't Mr. Krabs do something to revert him back to normal?\\
'''Instead''': He takes a piece of SpongeBob, eats it, complains that he's cold, tells him that he should've been here earlier ([[{{Jerkass}} this is coming from the guy that drove away from him and left him in danger]]), and takes another slice of SpongeBob!
* In "Shellback Shenanigans", Plankton disguises himself as Gary, SpongeBob's pet snail, to get the Krabby Patty formula.\\
'''You'd expect''' that SpongeBob realizes that so-called Gary that's "turning green and [[SuddenlyVoiced talking]]" is really Plankton.\\
'''Instead''' he actually ''believes'' that Plankton is Gary. Not only that, the doctors (who are '''PROFESSIONALS''') thought he was Gary, too!
* In "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!", Plankton decides that in order to get the Krabby Patty, he needs to sell fruitcakes with the element "Jerktonium" in them. He goes to sell it and finds SpongeBob, who eats all of the fruitcake without turning into a jerk. When Plankton walks off, SpongeBob sells the food to nearby Christmas carolers, who turn into jerks upon eating them.\\
'''You'd expect''' that SpongeBob realizes that the fruitcake has Jerktonium and tries to get rid of it.\\
'''Instead''', since he's immune to Jerktonium, he goes around selling the fruitcake--and promptly turns everyone into [[{{Jerkass}} jerks]]!\\
'''And while we're on that subject''' There's Plankton's plot with the Jerktonium. The first song in the special claims that Santa 'has his Jolly Little Eyes' on everyone in Bikini Bottom.\\
'''You'd expect''' that Santa would realize that the citizens of Bikini Bottom have artificially been turned into jerks, give Plankton another lump of coal for the year, and find a way to reverse the element. [[spoiler:Like song.]]\\
'''Instead''' He never suspects Plankton was behind this plot the whole time.\\
'''And to rub salt in the wound''' When Plankton builds a Robotic Spongebob due to the real one's immunity to the element, it starts to wreck havoc. Keep in mind it looks nothing like him.\\
'''You'd expect''' See above, but replace 'artificially been turned into jerks' with 'The robot framed him.'\\
'''Instead''' Again, Plankton isn't suspected. Spongebob gets the blame.\\

* In "No Free Rides," Mrs. Puff gives extra credit and passes Spongebob so she doesn't have to deal with him for another year. Spongebob ends up getting a boatmobile from his parents.\\
'''You'd Expect''' That Mrs. Puff would explain to Spongebob about what she did in order to guarantee that he won't wreak havoc with his bad driving.\\
'''Instead''' [[Funny/SpongeBobSquarePants She attempts, and fails, to steal his boatmobile and ends up landing herself in jail]].
* In ''One Coarse Meal'', Spongegbob has witnessed Plankton wishing to get run over due to being scared to death by Krabs in a whale's disguise, when he told it to Krabs, he [[Main/MoralEventHorizon laughs at Plankton's misery]]. Spongebob then returns to Plankton who gets told a secret by Spongebob.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For Spongebob to either mouth off to Krabs about what he had done to Plankton just like previous seasons or attempt to help Plankton get out of his suicide mode in any way, even if he has to tell his boss Krabs his true fear of losing money.\\
'''Instead:''' Spongegbob tells Plankton Krab's false fear of mimes that didn't even budge Krabs one bit and just as Plankton gets his deserved revenge Spongebob drives him back home with the (holographic) whales nearby essentially returning Plankton to his suicidal state again. And Krabs congratulates him for it.\\
'''Thus:'''Thanks to Spongegbob's obliviousness of Krab's MoralEventHorizon, Krabs becomes a KarmaHoudini essentially becoming the epitome of DesignatedHero.
* In TheMovie, when Squidward confronts Plankton at the Chum Bucket.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For Squidward to keep his mouth closed and not reveal to Plankton that he knows his plan, and notify the authorities when he leaves the Chum Bucket right away.\\
'''Instead:''' ''He explicitly tells Plankton about his plan and says that he will report him,'' thus allowing Plankton to activate the Chum Bucket helmets and the mind-controlled citizens kidnapping him.
* In "Little Yellow Book", where Squidward catches [=SpongeBob=] writing in his diary and when Squidward has it in his hands, wondering what it is, [=SpongeBob=] defensively takes it away from him.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' [=SpongeBob=] would keep it with him or hide it when Squidward's not around.\\
'''Instead:''' He leaves it out in the open and Squidward reads it after luring him away.\\
'''Thus:''' [=SpongeBob=] is humiliated.\\
'''But Then:''' He ''publishes'' the diary because it made people laugh, completely forgetting that it was that thing that humiliated him.\\
'''Extra Idiot Points:''' He tells Squidward that he has an even more embarrassing diary and even '''shows''' it to him.\\
'''And That Ultimately Causes:''' Squidward takes and reads that diary while his back is turned, humiliating him once again. [[TheDitz Just, wow.]]\\
'''So Basically:''' [=SpongeBob=] is ''clearly'' unfit to keep a diary if he can't protect it from nosy intruders.\\
'''[[FailureIsTheOnlyOption Why Do We Even Bother]]:'''Spongebob doesn't even think about the way Squidward treats him in this episode, and acts nice to him. But, of course this is ''[[TheDitz Spongebob]]'' we're talking about, so why should we even be surprised.
