Employee of the Month

Employee of the Month is the 9th episode of the series. It aired on November 7, 2004, in Canada on Teletoon and on March 12, 2009 in the United States on Cartoon Network. Jonesy gets a job as a secret shopper, and an offhand comment he drops inside the Khaki Barn prompts Chrissy to make Nikki the Employee of the Month. After she gets the award, however, Nikki begins acting just like the Clones. Meanwhile, Jude tries to figure out who his boss at Stick It is.

Main Plot
Jude and Jonesy are hanging around Jude's workplace when Jonesy informs his friend that he's picked up a great job: mall secret shopper. Not only does he get paid to go around the mall, but he's found a way to scam the stores by letting it slip that he's the secret shopper and taking bribes. He then gets Jude to give him some free noodles as a bribe, and after he eats them, he heads over to the Khaki Barn. There, he gets Chrissy to offer him some free pants, and hooks her up with some information: she'd be a shoo-in for Manager of the Year were it not for one of her salespeople always lagging behind in sales. This convinces Chrissy to fire that salesperson; however, when Jonesy finds out that Nikki is the one on the chopping block, he's shocked and tries to convince Chrissy to train Nikki instead of firing her. Chrissy eventually agrees, and hatches a plan to bring Nikki into line.

The first step in her plan is to make Nikki Employee of the Month. This new position is a shock to everyone who isn't Chrissy, of course; both Kristen and Kirsten believed that they were going to get the position, and Nikki knew that she was the worst-performing salesperson of the bunch. Being Employee of the Month shocks Nikki, and when she tells her friends about it, they react with the appropriate amount of mockery. At work, things get even odder, as Chrissy is treating her as a confidante and customers are actually listening to Nikki's opinion of the clothes. Being Employee of the Month is starting to change Nikki, too, as she finds herself actually doing work when she's not paying attention.

As the day goes on, Nikki starts helping customers more and more and eventually blurts out the store's goodbye, "Have a Khaki Day!" unironically. As soon as she does this, Nikki claps a hand over her mouth; however, Chrissy has witnessed this and comes over to congratulate her on her improvement over the past day. She then tells Nikki to take a break and gives her access to the special Employee of the Month private lounge.

When Nikki enters the lounge, she finds it to be a minimalist white space with perfumes and a retractable toilet. When she sits on it, a computer scans her and notices some problems. Specifically, Nikki is wearing facial jewelry. However, Nikki does not get upset by the computer's invasion; in fact, she seems entranced by it, and when it demands she remove her piercings, she does so without a fight.

Later that day, she swings by the Big Squeeze to see her friends. Naturally, they notice her new demeanor, and when she heads back to work, they follow and see her happily working hard. They watch as she helps Coach Halder out, and when she slips into the Employee of the Month lounge, they rush in behind her. They attempt to reason with her, but Nikki refuses to listen–until Caitlin slaps her repeatedly and yells at her to wake up. This snaps Nikki out of her brainwashed fugue, and she decides to set things straight. She undoes her ponytail, puts the jewelry back in, and yells at Chrissy. Jonesy comes in at this moment just in time to be greeted by an angry Nikki, who refuses to help, so he marks down the Khaki Barn, torpedoing Chrissy's chances of becoming Manager of the Year. Nikki hears about this, however, and she steals Jonesy's pad in order to write her own reviews on her break.

Sub-Plot One: Jonesy the Secret Shopper
After Jonesy finishes up at the Khaki Barn, he heads over to see Jude again at Stick It. There, he and Jude have a conversation about Jude's boss, whom Jude hasn't seen since his interview. Jude realizes that his boss doesn't know what a good job he's doing, and decides to search for him, although Jonesy, who has never had a good boss, thinks this is a fool's errand. He does have the phone number, though, so he gives it to Jude before heading off to Soft and Lacy.

Later, Jonesy meets his friends at the Big Squeeze. Jen is worried about the so-called secret shopper that's supposed to be going around, and Caitlin is thinking that the job should have been hers. Jonesy doesn't reveal who it is to any of them until he heads over to Spin This, where he scams some free CDs. With the cat out of the bag to Wyatt, he then goes to the Penalty Box, where he tries to get free stuff from Jen. Unfortunately for him, Jen isn't in the mood for his "tricks" and doesn't believe when he claims to be the secret shopper, even going so far as to threaten him with bodily harm if he doesn't leave.