* In "Stuck in the Wringer", [=SpongeBob=] is...[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well, yeah]]. Patrick happens to come along and [=SpongeBob=] asks him to help.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Patrick would go to [=SpongeBob's=] aid, turn the crank, and be a good friend to a friend in need.\\
'''Instead...ah, screw it:''' Patrick '''''[[TooDumbToLive SOMEHOW]]''''' thinks it's a good idea to use '''Forever Glue''' on the wringer, thus trapping [=SpongeBob=] forever...at least it would were it not for the ''[[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop unforgivable]]'' ending.\\
'''Thus, [[WhatTheHellTownsPeople citizens of Bikini Bottom,]]''' [[StrawmanHasAPoint StrawBob SquareMan was completely in the right to do what he did to Patrick.]]
* In "Kracked Krabs", Mr. Krabs enters a video of him being cheap to win the "Cheapest Crab Alive" award. In the video, Mr. Krabs puts a sign for free Krabby Patties attracting a crowd of customers and then charges $1 per footstep.\\
'''You Expect:''' The crowd would do the smart thing and upon seeing the sign, would get all their Krabby Patties to go and take large footsteps to make sure they can pay as little as possible, or go to a different resturant.\\
'''Instead:''' Upon seeing the sign, the customers start bouncing around and taking tons of footsteps in panic. Later, they lose like 50 Krabby Patties, throwing them off balance and making them take more footsteps, which ends up costing them ''more than what the Krabby Patties would have cost.'' It's incidents like this that make you wonder if the Bikini Bottom except Squidward, Sandy, and Mr. Krabs know the value of a dollar. At least it was kind of [[CrowningMomentOfFunny funny]].
* In "Toy Store of Doom", Spongebob and Patrick successfully defeat a monster that was scaring them--the monster, howeve, is actually just a harmless, miniscule wind-up toy robot.\\
'''You'd expect''' that Spongebob and Patrick either destroy the toy to avoid it from *sigh* bothering them, or just put it back in the shelf.\\
'''Instead''', Patrick walks over to the toy, picks it up, and '''''WINDS IT BACK UP''''', thus causing more trauma for the cowardly two.\\
'''FridgeLogic:''' If Patrick is scared of the toy robot, then how come he was able to walk over to the toy and wind it back up ''without freaking out?''
* In "Face Freeze!", Spongebob and Patrick are told that if they keep on making "[[NightmareFace funny]]" faces, then their faces will freeze and stay like that. They try so hard to not make faces, but it's obvious that they are going to snap.\\
'''You'd expect''' that since they can't resist they make only three or two faces and keep them on for, say, a microsecond.\\
'''Instead''' they make several funny faces and keep one on to debunk the "freezing" claim. [[SarcasmMode Surprise, surprise,]] their faces freeze and they fear they can't go to work that way.\\
'''So THEN''' they go to Sandy's to fix their faces.\\
'''You'd expect''' that Sandy, since she's been {{Flanderiz|ation}}ed to have an obsession with science than usual, uses some serum experiment to fix their faces.\\
'''Instead''' she "fixes" their faces with her hands. The result: their faces are even uglier than the frozen ones, Mr. Krabs discovers Spongebob made faces, and he makes a face and it freezes. Then Patrick comes over, and Squidward's face freezes as well, and {{everybody laughs|Ending}}.
* "Gramma's Secret Recipe" is about Plankton masquerading as his grandmother in order to steal the Krabby Patty recipe. At the beginning of the episode, Plankton has an {{Imagine Spot}} where he, in disguise, goes into the Krusty Krab and is able to get the recipe from Krabs pretty much just by asking.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Plankton to simply perform the plan he just came up with in his head.\\
'''Instead, For Some Reason:''' he goes to [=SpongeBob=]'s house and claims to be ''[=SpongeBob=]'s'' grandmother (of course, [=SpongeBob=] falls for it, but that's not the point).\\
'''The Result Is:''' Plankton, as [=SpongeBob=]'s "Great Grammy-Maw," is dragged around by [=SpongeBob=] to do boring activities, and when he actually ''does'' get to the formula, he (Plankton) ends up getting busted by his real grandmother.
* In the episode "House Sittin' for Sandy", [=SpongeBob=] accidentally knocks a science beaker off a table and it rolls off.\\
'''You'd expect''' that [=SpongeBob=] runs and picks it up.\\
'''Instead''' he '''''STAYS THERE''''' and WATCHES it roll, and he '''''DOESN'T DO ANYTHING'''''.\\
'''Extra idiot points''': Had this been real life, [=SpongeBob=] could've easily picked up the beaker because it'd stop rolling midway through due to friction. Did the writers even take science class?\\
'''Then''', it rolls into the shed where Sandy keeps her robots and taps one of the robots, causing him to fall onto another one, activating it. The robots then fight each other, blast out of the shed, and then wreak havoc in Sandy's treedome.\\
'''You'd expect''' that [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick take evasive action like try and find the switch that can turn off all the robots, or just fight them.\\
'''Instead''', they STAY AND STAND THERE, and they do NOTHING to stop the robots.\\
'''After all of this''': Sandy comes over and uses a ray gun that looks like she's going to shoot them at first, but actually shoots everything damaged. She then reveals all of this was an experiment so she could test the gun. They all say "YAY!", then SpongeBob drops the beaker AGAIN!\\
'''You'd expect''' that they all run and pick it up, again.\\
'''Instead''', they don't do anything YET AGAIN, and it rolls into the shed and the robots blast it again.\\
'''You'd THEN expect''' that they'd fight the robots, turn off their switches or, for Sandy, blast them with the ray gun.\\
'''Instead''', they WATCH the robots destroy the treedome AGAIN. Luckily for Sandy, she plans to fix everything with the ray gun...but then one of the robots takes it and destroys it. [[NotSoInnocentWhistle SpongeBob and Patrick then nervously exit the treedome to prevent themselves from getting into more trouble with Sandy.]]
* In "The Krabby Patty that Ate Bikini Bottom," Mr. Krabs learns that Sandy has invented a serum that makes food grow to giant size. He manages to get SpongeBob over with a Krabby Patty, and Sandy tests her serum by putting one drop on the patty. Nothing happens. Sandy then announces that she needs to use the ladies' room.\\
'''You'd expect''' that Sandy would give the serum to SpongeBob, since he's better friends with her and he knows not to go against what she says.\\
'''Instead''', she gives the serum to ''Mr. Krabs'', who clearly wants to use the serum for his own gain, and runs off. Krabs promptly dumps the whole bottle of serum on the Krabby Patty, despite SpongeBob's protests. The two then leave.\\
'''It gets worse''': Later, not only has the patty grown to gigantic size, it's become sentient and starts consuming everything in the Krusty Krab. The customers, Squidward, and SpongeBob begin to flee the restaurant.\\
'''You'd expect''' Mr. Krabs to join the crowd and get away from the monstrous patty.\\
'''Instead''' he ''blocks Squidward and SpongeBob in'', claiming the giant patty is "a dream come true," and that they should "stay and work."\\
'''Then,''' Krabs runs ''straight'' into the Monster Patty, because [[MoneyFetish "Cashie"]] is getting eaten; Krabs gets eaten, too.\\
'''In short''', if Sandy had just given the serum to SpongeBob, or had just kept it herself, it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble.
* At the end of "Penny Foolish", the penny [=SpongeBob=] found that Mr. Krabs [[MoneyFetish was obsessed with getting]] turns out to be gum for his gum collection. The "gum" in question turns out to be a $500 dollar bill.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' [=SpongeBob=] keeps the dollar.\\
'''Instead:''' '''''He throws it away, not knowing how rich he could be had he simply kept it.'''''
* At the end of "Eek, an Urchin!", [=SpongeBob=] has gathered all the urchins in a trash can and is going to several places in order to release them, but no matter how far away he is, Mr. Krabs still thinks that the places he's in are still too close to the Krusty Krab.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' [=SpongeBob=] releases the urchins somewhere far away, no matter how close it may seem to Mr. Krabs.\\
'''Instead:''' He releases them '''''[[HereWeGoAgain right in front of the Krusty Krab]].'''''
* Plankton's plan in "''Frozen Face-Off''". He builds a robotic duplicate of himself to distract everyone else at a sled race while he is back at the Krusty Krab. But Karen is left out of it.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Plankton to have built a duplicate for Karen or a robotic worm. With Karen around, Plankton could have stolen the formula much quicker than in the episode.\\
'''Instead:''' He has Karen freeze her circuits in the sled race so he could get the formula himself. Ultimately, Karen joins SpongeBob and friends to thwart his plan.
* In "''Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy''", Sandy has her fur stolen by Plankton.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Sandy to put on her suit and catch the thief.\\
'''Instead:''' Sandy goes outside in her underwear. Then she gets arrested for public nudity.