The next time that the group meets at the Big Squeeze, Jen informs her friends of Jonesy's prank only for Wyatt to reveal that Jonesy isn't lying: he really is the mall secret shopper. This convinces Jen to make it up to Jonesy, and she does so by giving him any and all merchandise that he asks for. After Nikki loses him his job by rewriting the reviews, however, Jonesy gets canned and his reviews are thrown away. This leads an angry Jen to take her revenge by using a piece of merchandise she gave Jonesy to beat him up.

Sub-Plot Two: Jude's Boss
After Jude finds out about Jonesy's job, he realizes that he wants his boss to know what a good job he's doing. However, no matter how he tries, he can't get in contact with his boss–until he calls the number provided using his cell phone. The phone that rings is the Stick It phone, and Jude realizes that he's his own boss. Jude then congratulates himself for doing a good job and decides to take the afternoon off in order to take Jonesy to the movies.

Quotes
Jude: Darn right, made 'em myself. Jonesy: A bunch of free noodles would probably be delicious. Jude: Yep, whole bunch of delicious. (There is a long pause.) Jonesy: (sighing) Jude, give me a free box of the noodles, and I'll give you a high rating. Jude: Oh. Oh! Right. Nikki: (looking in a mirror) What have they done to me!?! I'm totally hideous! I look–I look–like you! Jonesy: H-hey, Jen! How's it going...? Jen: Now that you've lost your secret shopper job, I thought you, me, and John could have a little chat. Jonesy: John? (Jen slams an electronic racket on the table.) Racket: YOU WANT SOME OF THIS!? Jonesy: Ah! Now wait, Jen, let's talk this out-AAAAHHH!!! (Jonesy runs as Jen pursues and proceeds to beat him senseless with the racket.) Racket: ARE YOU NUTS!?! WHAT ARE YOU, BLIND!?! OW!!! MORON!!! Jonesy: You're the boss of Stick-It. Jude: Dude! Jonesy: Jude! And may I say you're doing an excellent job? Top marks. Jude: Yeah, I'm a good kid. So, as my own boss, I guess I get to give myself breaks. Jonesy: Definitely. Jude: You still out of a job? Jonesy: Of course. Jude: Cool. Movies all afternoon, on me.
 * Jonesy: Those noodles sure look tasty.
 * Kristen: That sweater looks so perfect on you! I see a lot of girls come in here, and you are definitely one of them.
 * Wyatt: See you after work, Khaki Queen.
 * Caitlin: (slapping Nikki) Get ahold of yourself, girl, you're turning into one of them! And okay, it's fun to have you being nice to me, but you're totally freaking me out!
 * Jen: Jonesy...
 * Jude: Whoa. If I'm correct, this could only mean–

Trivia
Reason for firing: Nikki rewrote all of Jonesy's evaluations with false results in revenge for nearly getting her converted into a Clone.
 * Goof: At the opening of the episode, when Jonesy gestures to his shopping cart, there are a few bags from the Khaki Barn inside. This would seem to suggest that he'd already been there, done his review, and gotten free items, yet he goes to the Khaki Barn to do a review after his stop at Stick It.
 * Jonesy's job: mall secret shopper.
 * Goof: A shocked Wyatt exclaims upon seeing Nikki act like a clone that he hasn't seen her this nice since she was three. However, in most episodes (like the second overall episode of the series), it's stated that the gang (minus Caitlin) has known each other since they were in Kindergarten.
 * Jude finds out that he's both the worker and manager of Stick It. Therefore, it is revealed that he is his own boss.
 * Strangely enough, in the previous episode, he did know that he was the manager, and he stated that he was hired on as manager in "Take This Job and Squeeze It." Of course, he could have forgotten what position he was hired on as between the pilot and this episode, and in "Breaking Up with the Boss' Son" he could have been lying about his position to Stanley. Alternatively, "Breaking Up with the Boss' Son" could take place after this episode chronologically.
 * The theme song in this episode sounds different than in most episodes of the show. It seems to be played and sung at a faster pace.
 * Chrissy's stated to be two years older than Nikki (and, by extension, the rest of the main six). This in turn would mean that Chrissy must be at least 18-years-old (since the main six are all 16-years-old).
 * Jonesy mentions a store called Soft and Lacy. This could be a sister store to or a competitor with Frilly and Pink.
 * Caitlin mentions that Nikki is wearing a pink shirt and pink butterfly hair clips. Interestingly, both pink tops and pink butterfly clips are part of Caitlin's standard wardrobe.
 * Running gag: Kirsten and Kristen fighting over becoming the Khaki Barn's "Employee of the Month".